Global/Regional
African Bureau: Raising Awareness of Maternal and Neonatal Health
In sub-Saharan Africa, 1 in 14 women will die during child birth. While crises related to poverty, hunger and HIV/AIDS in Africa are at the top of the agenda in the developed world, this crisis in maternal health remains invisible to those that have the resources to confront it. Although vigorous advocacy programs have been conducted in recent years at national policy and donor levels, at the family and community level, those who might be called the “real decision-makers” remain unaware of the extent of the problem and of the role they can play in saving the lives of mothers and newborns.
From July 2005 through June 2007, HCP designed and conducted a pilot program in two regions of Mali to raise awareness of maternal and neonatal health among these “real decision-makers,” primarily through the use of community radio. This primary audience included first and foremost the mother or mother-in-law of the pregnant woman (known as moussokoroba in Bambara), but also her husband or other family head who wielded the formal decision-making power in the household and community. A radio design and orientation workshop was conducted in Dioila (Koulikoro Region) from December 4 to 8, 2006. Participants included representatives from five local radio stations, leaders of women’s groups or community leaders, a traditional healer, a midwife, and representatives from the regional health and social development office. Plans were drawn up during the workshop for a series of 16 half-hour Bambara language programs in magazine format, incorporating a total of six pre-recorded spots presenting information on danger signs in the mother during pregnancy, childbirth, and following childbirth, danger signs in the newborn, and the importance of antenatal and post-natal consultation.
A second workshop, in which six radio stations were represented, was conducted in Niono (Ségou Region) from April 16 to 19, 2007. The radio magazines began airing in the Koulikoro Region on April 10, 2007. From this experience, HCP will produce a program legacy package, including tools that will allow the program to be easily replicated in other Francophone countries.
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