On 25th September 2007, a Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) Meeting was held at JICA Vietnam Office, Hanoi, to review the activities conducted in the first half of JFY2007 under the "Project for Capacity Building for Dissemination of Community-Based Reproductive Health (RH) Promotion Approach," (October 2006 - October 2009).

Representatives of the Provincial Health Department and the Reproductive Health Care (RHC) Centers of the five project provinces, i.e. Nghe An, Ha Nam, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh, gathered and reported on activities to the Ministry of Health (MoH) and JICA.

The Joint Coordinating Committee, the decision making body for the project comprising representatives from MOH, JICA, and provincial health officials, as well as experts, was pleased to see that the project was going smoothly.

During a JCC meeting

Following training-of-trainers in Nghe An in May and June, core training courses were subsequently organized in the other four provinces.

A total of 110 commune health center (CHC) and district health center staff received retraining for knowledge and skills in RH care, and about 60 district health staff were trained in supportive monitoring methods for CHC activities.

The participants indicated the training refreshed their knowledge and provided an opportunity to raise questions and clarify them, and many trainees mentioned the introduction of the concept and practice of client friendly services as one of the new subjects covered.

CHC staff practice suturing in a retraining class

In addition, the supportive monitoring training included actual monitoring visits to CHCs in order to make the training as practical as possible.

In August and September, as part of IEC/BCC promotion, workshops were held by the Women’s Union for provincial, district and commune members on using the Maggie Apron.

The trainers of the four provinces, who were trained in Nghe An, organized their own workshops for district and commune Women’s Union (WU) members. The commune level workshops were attended by CHC midwives, and this is expected to encourage future collaboration of the WU and CHCs in organizing health education sessions in the community.

Over 200 WU members and 48 CHC midwives took the workshops and most of them became confident in using Maggie Apron for education sessions. The participants commented that Maggie Apron is an attractively illustrated tool that makes people understand their body visually, and is convenient to carry.

In some communes, WU together with health staff conducted education sessions with the Maggie Apron and received positive and encouraging reactions from the audiences.

In Ninh Khang Commune in Ninh Binh Province, the commune WU started a regular adolescent RH class at a secondary school using the Maggie Apron.

Nghe An RHC Center and WU conducted monitoring and follow-up visits to the four provinces while the training and workshops were implemented, providing support and guidance wherever necessary.

Men find out the burdens of pregnancy
by wearing a pregnancy simulator