MNCH Quality Improvement in Ethiopia and Bangladesh

The SOGC is currently collaborating with Plan Canada on a project which aims to strengthen the link between community efforts to improve maternal, newborn and child health, and primary health service delivery in Ethiopia and Bangladesh.

The Women and Their Children's Health (WATCH) Project involves scaling-up an integrated package of proven, cost-effective, evidenced-based interventions at the household, community, and primary health care level. The project's overall goal is to reduce maternal, neonatal and child mortality amongst underserved populations and thus contribute to achievement of national Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets 4 and 5.

Making use of the ALARM International Program, the SOGC will provide workshops with a focus on sexual and reproductive rights, evidence based practice, and principles of adult learning to members of the Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ESOG) and of the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society of Bangladesh (OGSB). These members will then provide obstetric care training to first level government health workers. The SOGC will also provide support for on-site supervision and mentoring and will be available for development of clinical guidelines and referral protocols, as requested by our partners.

For each of the countries, the WATCH project will address supply side issues (improving quality of women-friendly health care services and increasing staff's MNCH skills) and demand side issues (increasing awareness in communities on the importance of accessing skilled health care). Plan's work will focus on the community aspect through use of education and information activities, which aim to mobilize community members to recognize, prevent and respond to basic MNCH issues.

This integrated approach to community- and facility- based maternal and newborn health programming is a comprehensive strategy to strengthen health systems at the district, sub-district and health post level in order to improve health care services along the continuum of care. The SOGC is excited to contribute its expertise to the success of this project and welcomes the opportunities for partnership with Plan Canada and with the national ob/gyn associations of Ethiopia and Bangladesh.

Learn more about the SOGC's work in Ethiopia

Learn more about the SOGC's work in Bangladesh

Photo credit: Amanda Moore