Hanoi – MSI Viet Nam has been training and mobilising hundreds of health workers in the north west districts of Bao Yen and Van Ban over the past three years to reduce the region’s maternal mortality rate, which is double the national average. A major contributing factor is that women have historically given birth at home without trained support. However, as a result of MSI Viet Nam’s intervention, 92% of women in the two districts were able to access a trained birth attendant (TBA); 93% received ante and post natal care; and 73% had a delivery with a trained health worker present. The number of women that gave birth in commune health centres with trained support also increased significantly.
MSI Viet Nam trained provincial and district health authority workers in maternal and child health and helped them to develop monitoring and referral systems. These health workers, in turn, trained more than 332 TBAs and village health workers in family planning; ante & post natal care; how to recognise high-risk pregnancies and when to refer. The project also included the development of culturally appropriate information, education and communication (IEC) materials along with a manual for TBAs. Following the project, 80% of women in the two districts reported having had access to IEC materials.
MSI Viet Nam is keen to investigate ways of replicating the project, which was funded by NZAID, across the whole of Lao Cai province and neighbouring provinces.
Read more about MSI’s work in Viet Nam