Description:
Abstract: Alternative strategies to increase access to reproductive health services among internally
displaced populations are urgently needed. In eastern Burma, continuing conflict and lack of
functioning health systems render the emphasis on facility-based delivery with skilled attendants
unfeasible. Along the Thailand?Burma border, local organisations have implemented an innovative
pilot, the Mobile Obstetric Maternal Health Workers (MOM) Project, establishing a three-tiered
collaborative network of community-based reproductive health workers. Health workers from local
organisations received practical training in basic emergency obstetric care plus blood transfusion,
antenatal care and family planning at a central facility. After returning to their target communities
inside Burma, these first-tier maternal health workers trained a second tier of local health workers
and a third tier of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to provide a limited subset of these
interventions, depending on their level of training. In this ongoing project, close communication
between health workers and TBAs promotes acceptance and coverage of maternity services
throughout the community. We describe the rationale, design and implementation of the project
and a parallel monitoring plan for evaluation of the project. This innovative obstetric health
care delivery strategy may serve as a model for the delivery of other essential health services in
this population and for increasing access to care in other conflict settings."...Keywords: antenatal care, childbirth, emergency obstetric care, misoprostol, internally displaced
populations, Burma
Source/publisher:
"Reproductive Health Matters"
Date of Publication:
2008-05-00
Date of entry:
2008-12-20
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Language:
English