STRENGTHENING EMERGENCY OBSTETRIC AND NEWBORN CARE AND FAMILY PLANNING IN NORTHERN NIGERIA FY 11 ANNUAL REPORT

The program aims to increase the utilization of quality Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC) services by pregnant women, mothers, and their newborns in selected Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Kano, Katsina, and Zamfara States. The program's life-of-project (LOP) objective is to increase the utilization of quality EmONC services by pregnant women, mothers, and their newborns in selected LGAs in three states. To achieve this objective, MCHIP has six intermediate results, including improved enabling environment and scale-up of best practices for EmONC at national and state levels, increased availability and distribution of EmONC trained health care workers in selected LGAs, improved quality of EmONC services in selected LGAs, improved quality of family planning (FP) services in selected LGAs, increased demand for maternal and newborn services in selected LGAs, and improved management of maternal and newborn services in selected LGAs. In Q1-Q3 of FY11, MCHIP achieved several specific program activities, including training 19 trainers for the Society for Family Health in Balanced Counseling Strategy (BCS) for FP, collaborating with the TSHIP project to facilitate a Training of Trainers (TOT) course on community mobilization, and conducting an SBM-R training course for 65 participants in Bauchi State. MCHIP also collaborated with the Kano State Ministry of Health to build the capacity of FP service providers working in MCHIP-supported health facilities on FP commodity logistic management. In addition, MCHIP donated copies of its EmONC manuals to the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital and donated one delivery kit to the Tattarawa PHC in Kano to jumpstart admission of pregnant women in labor for delivery services. MCHIP also hosted the USAID Senior Health Advisor, HPN Team, Dr. John Quinley, during a visit to the MCHIP Kano Field Office and its supported health facilities and communities. Furthermore, MCHIP organized a series of one-day EmONC orientations for 178 NYSC medical and para-medical graduates, as well as sociology graduates, in three State Camps. MCHIP also trained 5 faculty staff at the Kano School of Midwifery in neonatal resuscitation using an anatomic model. The program's quarterly report for Q4 FY11 indicates that MCHIP has made significant progress in achieving its intermediate results, including improved enabling environment and scale-up of best practices for EmONC at national and state levels, increased availability and distribution of EmONC trained health care workers in selected LGAs, and improved quality of EmONC services in selected LGAs. The program's budget for FY11 is $6,150,000, with $6,150,000 committed as of September 30, 2011. The program's actual expenditures for Q4 FY11 were $417,020.93, with estimated expenses for the next quarter of $598,411. The program's monthly burn rate for the last three months was $139,007. Overall, the Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care and Family Planning in Northern Nigeria program has made significant progress in achieving its objectives and has the potential to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes in the region.