Maternal and Neonatal Health

The last decade has seen significant internal migration, forcing people to leave rural areas in search of employment in cities. Industrial areas and slums have sprung up on the outskirts of cities, where living conditions are particularly difficult.

Compounding this situation is a healthcare system that lacks interpersonal communication skills, where mistreatment during care, disrespect for confidentiality and privacy, and medical procedures performed without patient consent are widespread.

Enfants du Monde and its local partner, the NGO Green Tara Nepal, are working together in the southern province of Lumbini to improve the health of pregnant women, young mothers and their newborns living in these slums on the outskirts of the city.

Our Impact

• 1 team of 15 trained trainers
• 80 nurses, 40 paramedics and 40 administrative staff trained in maternal and neonatal healthcare and COVID-19 protection
• 180 volunteer health workers trained to raise awareness in communities
• 20 prenatal health facilities equipped with essential maternal and neonatal healthcare supplies and personal protective equipment against COVID-19
• 10,000 women and 7,000 husbands benefiting from health education sessions
• 65% of pregnant women and young mothers accessing the four prenatal check-ups

Improving the Quality of Care and Encouraging Women to Seek Neonatal Care and Treatment for COVID-19

Today, women remain reluctant to seek maternal and child health services and rarely know how to protect themselves and their babies from COVID-19.

Enfants du Monde and Green Tara Nepal have developed a training kit on respect for mothers and newborns to encourage health workers to consider the rights, dignity and privacy of women and their babies and to communicate with respect and confidentiality with patients, their partners and their families.

The kit also increases teams’ knowledge of preventive and medical care that is high-quality and appropriate to women’s culture and needs.

The aim of this approach is to improve the level of care and thus increase women’s satisfaction and their visits to health centres.

The project is being carried out in close collaboration with local and national authorities and government services in Nepal, in conjunction with the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health of the World Health Organisation in Geneva for certain contributions relating to the training of health personnel.