USAID’s five year MCSP initiative ends successfully in Ghana

The Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP), a five-year health initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to equip the midwifery and nursing workforce in Ghana with knowledge in their line of work has ended.

The project, which was carried out in almost all nursing and midwifery schools across the country, supported sustainable reproductive, maternal new born and child health interventions with aid from the Health Ministry.

Madam Janean Davis, USAID’s Ghana Health Team Lead, said the programme had collaborated closely with the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service, the National Health Insurance Authority and other institutions to implement innovative activities with the aim of preventing maternal, new born and child deaths.

She was speaking at the program dissemination and learning event held in Accra on Thursday to mark the end of the program in Ghana.

Since 2014, the USIAD has funded its Maternal and Child survival Program (MCSP) to support nursing and midwifery schools, the Community based Health Planning and Services (CHIPS) platforms, Early childhood Development and the National Health Insurance System.

The programme according to Madam Davis focused more on providing nurses and midwives with an improved pre-service learning environment to hone their clinical skills because they were at the forefront to deliver maternal and child care.

“Under the programme, we helped to refurbish and equip 72 nursing and midwifery skills laboratories supported the training of 420 principals and tutors in the effective usage of labs and also equipped 12 model CHPS compounds,” he said.

Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, Director General of the Ghana Health Service, said the program had contributed to the remarkable progress made in the national maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

He said initiatives such as the CHPS costing and planning tools, implementation guidelines and harmonised CHPS training materials which were developed under the program would guide the government in achieving Universal Health Coverage.

Dr Asare observed that infection prevention control was improved through the technical assistance given to develop the national guidelines and downstream training at the district and regional level.

He said the MCSP integrated e-Learning strategies provide additional learning content that students can access at school computer laboratories, personal laptops and smart phones.

“These technology-based modules were interactive and included case studies and quizzes which allowed students and tutors to monitor progress,” he said.

The programme, he noted, provided schools with fully equipped skills laboratories where students practiced skills in a safe environment before implementing them in real world settings.

The MCSP by the USAID is a global USD 560 million cooperate agreement funded by the USAID in 25 priority countries around the world with the ultimate goal of improving maternal and new born care.