Maternal Child Survival Program Quarterly Progress Report FY 2016 Q1

The program aims to achieve three objectives: a better prepared midwifery and nursing workforce, standardized national Community-based Health Planning Service (CHPS) strategy and guidelines, and strengthened management and support systems to implement CHPS. In the first quarter of 2016, the program completed several activities, including procuring equipment for an eLearning secretariat, packaging four eLearning modules, finalizing a mobile-based malaria game, and processing Fixed Amount Awards (FAAs) for various institutions. The program also trained 25 national trainers for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and completed data collection for task analysis. Project administration changes were made, with Zacchi Sabogu assuming the position of CHPS Technical Advisor and Martha Serwah Appiagyei becoming the Project Director. Chantelle Allen, Country Director for Ghana, will be transitioning to a new post, and David Mensah, Research and Evaluation Technical Specialist, completed his contract. The program's monitoring and evaluation plan was revised and approved by USAID in March. The revised plan reflects changes in program activities in the Year 2 workplan. Results to date are presented in Appendix 1. In the subsequent quarter (April 1–June 30, 2016), the team will focus on several major activities, including completing midwifery school skills labs, distributing models and equipment to schools, commencing the pilot of the malaria game app, and deploying eLearning content to schools. For CHPS, the program will work in collaboration with GHS to mobilize a CHPS taskforce meeting, facilitate approval of the CHPS webpage, and start work on the CHPS planning tool. The program will also submit 5 regional FAAs for USAID approval, support the regions to sign the agreements, and begin work on the milestones. Additionally, the program will complete the RMNCH scorecard follow-up monitoring visits in collaboration with the Family Health Division, GHS. The Maternal Child Survival Program is working closely with various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service, and other USAID-funded partners, to achieve its objectives and improve health outcomes for mothers, newborns, and children in Ghana.