| Reporting Organization: | Presbyterian World Service & Development |
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| Total Budget ($CAD): | $ 1,511,210 |
| Timeframe: | December 13, 2011 - September 30, 2015 |
| Status: | Completion |
| Contact Information: | Unspecified |
Presbyterian World Service & Development
| Malawi - $ 793,385.25 (52.50%) | |
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| Afghanistan - $ 717,824.75 (47.50%) | |
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| Health Promotion & Education (25 %) | |
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| Health Systems, Training & Infrastructure (25 %) | |
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| Newborn & Child Health (25 %) | |
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| Reproductive Health & Rights incl. Maternal Health (25 %) | |
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The goal of this project is to improve women’s and children’s health by strengthening the use, quality, and availability of health services for women, newborns, and children and addressing social factors that prevent women from using these services. The project takes place in Laghman, Afghanistan, and in three regions of Malawi. It is expected to reach up to 17,000 children through access to improved health care services, up to 6,000 pregnant women through antenatal care, as well as up to 3,000 of their spouses, and 19,000 women of reproductive age through training, community outreach, and education. Specific activities include: providing training for women in nutrition, immunization, reproductive health, and family planning; conducting community health education sessions; establishing and upgrading delivery rooms and basic health units; and training midwives, nurses, and health workers.
| Gender and age: | Adult women Adult men Under-5 children Newborns |
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| Descriptors: | Rural |
| Total Direct Population: | 32,144 |
| Bicycle ambulances provided | |
| Improved knowledge of SRHR | |
| 244 | Men trained |
| 36 | Village safe motherhood committees set-up |
Results achieved as of the end of project (May 2015) include:
In Afghanistan: (1) attendance of 2,983 women of reproductive age to education sessions on safe family planning methods; (2) attendance of 8,732 people (including almost 3,124 men) to maternal health education sessions; (3) 98% of women were allowed by their spouse to access maternal health care services (an increase of 27% since the beginning of the project); (4) access for 749 women to four antenatal visits (an increase of 62% since the beginning of the project); (5) screening of 6,573 pregnant women for malnutrition and training about the importance of a balanced diet for good health; and (6) appropriate vaccination of 2,922 children under five. These results have contributed to improving the health of women and children in the project area, demonstrated by the fact that less mothers and infants are dying during childbirth. At the start of the project in 2011, 14 women in the catching area were dying per 1,000 live births, and in the last year of the project, only one woman died. The neonatal mortality rate also went from 60 per 1,000 live births in 2011 to 12 at the end of the project.
In Malawi: (1) 36 village safe motherhood committees with 360 members were set up and are promoting information on maternal and child health; (2) 244 men were trained to raise the awareness of other men on the importance of maternal health; (3) 6,457 people, including 2,129 men, attended information sessions to raise awareness of maternal and child health; (4) 85% of women and 76% of men in these villages improved their knowledge of sexual and reproductive health; (5) 74% of women in the project area now have the support of their spouse to seek maternal care (an increase of 49% since the beginning of the project in 2011); (6) 3,124 women increased their knowledge of the importance of proper nutrition through training sessions; (7) 8% increase of ante-natal care coverage since 2011; (8) 18% increase in the number of births attended by a skilled health worker; and (9) community-managed bicycle ambulances provided to 32 villages to ensure that pregnant women who require emergency care could be transported to health facilities. These results have contributed to improving the health of women and children demonstrated by the fact that neonatal mortality rate in the project area was reduced from 44 per 1,000 live births in 2011 to two at the end of the project.
