E-learning on pandemic response
The Pandemic[e]Response course focuses on training midwives to safely perform their core tasks during the COVID-19 pandemic and improving care for victims of domestic and gender-based violence (GBV). The e-learning program provides learners with information, as well as enhancing their skills to perform outreach activities focused on adolescents and young people. The aim is to enable midwifery professionals to continue providing routine healthcare services during the pandemic and to respond to the negative effects of the pandemic, such as increased domestic and gender-based violence.
‘Pandemic[e]Response provides midwifery students and healthcare professionals with the specific knowledge and skills to enable them to continue providing essential maternal, neonatal and SRHR services during health emergencies.’
Training midwifery professionals and students
This course has been developed for Ethiopian midwifery students and midwife professionals in cooperation with the Ethiopian Midwives Association, Health[e]foundation, collaborating Ethiopian universities and the Ministry of Health in Ethiopia. The e-learning program consists of modules on how to safely deliver maternal, neonatal and sexual and reproductive health services during a health emergency; and how to safely provide maternal care for pregnant women who are infected with COVID-19. Additional modules cover the effects of the pandemic on domestic and gender-based violence, gender equality and mental health. The aim of the program is to promote women’s rights and gender equality.Â
Modules and focus areasÂ
The e-learning program consists of 12 modules focusing on maternal and neonatal health services related to health emergencies.
- COVID-19 and maternal health
- Gender equality and women’s empowerment
- Gender-based violence
- Respectful maternity care
- Post-abortion care
- Family planning
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Postpartum hemorrhage
- Hypertensive disorders
- Cervical cancer
- Essential newborn care
- SRHR in humanitarian crises
The e-learning program contains globally accepted, evidence-based information and guidelines. The information and guidelines are reviewed to ensure that they are appropriate for the country where the e-learning is offered. Adaptations to the content provided by the original authors are made by local experts.
Implementation and impact in Ethiopia
The Pandemic[e]Response blended learning program is being implemented in Ethiopia during 2021-2022. More than 300 midwifery professionals and students will take part in the training and subsequently apply their acquired knowledge and skills in their daily practice within Ethiopian communities, providing thousands of clients and community members with comprehensive information on maternal and neonatal health during a health emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In the future, this blended learning program can be customized and implemented in other countries facing emergency situations by adapting it to the local context. Â