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LSTM’s Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health (CMNH(link is external)), together with UNICEF and WHO, has organized a two day workshop on quality of care (QoC) for mothers and babies in Lilongwe, Malawi.
The meeting was opened by the Malawi Minister of Health Dr. Peter Kumpalume; Juliana Lunguzi, a Member of the Malawian Parliament; and by the representative of UNICEF, Mahimbo Mdoe, in presence of more than 65 participants from District Health Offices, local training institutions, MoH officials and the donor community. Senior experts from UNICEF New York and from UNICEF Regional Office did also attend the meeting which, following the opening remarks, included keynote presentations by the Head of CMNH,Professor Nynke van den Broek and her colleague Dr Helen Smith.
Gathering evidence produced through an ongoing partnership between UNICEF, WHO, the Ministry of Health and CMNH, the workshop focused on aligning stakeholders on global quality of care policies, strategies, frameworks and standards. In addition participants presented and validated the findings of a QoC assessment performed in Malawi; shared evidence, lessons learned and best practices on QoC; and identified priorities for research in quality of care in Malawi.
In a reaction Professor van den Broek said: ‘The workshop was a great success. I am very proud of the work done by CMNH and partners here, to enhance quality of care for mothers and babies and to discuss the evidence we generated for what works well, what not and why. Overall, CMNH and partners have really done fantastic work to have a better understanding of the research needs and priorities so that to the Quality of Care interventions in Malawi can be scaled up successfully.’
In his closing remarks, the Malawian Minister of Health referred to Professor van den Broek's presentation and highlighted her experience on improving quality of care in Malawi, and he concluded recommending that the Ministry of Health adopts a dashboard to map Quality of Care along the lines of the one designed by LSTM in partnership with WHO and UNICEF.