The Technology for Maternal and Child Health initiative aims to reduce maternal and infant mortality and morbidity in 15 districts of the northern and upper-west regions of Ghana. It will make easy-to-understand maternal health information accessible to expectant mothers and mothers of newborns through the use of information communications technology. The initiative will also address newborn survival in remote, rural areas with targeted messages and interventions for issues such as maternal tetanus immunization, clean cord practices, exclusive breastfeeding, skin-to-skin care, and the recognition and early treatment of infection.
The following results have been accomplished in the six months (April-September 2018);
• Trained 39 new health staff in addition to the existing 238 health staff trained in the use of ICT tools to design, package and communicate maternal and child health information. This is as a result of the staff attrition in most health facilities.
• Registered 8323 beneficiaries (including 6926 expectant mothers attending ANC and 1397 breastfeeding mothers attending CWC) in the mobile MCH messaging system.
• Successfully delivered 94,169 weekly MCH messages – in 11 local languages and targeted to registrants’ gestation and first 6 month of exclusive breastfeeding– to 8,323 unique telephone numbers by 30th September, 2018.
• Supported conduct of 404 facility-based knowledge sharing sessions (KSS) organised by health staff in all 33 health facilities with total participants of 22,621 (female 18,758, male 3,863).
• Supported conduct of 439 community-based KSS involving 44,383 participants (31,047 women, 13,336 men) that utilized ICT equipment and presentations developed onsite by health staff.
• Documented common indicators at all project health facilities (33 in total) for tracking progress – including percentage of live births attended by skilled birth attendants, percentage of newborns who received positive care practices, ANC registration and attendance by expectant mothers and their male partners, and PNC follow-up visits by new mothers;
• Completed six research projects
• Trained 30 health professionals as trainers to conduct step-down trainings and facilitate the establishment of Father-to-Father groups.
• Set up 54 Father-to-Father groups in 9 districts
• Developed and distributed “Father’s Journey” guide for facilitating Father-to Father group discussions.
