Contact: Zelkifli Rahman Ngoufonja, International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, +231 6 528 089
MONROVIA, April 19 /Standard Newswire/ -- Over 100 midwives in Liberia have undergone intensive training over the past six months to improve the primary health care provided to child bearing women and newborn babies.
The following was issued as a press release by the ICRC delegation in
The women, from Lofa and Grand Kru counties, were offered the training by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) in partnership with the ICRC and the county health teams. It covered areas such as antenatal care, safe delivery and post partum care.
"Traditional midwives do provide a very useful link between pregnant women and health services, since they live in rural areas and have extensive practical experience working there," said Claudine Dauby, ICRC's health coordinator in
Their role includes detecting and monitoring pregnant women, and providing practical advice on matters relating to nutrition, vaccination and prophylaxis for malaria. They can also refer pregnant women to health structures for further management or delivery.
To help midwives perform safe and clean deliveries of babies in rural environments, the ICRC is providing each of the 113 course participants with a delivery kit.
All the midwives passed their training and were issued with certificates from the Family Health Division of the MoHSW in March and April 2007.