After a very successful first phase of the Health[e]Families project in Ethiopia that started in 2015, the kick-off of the second phase that will run until the end of 2019 is now a fact. The Health[e]Families project is generously funded by the Dioraphte Foundation and aims to improve knowledge and skills on maternal and newborn health for healthcare professionals and community members in Ethiopia. In total, 600 healthcare workers will be trained during this project. The local partner in the Health[e]Families program is the Ethiopian Midwives Association (EMwA), a professional association established in 1992, with its goal to contribute towards the reduction of maternal and child mortality and morbidity in Ethiopia and improve the quality of reproductive health services.
In April, 151 midwives attended a series of workshops in Addis Ababa and Gondar, Ethiopia. This time, four delegates from Health[e]Foundation made their way to Ethiopia: Dr. Nadine Pakker, managing director, Vera Jamin and Renée van Hoof, project managers, and Sven Alders, who will spend two months in Ethiopia to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the experiences with LUCY during project phase I in Addis Ababa and the Ghimbi region. He will collect his data from implementers (midwives, Health Extension Workers and community workers) as well as end-users (pregnant women and mothers of newborns).
The kick-off workshops focused on familiarizing the participants with the project and assisting them with their -often first- steps in e-learning. Furthermore, the participants became acquainted with ‘LUCY’, our mobile service for pregnant women and new mothers. To add on content, Professor Fikre Enquselassie from the University of Addis Ababa was able to provide valuable insights regarding the current epidemiology of maternal and newborn health in Ethiopia.
The participants are now fully equipped to start their e- learning journey with Health[e]Foundation and ready to promote and effectively use LUCY as tool to assist their patients and communities. We are looking forward to the 2-day follow-up workshops in July that will be organized for more in depth content and skills practice with the ‘Helping Mothers Survive’ training by EMwA.
