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Project

Promoting Safe Motherhood in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia (IMCHA)
 

Ethiopia
Project ID
108028
Total Funding
CAD 980,800.00
IDRC Officer
Sana Naffa
Project Status
Completed
End Date
Duration
54 months

Programs and partnerships

Lead institution(s)

Project leader:
Lakew Gebretsadik Abebebe
Ethiopia

Summary

This project aims to support community-based services that will improve maternal health in Ethiopia, a country with some of the worst health indicators in sub-Saharan Africa. Women's use of maternal and child health services has significant gaps between urban and rural areas.
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This project aims to support community-based services that will improve maternal health in Ethiopia, a country with some of the worst health indicators in sub-Saharan Africa. Women's use of maternal and child health services has significant gaps between urban and rural areas.

Healthy mothers, healthy babies
The Government of Ethiopia is committed to improving maternal health. While some key indicators have improved, maternal mortality has not decreased significantly. The Ethiopian Health Department data suggests many of these maternal and neonatal deaths arise from home births in the absence of a skilled and experienced birth attendant. Strengthening community-based services is therefore important to ensure that mothers have access to services that result in safer deliveries.

Technology, communication, skills development
This project will implement interventions such as:
-training traditional birth attendants and equipping them with mobile phones
-developing communication and education strategies for religious leaders and men
-developing healthcare worker skills for safe deliveries

The project team will evaluate the use of improved maternal waiting areas and health extension worker practitioners for their impact on maternal health outcomes. The research will be carried out in close partnership with the Ethiopian Health Department. Researchers will identify interventions that are the most effective at improving maternal and child health services with a view to scale up nationally.

The project team will produce policy and media briefs, articles, and a project website to share information about the project and their findings.

Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa
This project is part of the Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa program, a seven-year $36 million initiative funded by Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD), Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Research outputs

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Article
Language:

English

Summary

Maternity waiting homes (MWHs) are temporary residential spaces located within or close to health facilities, offering skilled obstetrical care. Data used in this analysis were collected from three districts in Jimma Zone in the southern part of Ethiopia. The survey targeted 3840 women. Qualitative research from this study setting and other areas in Ethiopia highlight the pivotal role of husbands and family support in enabling women’s use of MWHs. Findings have implications for achieving equity in access to maternal healthcare, as poorer women with little social support in the form of companions accompanying them for health facility visits, are among the more vulnerable groups.

Author(s)
Kurji, Jaameeta
Article
Language:

English

Summary

This article explores how government stakeholders understand gender issues in the promotion of maternal, newborn and child health equity in Ethiopia. Participants in the study group have observed/experienced persisting gender-related barriers to health, stemming from traditional gender roles. They also noted an increased inclusion of women in the health workforce since the introduction of the Health Extension Program. Addressing gender inequalities can shift the distribution of power, wealth, and risk within society to the benefit of disadvantaged groups. However, the framing of gender as a women’s health issue, advanced through patriarchal structures, does little to elevate the status of women or contribute to health equity.

Author(s)
Bergen, Nicole
Article
Language:

English

Summary

The study worked to identify causes of death for neonatal, post-neonatal, infants and children under five years old in Ethiopia. Causes- targeted obstetric and child healthcare interventions will reduce mortality, and will require improving healthcare units. Major causes of death revealed in this study are bacterial sepsis, birth asphyxia, prematurity, acute lower respiratory infection and diarrheal diseases. Almost all causes are easily preventable and treatable and can be addressed by strengthening health extension services and improved quality of primary health care.

Author(s)
Mekonnen, Wubegzier
Article
Language:

English

Summary

The study documented causes of maternal deaths, and risk factors contributing to deaths aggravated by pregnancy and its management in Ethiopia (1990 to 2016), using a systematic review with meta-analysis. The nationwide registration of causes of maternal death should be strengthened to understand the causes in detail, their attributes, as well as the patterns of causes of death. Findings reveal that the main direct causes of maternal death in Ethiopia include obstetric complications such as hemorrhage, obstructed labor/ruptured uterus, pregnancy-induced hypertension, puerperal sepsis, and unsafe abortion. The health sector should sustain its current effort to tackle the diverse causes of maternal death in Ethiopia.

Author(s)
Mekonnen, Wubegzier
Article
Language:

English

Summary

Re-directing resources to vulnerable sub-groups and locations is necessary to ensure equitable progress in maternal health. Analysis of disaggregated national data suggest uneven access to essential maternal healthcare services. Of major concern are women who are the most vulnerable and in need of healthcare services, being least likely to access them. Mapping of core maternal healthcare service-use indicators can serve as a decision-making tool. This analysis focuses on services across the continuum of maternal healthcare: antenatal care, maternity waiting home use, delivery care at health facilities, and postnatal care, in three rural woredas in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia.

Author(s)
Kurji, Jaameeta
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