Maternal and Newborn Health in Ethiopia Partnership (MaNHEP)

Overview and Objectives

Introduced an innovative approach to reducing preventable maternal and newborn deaths by training community and family members to administer potentially lifesaving first aid at the time of delivery. The project trained community caregivers—health care workers, traditional birth attendants, family members, and community leaders—to assess and improve the way they care for mothers and babies from birth through the first 48 hours of life.

Achievements

• Strengthened links between health care providers and communities in order to improve tracking pregnancies and births and establish referral systems for complications
• Ensured that health extension workers, the cadre of public health providers closest to the community, visit the mother and newborn during the 48-hour period after a birth
• Built capacity for health care administrators at the district, zonal, regional, and national levels to develop QI activities and prepare for spread of prototype maternal and neonatal care at the community level