Speaker: Rizka Ayu Setyani
Facilitator: Terri Downer and Scarlet Woolcott
One of the obstacles to handling HIV is late diagnosis due to a lack of access to diagnostic services in health facilities. In addition, the negative stigma against this disease also makes people reluctant to diagnose at health facilities. Early diagnosis needs to be done, especially in pregnant women, as an essential condition that needs to be known in childbirth and breastfeeding. Unfortunately, the HIV testing policy in Indonesia still has loopholes for the mother or the patient to refuse to take the HIV test. Health workers are required to offer HIV testing, but the mother’s voluntary willingness determines the HIV test. This implementation trial pilot study used random cluster sampling to select seven intervention and seven control sites in Yogyakarta city, Indonesia. Seven intervention health facilities used the EKSTRIM website for three months, from January through April 2022, to educate and do HIV counselling with pregnant women patients. EKSTRIM website was designed for use on mobile phones to improve HIV testing among pregnant women. Health workers managed to record 1,594 visits and were able to increase HIV testing by 6.7% in pregnant women. The EKSTRIM pilot demonstrated the feasibility of implementing a digital healthcare-integrated solution in a low-resource setting, health worker capacity building and patient self-care into a single robust and responsive system. Although the implementation phase was only three months, the pilot generated evidence that EKSTRIM could increase HIV testing uptake.
Recording: https://youtu.be/tG1Vs6rwvHQ
Speaker: Sarah Smits
Facilitator: Liz McNeill
Sharing knowledge and stories to promote the work of The Midwife Project. A project to support the preservation of Mayan midwifery wisdom and bridge the gap between the knowledge of the younger generations of clinically trained midwives and the elder traditional midwives. Honouring and understanding the importance of both the knowledge of modern and traditional midwifery practices to best serve their community.
Lake Atitlan, Guatemala has a prevalent population of Mayan people still practicing Mayan cosmology and ways of life.
Due to cultural practices and barriers to accessing the only hospital around the lake, many women birth at home with Mayan midwives. Yet the Mayan midwifes, some of whom have been practicing midwifery for 40 years, report how births are becoming more complicated and welcome the opportunity to learn different skills to support their communities growing needs.
The Midwife project aim to bridge this gap. A 6 month training program was initiated in 2022 whoch offers the opportunity for the elder midwives to learn clinical skills and for the younger generation of midwives to learn the traditional Mayan practices.
Every week more and more women, some as young as 12 who have had the calling to become midwives join the project. It is an important opportunity to strengthen the community of Mayan midwives, so they can better support their community.
Recording: https://youtu.be/mILlyDhuadE
Speaker: Joy Kemp and Sharmin Shobnom Joya
Facilitator: Aisha Salihu Abdullahi
A 5-year twinning partnership between the Bangladesh Midwifery Society (BMS) and the Royal College of Midwives UK was completed and evaluated in 2022; results will be shared in this presentation. Twinning was both organisational and individual. Midwives are new in Bangladesh; they are negotiating professional space. UK midwifery is more established but the workforce is not representative of the population with Bangladesh heritage (1%); maternal and perinatal outcomes are worse for South-Asian families. Therefore, twinning had potential benefit for both contexts.
Objective: To evaluate if twinning had mutual benefit, especially in strengthening midwifery leadership.
Methods: A mixed methods enquiry using document-review, surveys, focus-groups, key informant interviews and participant observation. Evaluation framework informed by OECD criteria and stakeholder questions. Thematic data analysis.
Results: BMS’ organisational capacity increased significantly during the partnership. Fifty-one young midwife leaders in Bangladesh were developed and six won international leadership fellowships. Seven quality- improvement projects in Bangladesh were successfully completed, advancing midwifery services. UK midwives valued and learned from their participation. The partnership enabled greater engagement with South Asian diaspora midwives in the UK and highlighted inequity of UK maternity outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic brought both challenges and opportunities for innovation.
Conclusions/Summary: This partnership strengthened midwifery associations and midwifery leadership and impacted every area of the ICM’s Professional Framework in Bangladesh. Twinning facilitated reciprocal benefits in both countries and may be replicable in other contexts.
Recording: https://youtu.be/jCiv_7LqMnA
Speaker: Brenda Araujo Salas
Facilitator: Paloma Terra
A partir de las ilustraciones elaboradas por Yaquemilsa Matiashi Vicente, una joven madre del pueblo Matsigenka, perteneciente a la amazonía peruana, describiremos las prácticas tradicionales en salud materna que aún se mantienen vigentes en las comunidades más alejadas de la vida moderna. Se describirán las concepciones y prácticas culturales durante la primera menstruación, los cuidados en el embarazo, la atención del parto por parte de la familia y parteras, y los cuidados en el posparto.
Conocer gráficamente las prácticas en salud materna a través de la mirada de una mujer del mismo pueblo, nos permite visualizar detalles significativos que se dan en la los cuidados de las mujeres gestantes y los recién nacidos. La importancia de este material es educativa y en favor de una mejora en la atención del parto para fundar la comprensión y el respeto a las costumbres y participación de las parteras y especialistas tradicionales de salud, ya que, actualmente, gran parte de las comunidades amazónicas tienen acceso a establecimientos de salud, pero estos ofrecen servicios sin pertinencia cultural. Por otro lado, el material también permite el reconocimiento de la importancia de los conocimientos de las mujeres Matsigenka en los niños, niñas y adolescentes.
English:
From the illustrations elaborated by Yaquemilsa Matiashi Vicente, a young mother of the Matsigenka people, belonging to the Peruvian Amazon, we will describe the traditional practices in maternal health that are still in force in the communities farthest away from modern life. We will describe the cultural conceptions and practices during the first menstruation, pregnancy care, childbirth care by the family and midwives, and postpartum care.
The graphic presentation of maternal health practices through the eyes of a woman from the same village allows us to visualize significant details in the care of pregnant women and newborns. The importance of this material is educational and in favor of an improvement in childbirth care, in order to establish understanding and respect for the customs and participation of midwives and traditional health specialists, since, at present, most Amazonian communities have access to health facilities, but these offer services without cultural relevance. On the other hand, the material also allows the recognition of the importance of Matsigenka women’s knowledge in children and adolescents.
Recording: https://youtu.be/voZyHiTevvw
