Physical Health Madagascar Project #57300

Improving Maternal and Child Health in Madagascar

by SEED Madagascar

Project Report | Jan 19, 2024
Community Information Sessions

By Lauren Hodgson | Project Leader

Fathers attending a session on HIV and syphilis

Phase IV of Project Votsira works with community health workers to deliver a Maternal and Child Health Information Course to community members across Fort Dauphin. Designed together with the local Ministry of Health, the course covers: antenatal visits, acute respiratory infections, vaccinations, colostrum, breastfeeding, nutrition, family planning, diarrhoea, syphilis, and HIV.

During the programme, weekly information sessions are held in 11 villages, covering a new topic each month. Participant groups are split into four; mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and pregnant women, to allow freedom of discussion. From September 2022 to February 2023, 1,320 community members completed the first round of the maternal and child health course.

Following the delivery of the course, over 90% of participants had a good knowledge of the symptoms, preventative measures, and treatment of malaria, the treatment of respiratory illnesses, and the symptoms and treatment of diarrhoea. In contrast, only 28.3% of participants had a good knowledge of the causes of malaria, and 31.3% of participants demonstrated good knowledge of the symptoms of acute respiratory infections. Year two of phase IV will focus more on building knowledge around these areas

The information course also saw 93% of participants acknowledge the importance of exclusively breastfeeding their children until at least six months of age, and 52% of people report that they would follow recommendations on antenatal visits and skilled attendant delivery. Overall, fathers were the group least likely to follow recommendations, with 69.4% of men reporting that they would not follow recommendations on attending four antenatal sessions due to the expense and lack of money. As family members, particularly fathers and grandmothers, often have significant household influence, their support is crucial to enable access to life-saving maternal and child healthcare services when needed. As a result, year 3 of the course will involve more fathers than originally planned.

SEED wishes to thank all donors and well-wishers supporting project Votsira.

Mothers in a Maternal and Child Health session

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Sep 22, 2023
PROJECT VOTSIRA PHASE IV: IMPROVING MATERNAL AND C

By Betty Gisore | Programmes and Office Assistant, SEED Madagascar

Training of community health workers

In southeast of Anosy region in Madagascar, preventable childhood diseases such as diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections contribute to the region’s high levels of neonatal, infant and under 5 mortality. In addition, misinformation and low levels of education among mothers further contribute to poor maternal and child health outcomes. Through project votsira (which means wellbeing of a new mother and her child) SEED has and continues to deliver health education sessions to caregivers and building capacity of healthcare workers in order to improve maternal and child health knowledge, attitudes and practices. Project votsira has been implemented through 3 phases, and SEED is currently implementing the 4^th phase (June 2022 to May 2024).

Year 1 of votsira phase 4, was a great success with a total of 528 education sessions delivered to 1320 caregivers, and 2631 household visits to give opportunity to mothers to ask more specific and personal questions. Focus groups and roundtable discussions at the end of year 1 of phase 4, provided valuable insights into areas requiring more focus in year 2. Year 2 curriculum includes sessions on; antenatal visits and hospital delivery, acute respiratory infections and vaccinations, breastfeeding, colostrum, nutrition, malaria, diarrhoeal diseases, family planning, syphilis and HIV.

By June 2023 a total of 940 caregivers were recruited to participate in the 2^nd round of mother and child health course in votsira phase 4. As of July 2023, a total of 88 sessions on antenatal care and nutrition were already covered. The remaining sessions will be rolled out in the course of year 2 of implementation of the project.

One beneficiary caregiver, testifies that she now knows more through the education sessions and her life and that of her grandchildren is changed. SEED’s work through project VOTSIRA is testimony to the great support received through generous donors abroad and from local Malagasy people.

Maternal and child health education session

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May 25, 2023
Project Votsira IV: Achievements from Year One

By Kathryn Francis | Programmes and Office Assistant

Project Votsira, meaning ‘the state of wellbeing of a new mother and her child’ in Malagasy, involves working with healthcare professionals in Fort Dauphin, to deliver child and maternal health education training to community members to improve health outcomes. Prior to Covid-19, every day in Madagascar ten women died from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, and 100 children under five years old died from preventable diseases such as acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, and malnutrition. Knowledge of maternal and child health is low, and health services are often understaffed and poorly equipped.

In Year One of Votsira: Phase IV, SEED successfully delivered 528 community education sessions, designed in partnership with the Ministry of Public Health, to 1,320 mothers, fathers, grandparents and young women. Topics included safe delivery, antenatal visits, acute respiratory infections, vaccinations, colostrum, breastfeeding, nutrition, family planning, diarrhoea, syphilis, and HIV. Community health workers also carried out 2,631 household visits, offering a valuable opportunity for mothers to ask more specific and personal questions in the privacy of their own homes. The project also works to strengthen community health systems, with 31 clinical health centre staff receiving technical training on emergency obstetric and neonatal care.

While Votsira has made steady progress in improving child and maternal health outcomes, the communities are amongst the poorest in the world and the challenges they face are amplified in the remote southeast Anosy region of Madagascar.

Year Two will continue to build on the successes of Year One by empowering caregivers to protect themselves and their children from preventable illnesses, and improving the quality of local healthcare services. Additionally, SEED aims to increase collaboration amongst maternal and child health stakeholders at the regional and national levels, to enable systemic change. Collectively, these activities will produce a lasting and positive impact on maternal and child health outcomes across Fort Dauphin.

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