| Reporting Organization: | Presbyterian World Service & Development |
|---|---|
| Total Budget ($CAD): | $ 4,048,167 |
| Timeframe: | March 10, 2016 - March 31, 2020 |
| Status: | Implementation |
| Contact Information: | Unspecified |
Presbyterian World Service & Development
| Afghanistan - $ 2,024,083.50 (50.00%) | |
| Malawi - $ 2,024,083.50 (50.00%) | |
| Reproductive Health & Rights incl. Maternal Health (75.5 %) | |
| Health Systems, Training & Infrastructure (24.5 %) | |
This initiative aims to build local and facility-level capacity and accountability in order to reduce barriers that prevent pregnant women and mothers from utilizing sexual and reproductive health services in one province of Afghanistan and two regions in Malawi. The populations in both Afghanistan and Malawi face many challenges when it comes to accessing necessary medical care, particularly for pregnant women, and children. This has led to high maternal and neonatal mortality rates. Major factors that contribute to high mortality rates in both countries include long distances to health centres, a lack of skilled health professionals, and a lack of information regarding sexual and reproductive health. Project activities include: (1) improving the quality and supply of services at the facility level by improving the skills and approaches of health-care workers, as well as ensuring that the facilities and tools themselves are of standard quality and availability; (2) expanding demand for health services, and addressing gender gaps by increasing women’s decision-making for their own and their children’s health; and (3) increasing male support for women’s decision making, increasing community participation in sexual and reproductive health, and changing behaviour that puts women and girls at risk. As a result, vulnerable groups will proactively seek and advocate for health services. This project targets 174,701 direct beneficiaries and 622,132 indirect beneficiaries. The Organization is implementing this project in collaboration with Community World Service Asia in Afghanistan, and in Malawi with Embangweni Mission Hospital (EMH) of Livingstonia Health Department of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterians (CCAP), and Mulanje Mission Hospital (MMH) of the CCAP Synod of Blantyre
| Gender and age: | Adult women Under-5 children Newborns |
|---|---|
| Total Direct Population: | 174,701 |
| Total Indirect Population: | 622,132 |
| 2 | Hospitals upgraded in Malawi |
| 5 | Health centres upgraded in Malawi |
The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved delivery of essential health services for mothers, newborns, and children; and (2) improved demand for health services from vulnerable women and adolescent girls who are empowered in their equal access to sexual and reproductive health.
Results achieved as of March 2019 include: (1) in Afghanistan, the six facilities were completely constructed, staffed and equipped. In Malawi, two hospitals and five health centres have been upgraded and are now providing reproductive health services; (2) 90% of the project health care workers in Afghanistan (of which 11 were women) and 100% of the project health care workers in Malawi (of which 14 were women) have increased their knowledge of at least three gender and rights sensitive best practices for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) owing to the success of training sessions on various topics including gender-based violence (GBV); (3) the proportion of pregnant women who were referred for their first ante natal care visit within their first trimester reached 77% in Afghanistan exceeding the target of 224 cases; (4) the proportion of women attending ante natal care at least four times during pregnancy for reasons related to the pregnancy increased by 64% in Malawi; (5) the target number/proportion of women and men who were trained in safe maternal, neonatal and child health practices reached 9,913 individuals (of which 7,277 were women), exceeding the target by 3%, in Afghanistan; and (6) the proportion of pregnant and lactating women who were screened for malnutrition reached 85% in Afghanistan (exceeding the target by 5%) and 63% in Malawi.
