Strengthening Midwifery Services in South Sudan

The project aims to increase the availability of skilled health care providers especially midwives in order to reduce maternal and infant mortality in South Sudan. The project builds on results from two previous projects: Training Midwives and Deploying Midwives in South Sudan. It supports six national training institutes delivering midwifery and nursing education in South Sudan where a total of 850 health workers including 650 midwives are expected to complete training under the project. Project activities include: (1) developing a new curriculum for nurses and clinical officers; (2) obtaining the equipment required and improving the ability of the faculty members and administrative staff at the training institutes to teach and manage the midwifery and nursing programs; (3) mentoring of students and health care providers by international and national UN volunteer midwives during clinical practice to ensure the application of their skills; (3) training given by doctors working in health facilities to encourage a team approach in the provisions of midwifery and obstetric services; and (4) improving the ability of the Ministry of Health to manage and regulate the education of midwives and the ability of South Sudan's national and state-level Nursing and Midwifery Associations to advocate and promote their professions. The project is implemented by UNFPA in partnership with the Canadian Association of Midwives (CAM). CAM will provide direct peer to peer mentoring support and technical expertise from practicing Canadian midwives and midwifery educators. In addition the Canadian Midwifery Regulators Consortium will help to strengthen regulatory and licensing frameworks for the midwifery profession and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada will provide technical expertise in the updating of the curriculum and training modules in obstetrics and gynecology for doctors and medical officers.

The expected intermediate results for this project include: (1) improved delivery of quality gender-sensitive and environmentally sustainable education for health care providers in South Sudan; (2) improved delivery of gender-sensitive and environmentally sound maternal newborn and child health services by midwives nurses clinical officers and other health care professionals in targeted health facilities in South Sudan; and (3) strengthened enabling environment at the national and state level to facilitate gender-sensitive midwifery and obstetrics practices in South Sudan. This project is part of Canada's maternal newborn and child health commitment.