The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #72877

Endang Iradati, BA, Center for Communication Programs, The MNH Program, Indonesia, 10th Floor Tifa Building, Jakarta, Indonesia, Sereen Thaddeus, MA, MPH, The Maternal and Neonatal Health Program, 1615 Thames Street, Baltimore, MD 21231, 410 537 1934, sthaddeus@jhpiego.net, and Anne M Palmer, MIA, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, MD 21231.

Indonesia has the highest maternal death rate in South East Asia. In response, the MOH developed a cadre of 47,000 community midwives in 1996 and deployed them in areas where 70% of the population live, to increase women’s access to life saving care. The Bidan di Desa (village midwife) program has received mixed reviews: the training was too short, too theoretical, and resulted in BDDs who are somewhat inexperienced and insecure about the job. This paper describes an innovative distance learning program tailored to strengthen BDD knowledge, skills, and self confidence. The program relies on radio to reach BDDs with entertaining and educational programming that reinforces the knowledge and skills they acquired in training. Half of the episodes focus on clinical topics, while the other half addresses counseling and communication skills to establish rapport with community and clients. Each episode is broadcast twice a week. Then , on a bimonthly basis, the BDDs in each of 55 villages directly concerned by the program meet with their facilitators in discussion groups to discuss their understanding of the episodes, relevance to their situation, what they would do in a similar situation. Twenty eight senior midwives were trained as facilitators for these sessions. Monitoring forms are regularly collected to gauge the interest of the BDD, listenership, understanding and appreciation of the program. This paper presents the full program, the quantitative results of the monitoring, as well as lessons learned in the process of development and implementation.

Learning Objectives:

• At the end of this session, participants will be able to :
• - Describe the objectives and components of the distance learning program
• - Summarize the results of the monitoring effort
• - Discuss the lessons learned in the process of implementation

Keywords: Midwifery, Distance Learning

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: The Maternal and Neonatal Health Program
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.