Lifelong Women's Health Promotion Project through One-Stop Sites | JOICFP - Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning

Lifelong Women’s Health Promotion Project through One-Stop Sites

Country	Zambia
Project Name	Promotion of Women’s Health throughout the Life Cycle at One Stop Service Project
Implementing Partners	IPPF Zambia Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia: PPAZ), Masaiti District Health Office, Mpongwe District Health Office, Ruhwanyama District Health Office
Supporting Agencies	Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Grant Assistance to the Japanese NGO project
Project Period	Masaiti, Mpongwe, and Lufwanyama Districts, Copperbelt Province
Target population	343,536 (140,452 in Masaiti District, 105,000 in Mpongwe District, 98,084 in Ruhuanyama District)

Description of SRHR Needs

In Zambia, the poverty rate in rural areas is high, and the maternal mortality rate has not improved much since 2010. The three project districts, Masaiti, Mpongwe, and Lufwanyama, are all located in rural areas of the Copperbelt Province, where access to health services, including maternal and child health, is difficult. The percentage of institutional births in rural areas is 56.3%, compared to 88.9% in urban areas. When complications occur, emergency transport to health facilities or referral hospitals does not arrive in time, resulting in death due to excessive bleeding or infection.
Besides, there is a lack of proper knowledge and information on pregnancy, childbirth, family planning, and sexually transmitted diseases: this is one reason people do not visit health services. As 59.5% of the total population is under 20 years old, young marriage, teenage pregnancy, and unwanted pregnancy/birth also need to be addressed. It is necessary to strengthen awareness-raising and educational activities on adolescent health, especially for the youth and parents.

Activities

1. Establish and maintain “one-stop service sites,” healthcare facilities that provide all the essential maternal health services.: In the first year, we constructed a maternal and child health care building, a maternity house, a youth center, a midwife’s house, a water tank, and a corridor at the Ngeremani Health Center in Masaiti District. We also provided basic medical equipment and medical materials. In the second year, we will build a maternity house, a youth center, a midwife’s house, and a water tank and provide basic medical equipment and medical supplies.
2. Awareness-raising activities and other education: To promote women’s health throughout their lives, we strengthened awareness-raising activities for the early detection of diseases specific to young people, pregnant and nursing women, and women (breast cancer, uterine cancer). In collaboration with the County Health Department and the County Education Department, conducted activities to strengthen girls’ capacity in schools and communities, integrated with menstrual education.
3. Enhance health workers’ and community health volunteers’ activities: The project trained the Safe Motherhood (SMAG) handbook produced in the previous project and a new Youth Peer Educator (PE) handbook as a training material, created in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.
We also provided leadership training to county health department staff and health care providers to ensure the continuity of the program. The training strengthened their capacity to conduct their own “communication training for behavior change” for maternal and child health promoters and youth PEs, then continuously support the volunteers’ activities.
SMAG and PE visited model sites and participated in workshops to share good practices and experiences.