Initiated in October 1998, the Maternal & Neonatal Health (MNH) Program was a 5-year USAID-funded global initiative to increase the survival of mothers and their newborns. Its mission was to provide technical assistance to increase access to, demand for, and use of life saving care for mothers and newborns. The MNH Program was implemented by JHPIEGO in collaboration with CCP, CEDPA, and the Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health in 11 countries worldwide. CCP facilitated Nepal’s first Safe Motherhood Information Education Communication (SMEIC) strategy and an innovative campaign reaching out to husbands and mother-in-laws to improve maternal health.
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The USAID-funded Nepal Family Health Program (NFHP) ran from 2001-2006. The program focused on reducing fertility and protecting family health through increased use of quality family planning services and selected maternal and child health services. NFHP emphasized household and community-level services by strengthening health service delivery systems. To maximize the long-term impact, technical assistance and activities were planned and implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health. CCP developed the Radio Health Program that simultaneously reached out to Female Community Health Volunteers and the general public with mass media, community, and interpersonal communication activities.
Nepal's rugged terrain, remote villages, high unmet need for family planning, and low literacy rates make radio the ideal medium for disseminating family planning/reproductive health information. Implemented between 1994 and 2001, the Radio Communication Program was developed in collaboration Nepal’s Government, the National Health Training Council (NHTC), the National Health Education Information and Communication Council (NHEICC), and the Family Health Division (FHD), with funding from USAID and technical assistance from JHU/CCP. The project integrated mass media, distance education, and interpersonal communication and counseling training programs. Together these activities aimed to improve the quality of contraceptive services, empower clients to actively seek contraceptive information and services, and promote the concepts of 'responsible husband' and 'well-planned family'.
Suaahara [4]
Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Suaahara works in 25 underserved districts in Nepal to improve the health and wellbeing of the Nepali people by focusing on the nutritional status of women and children under-two years of age. Led by Save the Children, the project will work with communities, government and civil society organizations to provide women and their families with access to information and skills for better nutrition, hygiene and health practices.
The project will also support the Government of Nepal to enable it to achieve the goals in its National Nutrition Action Plan. For example, it will work with the government to build the capacity of health workers, as well as staff from the Departments of Agriculture, Local Governance, Education, and Water. This will create multi-sectoral collaboration and synergy to address the pervasive problem of under-nutrition in Nepal.
Suaahara means good nutrition, or “a good balanced diet is the strong foundation protecting our lives.” As part of the implementing team, CCP will support strategic social and behavior change communication initiatives that build on this message and lead to improved maternal, infant and child nutrition—including demand creation for locally available nutritious foods. It will also design a series of communication interventions that support national nutritional health issues.
Support to the Safe Motherhood Programme (SSMP) was a 5-year DFID-funded programme that worked directly with the Government of Nepal Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) to sustain the National Safe Motherhood Programme. Managed by Options UK, SSMP focused on improving the policy environment and systems for delivering and improving access to maternal health care especially for poor and socially excluded women. CCP’s role as a partner with SSMP was to provide technical support in health communication, both for the Government through the National Health Education, Information, and Communication Center (NHEICC), and for other SSMP implementing partners, including Action Aid Nepal, United Mission to Nepal and UNICEF. CCP focused on strengthening capacity in strategic communication planning, networking, implementation, and monitoring, and developing media and materials for the program. All program activities were in line with the National Safe Motherhood IEC Strategy.
