Project News

The 12th International Conference on the Maternal and Child Health Handbook was originally scheduled in July 2020, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the four-part webinar series in 2021 was organized to provide an opportunity for the participants to discuss on the effective utilization of MCH Handbook under the COVID-19.

The 1st Webinar Session was conducted on the 18th of February 2021with the theme "MCH Handbook: Ensuring maternal and child health care amidst the pandemic." Four countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and Ghana, reported their knowledge and experiences on how they continued to provide maternal and child health services during the pandemic and how they utilized the maternal and child health handbook. Ms. Esi Foriwa Amoaful, Deputy Director (Nutrition), Family Health Division, Ghana Health Service presented on "MCH Handbook: Ensuring maternal and child health care amidst the pandemic in Ghana".

Depending on the infection situation, the presentations from each country introduced various approaches, such as holding online mother's classes, providing face-to-face MCH services with fewer people, and/or producing educational materials that combine the contents of the MCH handbook with risk mitigation measures of COVID-19. In the Netherlands, where the digital MCH handbook is being used, it was reported that they were among the first to deliver messages on COVID-19 prevention measures to mothers and caregivers through the MCH handbook application.

Ms. Amoaful presented how Ghana responded to COVID-19 and promoted quality MCH and Nutrition services with the Guideline for Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition Service under COVID-19 Outbreak, which they developed in April 2020 with Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Health, Obstetrics and Gynecology Society, and Pediatric Society of Ghana. She elaborated that the guideline also recommends using MCH RB effectively in providing all routine services, counseling and health education for pregnant women, mothers and caregivers. She also reported that the Project continued training on MCH RB with taking risk mitigation measures and supported the printing of one million MCH RB in Ghana.

The Webinar was a great opportunity for the project to report the progress of the nationwide rollout and the promotion of maternal and child health under the COVID-19, and to learn about the efforts of other countries. We would like to continue to present at international conferences and seminar and share implementation knowledge and experiences with other countries.

• MCH Handbook: Ensuring maternal and child health care amidst the pandemic in Ghana (PDF/357KB)