Mother to Mother Maternal Health project (M3)

Background
Uganda has a high maternal mortality ratio, typical of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated 505 maternal deaths per 100.000 live births. While several measures to combat the poor reproductive health performance have been put in place by the government, Maternal and Child Health programs have in the past focused more attention on child-care programs with a particularly strong emphasis on immunization.
An average of 1 million babies are born in Uganda every year, but government and UN officials concede that while the majority of mothers visit antenatal clinics during the first months of pregnancy, they opt to stay away at the moment of birth. Antenatal care for Ugandan women is over 70 per cent, but only 40 per cent deliver in hospitals. The reasons for this are many these include delays in the delivery of services, there are negative attitudes towards the patients, poor medical facilities in hospitals, badly trained and rude medical staff, poverty and the long distances from rural areas to medical centres are contributing to the trend. A government study in 2006 found that more than 370 children under the age of 5 die in the Uganda per day, of which 25 per cent are under the age of 1. The death rates are decreasing at a rate of 1 per cent per annum, but this is far below the target of a 13-per-cent annual reduction. Its believed that there is a direct link between the deaths and mothers giving birth away from health centres.
Statement of the problem.
While there have been a number of intervention encouraging mothers to seek for medical maternal health services, little has been achieved. Maternal mortality rate remains high at – 505 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.16 women die every day during childbirth,1 in 8 women have a lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy complications.42% of women who claim to have pregnancy or delivery complications do not seek medical care.
Second, regardless of the level of education, mothers supplement medical ANC with traditional ANC herbs. This is because they believe local herbs are believed to enhance normal delivery. In Uganda today, more than 41% of mothers attend one ANC visits with a major intention of securing a card that is necessary if one has to deliver in an hospital setting. As the challenges in maternal health matures there is an urgent need to seek for solutions that are spearheaded by mothers. Mothers also need to know how to protect their own health and the importance of not putting their children’s health at risk through their own behaviors.
It’s with this background, that we propose an intervention that focuses on mothers as key implementers of maternal health services. We propose to train mothers in areas of ANC, PNC, formal and informal individual counseling, Comprehensive education sessions about HIV/AIDS, prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT),Malaria in pregnancy ,Family Planning personal and the newborn's well-being. These mothers in turn will reach fellow mothers with similar information. This will lead to increase in levels of knowledge among mothers which will in turn translate into behavioral change that will lead to improved maternal health.
Goal
To provide sustainable model of care that provide education and support to pregnant women and new mothers
Objectives
• Providing educational support on ANC ,PNC ,PMTCT,MIP,FP and child care to mothers in Uganda
• Providing mother to mother maternal health education and counseling.
• Supporting mothers to deliver from hospital setting.
Our strategy
Strategy one; Focusing on mothers not as beneficiaries but key planners and implementers of the project.
Mothers are often the main adults other than children that are affected by poor maternal health.
In an era of HIV/AIDS, Mothers play an even more critical role of being a source of accurate information to fellow mothers on issues regarding ANC, PMTCT, and Malaria in pregnancy, Family Planning, and PNC. As the challenges in maternal health mature there is an urgent need so seeking for solution that are spearheaded by mothers. We propose to focus on mothers as a key entry point in address maternal health issues. Focusing on mothers not only as beneficiaries but key planners and implementers is addressing the roots of the problem thus being innovative.
Secondly, In Uganda, Mothers has knowingly or unknowingly provided ANC counseling to fellow mothers to be. This has been largely done through provision of peer counseling, provision of local herbs and sharing experiences about the pregnancy process. Focusing on mothers who already have natural counseling skills is being innovative.
Third, this will be the first of the kind to be implemented in Sironko district.
Strategy 2; Building upon what has worked
In Uganda, Mothers has knowingly or unknowingly provided ANC counseling to fellow mothers to be. This has been largely done through provision of peer counseling, provision of local herbs and sharing experiences about the pregnancy process .However, much as these mothers play a very vital role sharing ANC information, their role is greatly under rated. Mothers are key players in matters that affect them, therefore for any maternal health program to be success full, mothers need to be involved from plan to implementation stage. It’s with this background, that we propose an intervention that focuses on mothers as key implementers of maternal health services. We propose to train mothers in areas of ANC, PNC, formal and informal individual counseling, Comprehensive education sessions about HIV/AIDS, prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT),Malaria in pregnancy ,Family Planning personal and the newborn's well-being. These mothers will be mobilized at the local levels, selected and trained as trainers of trainers. These trainings will be done by trained professionals who will train these mothers their local language.
Strategy Three; Supporting mothers to deliver from hospitals
Mothers also need to know how to protect their own health and the importance of not putting their children's health at risk through their own behaviors. The trained mothers will act as an entry point to the community and so will provide accurate information to pregnant mothers, this information will focus on the advantages of hospital setting deliveries, benefits of emergency care (Ante partum, Intra partum and post partum),PMTCT services and many others. We believe that since mothers listen to fellow mothers they will be in position to share the benefits of Hospital delivery