P A G E 6
J U L Y 2 0 1 5
V O L . 4 , N O . 1
and resources are limited, so that even with considerable international funding, not all
regions can be reached with current maternal/child health programs. So far SAVA region
has not been included in projects to deliver training in emergency newborn care. HBB can
be taught in a relatively short time, and participants can then be supported to train others
in simple but effective life-saving manoeuvres.
3) Were the trainings largely successful and well received by the local medical community?
We have run two courses – one in Sambava and one in Andapa. Each course has had
12 participants, including doctors, nurses and midwives, from both public and private hos-
pitals, as well as
the
Level
2
Health Centers -
‘CSBs’-
within
each town. The
courses
were
very well re-
ceived: partici-
pants were keen
to learn and as-
sessments
showed an im-
provement
in
knowledge and
skills. In each
town we gave
additional
in-
struction to sev-
eral participants,
selected by the Regional Minister for Health, to enable them to train others. Course mate-
rials and resuscitation equipment were given to all participants, and each hospital was
provided with a training kit.
4) What are your hopes and concerns for the future?
We hope that an increased level of knowledge and skills, together with wider availabil-
ity of simple but effective equipment, will reduce the number of unnecessary newborn
deaths in this region. We also hope that the training will be cascaded to others, particular-
ly those responsible for maternity care in more rural and isolated settings, where access
to health care is particularly limited. We appreciate that on-going support would be valu-
able to ensure skills are maintained, but hope that our designated trainers will be able to
do this, and that we can continue to support them from a distance, or ideally through fur-
ther visits.
Dr. Alison Leaf and her husband, Dr. Andrew Wilkinson
Supporting Medical Training Programs to Help Newborn Infants
Continued
