LSTM's Centre of Maternal and Newborn Care (CMNH) is working with the Department of Mother and Child Health (Direction de la Santé Mère-Enfant, DSME) to deliver a national assessment of the quality of care of maternal and child health services in Niger.
As part of the preparations, a team from CMNH spent two weeks in Niamey to conduct training for 45 data collectors. Working alongside in-country partners from DSME, the National Institute for Statistics (Institut National de la Statistique, INS) and University Research Co. (URC), the team carried out a workshop on the principles of Monitoring & Evaluation, quality assurance, data collection tools and the use of tablets in the field, followed by two days of field visits in health facilities.
The training prepared the data collectors to carry out an evaluation of the quality of maternal, newborn and infant care in 110 facilities across Niger. This comprehensive study, funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria(link is external), will allow the Ministry of Health to plan for a national strategy aiming at improving the continuum of care for women and children. This is particularly pertinent for Niger, where still too many face preventable deaths or impairment through pregnancy and birth.
Dr Barbara Madaj, Head of Monitoring and Evaluation; Simone Filiaci, Research Assistant; Dr Alexandre Quach, Clinical Research Associate; Dr Adama Traore, Senior Technical Officer and Dr Dankom Bakusa, Senior Technical Officer, who were all part of the CMNH team conducting the training said:
“Despite the high temperatures and long working hours, it was a pleasure to work with the partners and the team, who all share the same vision and are committed to the cause. There is no doubt all who were involved in these two weeks will remember it as a fantastic platform for learning and exchanging expertise on methodology and field-oriented reflection, to which the CMNH team will add the discovery of Nigerien cuisine delights!
The training participants have now been assembled into teams and are getting ready to start the collection, which will take two months. With temperatures peaking and the month of Ramadan coming, we wish them good luck and trust them with the best scientific work!”