USAID’s five-year MCSP initiative ends successfully in Ghana

The Maternal and Child Survival Programme (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.

Ms Janean Davis, USAID’s Ghana Health Team Lead, said the programme 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 programme dissemination and learning event, held in Accra on Thursday to mark the end of the programme in Ghana.
Since 2014, the USAID has funded its Maternal and Child survival

Programme (MCSP) to support nursing and midwifery schools, the Community–based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) platforms, Early childhood Development and the National Health Insurance System.

The programme according to Ms Davis focused more on providing nurses and midwives with improved pre-service learning environment to hone their clinical skills as they were at the fore front to delivering 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 programme 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 tool, implementation guidelines and harmonised CHPS training materials, which was developed under the programme 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 levels.

He said the MCSP integrated eLearning strategies to provide additional learning content that students can access at school computer laboratories, personal laptops and smartphones.

“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 practised skills in a safe environment before implementing them in real world settings.

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