Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program - Ghana (MCHIP-Ghana)
In order to meet Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, the government of Ghana prioritized increasing the number of midwives to ensure that all births are attended by skilled providers. To meet this objective, the government opened 15 more midwifery schools between 2010 and 2014 to train more skilled providers. Student numbers also increased from as low as 50 students per school per year to as many as 250 students in some schools. Unfortunately, in some schools the required infrastructure and qualified tutors to support quality education for the increased number of students were not in place. For example, in one school the tutor-to-student ratio is 1:126. This shortage has contributed to poor performance by student midwives at licensure examinations. Under USAID’s flagship Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP), pre-service education was strengthened in twenty-eight midwifery schools, ten community health nursing schools, one public health school and one medical assistant school by:
- Ensuring competency of tutors, preceptors and new graduates (in malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, family planning, nutrition, and maternal and newborn health);
- Equipping skills labs;
- Introducing e-learning.
Activity Description
MCHIP supported the government of Ghana in enhancing quality improvement at all pre-service midwifery institutions. MCHIP improved the quality of health education through the following initiatives:
- Training tutors and preceptors in HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, family planning, etc.
- Find more effective ways to deliver traditional on-site training and coaching/mentoring visits
- Strengthening skills labs
- Supporting the integration and utilization of skills labs into teaching calendars and structure
- Increasing support to preceptors and clinical care sites to ensure standardization of practice
Expected Outcomes
- Development/updating of technical tools
- Improving teaching and mentoring skills
- Technical updates for tutors and preceptors
- Equipped skills labs at midwifery schools
Actual Outcomes
- MCHIP trained 100 tutors in effective teaching skills who then used these skills to prepare and give lessons to their students;
- Trained fifty-eight preceptors on mentoring/coaching skills to enable them to effectively transfer knowledge and support students in the clinical environment
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