“Twin” projects, two interventions in different countries with the same goal: caring for the health of mothers and children during pregnancy and the period right after birth. In Ethiopia and Uganda, a partnership between Doctors with Africa CUAMM, Women and Children First (WCF), an English NGO expert in community initiatives, and the donor, Comic Relief. We will work jointly for three years in Goro, Ethiopia and in the Oyam District of Uganda to fight maternal and neonatal mortality, two prime indicators of a country’s health status.
Following WHO recommendations in “Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents Health (2016-2030)” and “Every Newborn Action Plan” to reach our objectives, the projects aim to actively engage the community, strengthen health systems, and support policies for equitable, universal coverage. Even in the most remote villages, groups called Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) are organized to give space to discuss these issues.
The entire community is invited to participate, not only women of childbearing age, involving most authoritative figures in the village and older women. A total of 113,600 people were involved in the two countries. The goal is to elicit ideas, problems, and opportunities to help find solutions that lead to better access and use of basic health services.
This partnership between CUAMM and WCF has gained an important recognition from one of the United Kingdom’s most important private foundations, which is now both funding the programs in Ethiopia and Uganda and funding a program in Mozambique to control malaria.
