Duration: 2009-2012
Budget: 3.498.000 euros
With this project the World Health Organisation (WHO) wants to improve access to reproductive health systems for women in southern African countries.
Duration and budget
The Flemish Government supports the “WHO Initiative for Healthy Pregnancy in Southern Africa: Introducing the WHO antenatal care model in order to strengthen health systems and address violence during pregnancy” with a contribution amounting to 3,498,000 euros. This amount was earmarked on the 2009 budget and will support the programme for four years. The project was already subsidised for an amount of 1 million euros in 2008.
The overall contribution to WHO for this project amounts to 4,498,000 euros. The programme started in August 2009 and lasts four years.
Problem definition
Each year, about 530,000 women die of pregnancy and delivery complications. Almost 4 million children die during the first four weeks after birth. The majority of casualties are women and children in the Third World. Their deaths could nearly all have been prevented with better health care and maternal and child care. Pregnant women and mothers of newborns have a need for, and are entitled to, improved access to reproductive health.
Practical implementation
With this project WHO wants to make sure that pregnant women receive more and easier access to specialised health care before, during and after the delivery. For this reason, WHO wants to gather all the expertise and services relating to the provision of health care to pregnant women and mothers with young children, so as to improve the quality of the provided care.
The programme will consist of the following phases:
- Implementation of the model for antenatal and maternity care in Mozambique. On the one hand, by providing the proven and recommended necessary services during ante- and postnatal care. On the other hand, by introducing a number of crucial measures in ante- and postnatal care to improve the health of mother and child. This is done, among other things, through the detection, treatment and prevention of illnesses like anaemia, and of infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and syphilis.
- To realise the results of the project in Mozambique and to disseminate them to health facilities in Malawi.
- To check whether a consultation for abused pregnant women can be integrated into the basic package for ante- and postnatal care which women in South Africa and Mozambique receive.
Partner
World Health Organisation (WHO)