Thanks to our supporters, more pregnant women are having safe, healthy deliveries. In the Goro Woreda, Ethiopia, deliveries by skilled birth attendants are up to 77%, compared to the 2017 national average of 28%.
But too many pregnant women still die from preventable, treatable complications – over 300,000 globally every year. Receiving antenatal care is vital, helping to screen for life-threatening conditions, get important immunisations and receive essential medical advice.
In the world’s poorest countries, women are struggling to get the antenatal care they need. In rural Ethiopia only 17% of women are able to attend antenatal care in the first trimester, a crucial stage in the baby’s development.
These challenges are being exacerbated by coronavirus; restrictions on movement are hindering pregnant women’s chances to get the information and medical support they need.
There is a solution. Women and Children First is providing pregnant women with a ground-breaking innovation – personalised calendars – reminding them of the dates of their antenatal care appointments.
Right now, with our partner Doctors with Africa CUAMM, the charity is training local community health workers to identify pregnant women in their area and visit them to tailor personalised wall calendars.
Based on the date of the pregnant woman’s last period, they use a paper ‘contact calculator’, turning it to identify the dates they will have for their antenatal contacts, their expected due date and when they should receive their postnatal contacts and vaccinations.
The health worker turns the wheel to identify antenatal dates, postnatal care and when a baby should
receive their vaccinations.
These dates are then given to the woman on a personalised calendar that she can hang on the wall of her home. They are presented in a simple, clear and accessible way. They are important as so many women have no other way to access to this vital information.
These calendars also include visual messages promoting ways she can stay healthy during pregnancy and alerting her to danger signs that put both her life and that of her baby at risk. Moreover, they also include information on the symptoms of coronavirus and how to reduce these risks.
An example of the calendar, with the stickers included for appointments, and coronavirus health advice
The community health worker also records the dates so they can follow up at key points of the pregnancy, around delivery and during the first year of life, ensuring they are there to provide support and advice when most needed.
These calendars sit alongside Women and Children First’s other activities – forming support groups and training community health workers.
Together these solutions empower women to access antenatal care and the other lifesaving services they need. The charity is aiming to support over 1,750 women and babies with personalised calendars during the next year.
To support the charity in this work, expanding the number of calendars we are able to provide women in Ethiopia, and start similar projects across Africa in other countries including Uganda, please consider making a donation. Thank you.