partnering with districts councils to increase the number and improve retention of nurse-midwives in...
TRANSCRIPT
Partnering with districts councils to increase the number and improve retention of nurse-midwives in Tanzania: lessons learned by Amref Health Africa
Ngilangwa David P1, Dhalla Magdalena1, Msegu Elia1, Sambili Benatus1, Chaya Pius1, Noronha Rita1
1 Amref Health Africa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
1st Amref Health Africa International Conference
Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya
24-26th November, 2014
Outline
• Issue
• Descriptions
• Lessons learnt
• Conclusion and recommendations
• Acknowledgments
Issueo Tanzania among the ten countries with high
maternal deaths
o Critical shortage of skilled nurse-midwives attributed by attrition
o Only 51% of all births are attended by skilled health personnel
o Amref Health Africa believes that no woman should die while giving life
o Stand Up for African Mothers(SU4AM) aim to train 1,000 nurses-midwives to certificate and diploma levels by 2015.
Descriptiono Amref Health Africa is supporting the GoT to train
pre-service midwives in 8 district councils
o Provides scholarships to qualified permanent residents of the targeted districts to pursue midwifery training.
o The district councils are obliged to advertise, select and approve qualified potential students for training
o Employ students for 3 years upon successful
completion of their studies
Description…o Amref Health Africa, students and district councils
sign a legal contract to bind them fulfill their roles
o 80 students are pursuing their midwifery training in different schools in Tanzania
Description…Distribution of supported students by district
District Number of Student
Kilindi 30
Busega 4
Itilimia 4
Maswa 4
Meatu 2
Bariadi 4
Mtwara rural 30
Mtwara Municipal 2
Lessons learnt o SU4AM campaign has been well-accepted by the
district authorities and community
o Training midwives from their own communities ensure retention
o There is great demand of the training (applicants are as many as compared with slots available)
o Among students male and female ratio was slightly equal against the previous notion that midwifery is for females.
Lessons learnt… o Most students are from low income families thus,
can not afford the training expenses
o Regular supervision visits in schools helps in identifying challenges and ways of solving them
Challenges o Criteria set by MoHSW are still very high
especially for applicants in rural area
o Lack of enough funds to meet all beneficiaries' needs
Next steps o Project should be scaled up to other regions with
great shortage of Human Resources for Health(HRH)and continue to monitor performance of graduates.
o Awareness raising and fundraising for SU4AM campaign from International up to the grass root level
Acknowledgement
o All donors (Bank M, Barclays Banks, Amref
Health Africa-Netherlands and others)
oDistrict Council Authorities
oMinistry of Health and Social Welfare