MCSP Madagascar Quarterly Report January 01 – March 31 2015

The program includes six objectives, with a focus on providing support and technical leadership in maternal and newborn health (MNH) and family planning (FP) at the national level to the Ministry of Health (MOH). Key accomplishments during the second quarter of FY15 include the development of the work plan, which was revised and strengthened based on feedback from the Mission. MCSP provided technical support to the MOH and various technical working groups in MNH and FP. The program introduced itself to critical stakeholders at the national level and to regional health authorities in four regions. MCSP also disseminated the results of the MCSP assessment "Status of Maternal, Newborn and Family Planning Service Delivery at Health Facilities in 15 Regions of Madagascar" at the African Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (AFOG) Conference in Nairobi in February 2015. In terms of increasing access to and improving the quality of maternal and newborn health services in USG priority regions, MCSP adapted existing MNH training curricula to develop the "Day of birth" training curricula. The program conducted a technical update of a pool of 19 national trainers in MNH, including Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC). MCSP also began the development of MNH quality of care monitoring tools and related dashboards/visualization tools. MCSP developed the postpartum family planning training curriculum in preparation for the technical update of national trainers planned for April 2015. The program also developed the malaria in pregnancy (MIP) component of the MNH training curriculum in collaboration with the MOH/malaria program. Additionally, MCSP strengthened the capacity of pre-service training institutions to educate midwives according to International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) standards and competencies by providing technical updates to 9 teachers and preceptors from 3 IFIRPs (Antananarivo, Toamasina, and Fianarantsoa). MCSP is near finalization of the report for the assessment results and has developed 5 technical briefs on malaria, maternal health, newborn health, general service readiness, and family planning services. A manuscript on the assessment results has been submitted to the African Evaluation Journal and was accepted for peer review. The program is also preparing a second scientific article on this assessment. The MCSP Madagascar program aims to contribute to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in Madagascar. The program includes six objectives, with a focus on providing support and technical leadership in MNH and FP at the national level to the MOH. To ensure high-quality results, MCSP will apply a specific technical approach that will focus on evidence-based interventions along the continuum of care, including the antenatal period, labor and birth, and the postpartum period. MCSP conducted several courtesy calls with the MOH/DSFa and partners (UNFPA, Mikolo, MAHEFA) to introduce the project and discuss potential areas of collaboration. A draft MCSP workplan was shared and discussed with the DSFa, and many MCSP activities were aligned with the MOH 2015 workplan. While there is no official MOU with the Government of Madagascar, MCSP is supporting and mentioned in the MOH 2015 workplan. MCSP provided technical support and key inputs to the MOH and the RH technical working groups. Harmonization meetings for reproductive health communication tools were held in Antsirabe and Antananarivo, during which key MNH and FP messages were developed and validated. MCSP participants noted the lack of preexisting MNH materials and key PPFP messages, as well as the need for additional messages on neonatal health. A follow-up meeting at the DSFA/MOH office was organized to merge and harmonize the workshops' outputs.