Senegal

Meet Marguerite Diarra. She’s On a Mission to Train More Midwives and Increase Access to Maternal Care in Mali

cbales — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 11:47:15 +0000

Meet Marguerite Diarra. She’s On a Mission to Train More Midwives and Increase Access to Maternal Care in Mali cbales March 08, 2024

March 08, 2024

For International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating women like Marguerite who inspire us, and donors, to #InvestInWomen.

On a sunny morning at the Vicenta Maria School of Ségou in Mali, Marguerite Diarra demonstrates active management of the third stage of labor using a Mama-U, a training model representing a woman’s uterus after childbirth.

Marguerite is on a mission to produce more skilled midwives who are ready to care for women in Mali, particularly in rural communities. She grew up in Beleko, in the region of Dioila, and became a midwife in 2016. Now she’s a permanent teacher at the school, specializing in obstetrical care.

Mali doesn’t have nearly enough midwives.

Mali, like other countries in Francophone West Africa, doesn’t have nearly enough skilled midwives or other health workers. There are just 6.1 midwives, nurses, and doctors to serve 10,000 people, far below the recommended amount, and the shortage is even worse in rural areas. This hinders women’s equitable access to health services, including for maternal care and family planning, and contributes to high rates of maternal mortality.

More than 500 women die for every 100,000 live births in Mali. And, traditional preservice education has not prepared health workers for real-life work conditions.

IntraHealth’s Classroom to Care (C2C) project, funded by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, aids 12 private health schools like Vicenta Maria in adopting a Competency-Based Approach (CBA) to education.

The Competency-Based Approach to education is based on population needs.

Whereas classic preservice training involves developing programs by subject or objective, CBA programs are developed based on population needs and the needed competencies for job requirements. In classic training the teacher provides the knowledge, while CBA teaching is based on facilitating student learning.

C2C has trained 250 teachers like Marguerite across Mali, Niger, and Senegal on the CBA approach.

Photo by Amadou Iam Diallo for IntraHealth International.

“These trainings really helped me understand my role as a teacher, become aware of my shortcomings, and apply new skills,” she says. "Previously, teachers did everything, but with CBA, we learned to put the student at the forefront of their own education. It's up to students to take the lead, and the teacher to guide and direct them. This has changed our way of preparing and delivering lessons," Marguerite says. This new approach has made classes more interactive and beneficial for students.

"We emphasize practice, which is very important in their learning to become competent health workers."

Marguerite also supervises students in community health centers, reference health centers in each district, and Nianankoro Fomba Hospital. "I am responsible for positioning students and tracking their skills development. Occasionally we go on field visits, because we emphasize practice, which is very important in their learning to become competent health workers.”

The project found that many health schools were lacking the equipment they needed for students to practice and has already provided anatomical models and other teaching equipment for establishing skills labs at the schools.

“The skills lab will help us a lot,” says Marguerite. “We already have a lot of equipment compared to other schools, but there are still gaps. For example, we don’t have the equipment required to insert or remove an IUD, or for demonstrating to women how to conduct breast self-examinations. There are also mannequins that we don’t have, and we need them to prepare students for their field placement, so when they are providing direct care to patients, they know what to do.”

By the end of the five-year project, C2C aims to have 580 teachers across Mali, Niger, and Senegal trained on the CBA, 9,720 students benefiting from quality training, and a skills lab at each school.

Meanwhile the C2C is also focusing on promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to increase the number of nursing and midwifery graduates, particularly women from marginalized communities. C2C conducted DEI situational analyses, and is using the results to develop school-specific plans that apply DEI best practices. to make all 12 partner schools more inclusive for women students and boost well-being and academic performance.

By Amadou Iam Diallo

Technical advisor for communications

By Carol Bales

Strategic communications manager

Maternal, Newborn, & Child Health Health workforce development Private-Sector Approaches International Women's Day Gender Equality Midwives Nurses Mali Niger Senegal

Is In The Media

Photo by Amadou Iam Diallo for IntraHealth International.

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CARDIO4Dakar Fact Sheet

rgoodwin — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 13:24:36 +0000

CARDIO4Dakar Fact Sheet 2024 rgoodwin March 06, 2024 Download

Countries Africa Senegal

Projects CARDIO4Dakar

Topics Health Areas Noncommunicable Diseases

Publisher IntraHealth International

Picture It: New Surgical Equipment Will Improve Maternal Health in Senegal

cbales — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 14:41:52 +0000

Picture It: New Surgical Equipment Will Improve Maternal Health in Senegal cbales December 19, 2023

December 19, 2023

The USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics project donated anesthesia machines to local partners to increase access to essential surgery for mothers.

On December 6, the USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics project (MOMENTUM Safe Surgery) donated five Universal Anesthesia Machines to hospitals in Thiès, Senegal, valued at approximately $117,000. The machines, which can run without electricity or medical oxygen, will improve equitable access to high-quality obstetric and family planning surgeries–including routine and emergency cesarean deliveries and peripartum hysterectomy–for nearly 600,000 women of reproductive age in the region.

Evidence shows that skilled anesthesiologists and anesthesia equipment, like this Universal Anesthesia Machine (UAM), are instrumental for providing safe obstetric surgical care and reducing maternal deaths. The UAM is designed for use in facilities with unreliable electricity and medical oxygen. Photo by Sidy Talla for IntraHealth International.

During an official ceremony, Dr. Amadou Doucoure of the Ministry of Health in Senegal and Nora Madrigal of USAID/Senegal hand over five UAMs to Omar Mamadou Baldé, the governor of Thiès, and Dr. Mama Moussa Diaw, chief regional doctor. Photo by Sidy Talla for IntraHealth International.

The Governor of Thies, Omar Mamadou Baldé, calls for the redoubling of efforts to drastically reduce deaths of mothers and babies. “Beyond the government option, it is a moral obligation,” he says. Photo by Sidy Talla for IntraHealth International.

Dr. Mama Moussa Diaw speaks to journalists “By equipping health centers, we will help to reduce the distances pregnant women have to travel to have a cesarean section and also relieve congestion in certain hospitals, so that they can concentrate on other specialized services,"he says. Photo by Sidy Talla for IntraHealth International.

Staff of USAID MOMENTUM Senegal and the Ministry of Health pose with staff of the Regional Hospital of Thiès. The hospital received one of the UAMs. Photo by Sidy Talla for IntraHealth International.

Professor Ag Marietou Thiam COULIBALY, director of services at the Regional Hospital of Thiès, gives a tour of the facility. Photo by Sidy Talla for IntraHealth International.

Professor Ag Marietou Thiam COULIBALY shows the visitors the operating rooms where the UAM will be used. Photo by Sidy Talla for IntraHealth International.

Dr. Fatou Ndiaté Rachel Sarr Aw checks out equipment students will use in new labs to practice skills and competencies. Photo by Sidy Talla for IntraHealth International.

Ndeye Fatou SENE, a midwife at the Regional Thiès Hospital, displays the array of family planning methods she offers to clients during counseling services, including long-acting and permanent options. Photo by Sidy Talla for IntraHealth International.

The new UAMs will increase equitable access to safe surgery for women in Senegal and support the government's and local partners' efforts to improve the health of mothers and babies. Photo by Clement Tardif for IntraHealth International.

The Government of Senegal prioritizes maternal health in its National Health and Social Development Plan. After years of effort, it has significantly decreased maternal deaths (from 392 to 236 per 100,000 live births, from 2010 to 2017) and increased modern contraceptive use (from 16% of married women of reproductive age in 2012 to 25.5% in 2019).

Still, many mothers die during childbirth and 21.7% of women have an unmet need for voluntary family planning. According to the project’s situational analysis, availability of cesareans and hysterectomies for women in need is very low.

Over the past two years, USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery has supported Senegal’s Ministry of Health and Social Action to increase access to surgeries—particularly cesareans and childbirth-related hysterectomy, as well as obstetric fistula repair and long-acting and permanent family planning methods.

This global safe surgery project, which is part of the MOMENTUM suite of USAID projects, is implemented by a consortium of organizations led by EngenderHealth International. IntraHealth International implements the project in Senegal, focusing on Thiès, Dakar, and Diourbel—highly populated regions where 40% of Senegalese live.

USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery is equipping operating blocks at supported health facilities with materials they need. Our interventions are also addressing the shortage of skilled health workers that can support surgeries, including training emergency obstetrical and neonatal care anesthesiologists and doctors.

The new anesthesia machines will be placed in five of the seven operating blocks in health centers in the region. “In peripheral areas 15% of pregnancies are considered high risk for complications and 5% require a cesarean section. This donation makes it possible to reduce delays in treatment because the women will be taken care of on site with doctors trained for the blocks,” said Mama Moussa Diaw, the regional health director, during the official handover ceremony. Coverage of the donation appeared in at least 14 media outlets in Senegal, raising awareness of the increased access to essential surgery for mothers.

USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery is proud of the strong collaboration with all our local partners and thanks the Thiès Regional Health Directorate, the Directorate of Mother and Child Health, the Human Resources Department, the Direction of Planning, Research and Statistics; the universities of Thiès, Dakar, Saint Louis, and Ziguinchor; and health professional associations for their commitment to success of this project.

By Fatou Ndiaté Rachel Sarr Aw

MNCH/FP Technical Advisor, USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics Project in Senegal

By Djibril Kébé

MEL Technical Advisor, USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics Project in Senegal

Maternal and Newborn Health Senegal

Is In The Media

Dr. Amadou Doucoure (left), director of the Mother and Child Health Division of the Ministry of Health in Senegal, and Nora Madrigal (middle), USAID/Senegal health office director, officially hand over five Universal Anesthesia Machines to Omar Mamadou Baldé (right), the Governor of Thiès, Senegal. Photo by Sidy Talla for IntraHealth International.

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Djibril Kébé

cbales — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 14:40:57 +0000

Djibril Kébé MEL Technical Advisor, USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics Project in Senegal cbales December 19, 2023

Djibril Kebe is technical advisor on monitoring and evaluation of the USAID MOMENTUM Project in Senegal. He has ten years of experience in monitoring and evaluation and has worked in several areas of health, including maternal and child health, family planning, Ebola, HIV, and safe surgery and obstetrics. He has an engineering degree in applied computer statistics and a Master 2 in monitoring and evaluation of programs and projects.

Senegal

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Fatou Ndiaté Rachel Sarr Aw

cbales — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 14:32:21 +0000

Fatou Ndiaté Rachel Sarr Aw MNCH/FP Technical Advisor, USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics Project in Senegal cbales December 19, 2023

Fatou Rachel is a technical advisor in maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH) and family planning at IntraHealth International. For the past eight years, she has provided technical assistance to various USAID projects, including expansion of high-impact MNCH and family planning practices at the ministry of health level, in programs, policies, and procedures, while integrating gender and youth. She is a medical doctor by training, specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, with 15 years of experience in clinical practice, including eight years as lead in a regional referral maternity ward. She also has teaching experience at Thiès University in the Faculty of Medicine and in nursing and midwifery training institutions.

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In Francophone West Africa, 3,000 More Nursing and Midwifery Students Are Benefitting from Competency-Based Training Matching Local Needs

cbales — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 16:19:57 +0000

In Francophone West Africa, 3,000 More Nursing and Midwifery Students Are Benefitting from Competency-Based Training Matching Local Needs cbales November 20, 2023 November 20, 2023

IntraHealth is partnering with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited to improve maternal and child health in Mali, Senegal, and Niger by sustainably increasing the number of skilled nurses and midwives ready to serve rural communities.

Through the Classroom to Care (C2C) project, funded by Takeda's Global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program, IntraHealth International is improving access to high-quality maternal and child health care in Mali, Niger, and Senegal by strengthening the preservice training of nurses and midwives in 12 private health schools. Now at the end of the second year of the project, more than 3,000 nursing and midwifery students—75% of whom are women—are benefiting from updated curricula adapted to local clinical practice.

The project is responding to several pressing issues. There is a critical shortage of health workers (nurses, midwives, and doctors) available in the three countries, with only 6.1 health workers in Mali, 3.9 health workers in Niger, and 4.3 health workers in Senegal for every 10,000 people. The shortage is even more acute in rural areas. Currently, traditional preservice education curricula have not prepared health workers for real-life work conditions, and many health training institutions are inadequately equipped and unaccredited. Furthermore, women are disproportionally disadvantaged when it comes to enrollment and graduation due to a variety of factors, such as family responsibilities. Discrimination against women and gender inequalities directly impede development of the health workforce to provide equitable and accessible health services.

Meanwhile the maternal mortality rate remains very high in the three countries, with 315 deaths per 100,000 live births in Senegal, and more than 500 deaths per 100,000 live births in Mali and Niger. And in Mali and Niger, approximately 10% of children die before their fifth birthday.

Competency-Based Approach

Competency-focused preservice education is critical for the provision of high-quality maternal and child health services that meet local needs. Since 2006, the West African Health Organization (WAHO) has pushed to harmonize training curricula for nurses and midwives in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region that addresses current disease patterns as well as intra-regional migration. The curricula use a competency-based approach (CBA) that considers population and student needs to replace classic training. Many health schools in the region, however, have still not started the process of implementing the WAHO standardized curricula or been able to train a critical mass of teachers on CBA.

From 2017-2020, the USAID/Mali Human Resources for Health Strengthening Activity, led by IntraHealth, supported the use of competency-based curricula in 10 schools and strengthened policies and practices related to recruitment and retention of students, leading to improved performance of health workers.

The five-year C2C project builds on this work and supports four private schools in each country to strengthen preservice education of nurses and midwives through enhanced competency-based curricula; train teachers and others in the CBA, achieve the appropriate accreditations; and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to increase the number of nursing and midwifery graduates, particularly women from marginalized communities and vulnerable groups.

C2C partners with a diverse set of stakeholders, including WAHO, government bodies including the ministries of health and education in each country, government units such as the Human Resources Division and the Division for Mother and Child Health, private school associations, health professional associations, and Empower School of Health.

Preliminary results

C2C conducted an in-depth needs assessment to identify the baseline for each school, then developed capacity-building plans for all 12 schools to address gaps in national accreditation standards, purchased essential teaching equipment for competency labs, and digitized eLearning modules harmonized with the WAHO curricula.

At the end of Year 2, the project has:

Supported the development and validation of CBA teacher training documents at the national level, including a reference manual, trainer’s guide, and participant workbook.
Through updated CBA training programs, improved the skills and knowledge of 3,721 students, teachers, and school management staff:
- 398 teachers acquired skills and knowledge in adult teaching techniques.
- 250 teachers and clinical supervisors received training on competency-based curricula.
- 3,073 students (2,361 women) benefited from updated curriculum content with tools adapted to clinical practice.
Developed an Accreditation and Quality Assurance Roadmap for all three countries, established internal quality assurance and accreditation units in each school, and oriented 62 educational advisors on quality assurance—laying the groundwork for the accreditation process.
Digitized 33 maternal and child health teaching modules and developed an eLearning platform in collaboration with Empower School of Health. This platform is a comprehensive learning management system tailored to each country, and the modules cover topics such as pediatrics, anatomy, community health, and obstetrics. The eLearning platform incorporates DEI considerations in its design, audio and visual features, and mobile and offline options.
Established inter-ministerial technical working groups in the three countries and initiated a regional private sector community of peers and a community of practice on medical sciences training.

What’s next

C2C is currently conducting DEI situational analyses in all three countries, and in the next year will use them to develop school-specific DEI plans that apply DEI best practices, such as providing nurseries and lactation rooms, to make partner schools more inclusive for women students and boost well-being and academic performance.

C2C will launch the eLearning platform and over the next three years will expand the platform to also include management and leadership courses and solidify it as the standard in health care education across West Africa. C2C will ensure each partner school receives the necessary equipment and technical support to set up competency and computer laboratories. C2C will deepen engagement with stakeholders, from government bodies to local communities, ensuring that the project's impact is sustainable and far-reaching.

The project will also continue its Private Sector Community of Practice, strengthen public-private partnerships through the technical working groups, and oversee implementation of action plans in each school.

By the end of the project, C2C aims to have 580 teachers trained on the CBA, 9,720 students benefiting from quality training, and all 12 private health schools accredited.

Learn more about the Classroom to Care project in three short videos produced by IntraHealth’s Mali team for a virtual visit this month with Takeda.

Mali Niger Senegal Maternal, Newborn, & Child Health Education & Performance eLearning Private-Sector Approaches Midwives NursesPhoto by Amadou Iam Diallo for IntraHealth InternationalClassroom to Care: Training to Expand Access to Maternal and Child Health

Local Partnership Launches Digital Health Tool to Decrease Hypertension in Senegal

ihadmin2 — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 18:29:38 +0000

Local Partnership Launches Digital Health Tool to Decrease Hypertension in Senegal ihadmin2 March 16, 2023 March 08, 2023

Saytu Tension—a suite of digital solutions that will help accelerate early detection, linkage to care, and follow-up among hypertensive patients in Senegal—launched on January 27 in Dakar.

As part of the CARDIO4Dakar project, funded by the Novartis Foundation and implemented by IntraHealth International in partnership with the Senegalese Ministry of Health and Social Action, Saytu Tension (“check your blood pressure” in Wolof) will amplify existing efforts to reach more people with information about cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension, and help link clients to diagnosis and health services.

With funding from the Novartis Foundation’s Health Tech Hub, CARDIO4Dakar issued a call for innovative digital tools that could address challenges along a client’s journey, including helping people know their status (for access to early and efficient care) and reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications. Seventeen ideas were submitted and Senegalese-based startup BAAMTU Technologies, in collaboration with the marketing agency ByFilling, was selected in December 2022 to work with CARDIO4Dakar and partners. BAAMTU is a digital solutions and artificial intelligence provider with experience in the digital health sector. Previously, it helped the Ministry of Health and Social Action in Sénégal respond to COVID-19 and the Hôpital Universtaire de Genève on a hemophilia project. Now, BAAMTU will help develop the necessary tools and implement Saytu Tension by June 2023.

Saytu Tension includes four components:

A bilingual (French and Wolof) chatbot
An application for patient follow-up (alerts for taking medication, appointment reminders, analysis records)
A web application for client data
A website to raise public awareness of hypertension.

Project partners from the Senegal division of noncommunicable diseases, BAAMTU, ByFilling, IntraHealth, and Novartis Foundation at the Saytu Tension launch in January 2023 at the Radisson Blu in Dakar, Senegal. Photo by Mme Oulimata Sene.

The Saytu Tension launch in January 2023 at the Radisson Blu in Dakar, Senegal. Photo by Melanie Joiner for IntraHealth International.

The Saytu Tension launch in January 2023 at the Radisson Blu in Dakar, Senegal. Photo by Mme Oulimata Sene.

Globally, noncommunicable diseases like hypertension cause 74% of deaths. In Senegal, 45% of deaths are related to noncommunicable diseases and 17% of those deaths are attributable to cardiovascular disease. This new digital tool provides a multi-platform and multi-channel solution for the Senegalese population and health workers to better detect and manage hypertension. It will help reduce the incidence of death from high blood pressure by:

Reaching 150,000 people with awareness and education messages
Providing 100,000 clients with health services
Diagnosing 20,000 clients with high blood pressure
Following up with 12,000 clients who have been diagnosed.

CARDIO4Dakar launched in April 2022, with the objective to reduce the number of acute cardiovascular events in adults in Dakar by 10% by 2024 and promote data-driven approaches, drawn from digital health, to improve the health of urban populations. It is part of the CARDIO4Cities suite of projects, which have been implemented in Dakar, Sao Paulo, and Ho Chi Minh City. The project follows IntraHealth’s Better Hearts Better Cities initiative from 2017-2020.

To learn more about CARDIO4Cities, visit the Novartis Foundation's website here.

Senegal Noncommunicable Diseases Digital Health CARDIO4Dakar

CARDIO4Dakar Project Overview

ihadmin2 — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 18:19:21 +0000

CARDIO4Dakar Project Overview 2023 ihadmin2 March 16, 2023 Download

Countries Senegal

Topics Noncommunicable Diseases

Government Implementation and Institutionalization of the Universal Referral Approach for Family Planning in Francophone West Africa

ihadmin2 — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 18:43:26 +0000

Government Implementation and Institutionalization of the Universal Referral Approach for Family Planning in Francophone West Africa 2023 ihadmin2 February 23, 2023

To improve modern contraceptive use and reduce unmet need, the Challenge Initiative francophone West Africa Hub supported municipalities and health systems in nine cities to adopt evidence-based practices like universal referral which integrates the provision of family planning through other health services or entry points at a facility to minimize missed opportunities to support women with family planning counseling and service uptake.

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Countries Africa Senegal

By Hawa Talla, Mamadou Kandji, René Jean Firmin Nakoulma, Cheikh Ibrahima Diop, Sujata Bijou, Vanessa Mitchell, Josephat Avoce, Marième Mady Dia

Mamadou Kandji

ihadmin2 — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 16:24:54 +0000

Mamadou Kandji Chief of party, the Challenge Initiative ihadmin2 January 13, 2023

Dr. Mamadou Kandji is a medical doctor and a public health specialist with 12 years of experience as a health district chief medical officer. His main responsibilities included coordinating socio-sanitary activities, managing and mobilizing resources (human, material, and financial), planning and developing district annual work plans, supporting the development of health information systems management by ensuring data availability, processing and analyzing data for decision-making, insuring continuous training of health workers, and evaluating.

Dr. Kandji joined IntraHealth International in 2019 as the regional program manager responsible for the implementation of high-impact practices for the Challenge Initiative (TCI) project covering francophone West Africa. Over the past several years, Dr. Kandji has gained considerable experience implementing the TCI model in francophone West Africa.

He has a medical degree and a Master's in Public Health from the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal and a university degree in epidemiology from the University of Bordeaux II in France.

Senegal

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