By Rebekah Chewning Titus
JHPIEGO

JHPIEGO has been awarded $356,470 by the Ford Foundation to continue post-tsunami work in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and $42,000 by the American Refugee Committee for a pilot program in post-earthquake Pakistan.

The Ford Foundation grant will allow JHPIEGO to continue its work strengthening midwifery education at Poltekkes and Akbid Muhammadiyah schools in Banda Aceh, part of its relief work after the tsunami.

"Our work in Aceh is vital on two levels," said Maryjane Lacoste, JHPIEGO regional and country director for Indonesia. "We're helping to strengthen the health care system after serious damage by the tsunami, but our work is also helping provide women with skills to serve an important role within their community, while instilling pride and a sense of self-worth through economic opportunity."

Since the South Asian tsunami hit in December 2004, JHPIEGO and its partners have aided in the reconstruction of the public and private sector health care system. They have rebuilt and repaired community health clinics and midwifery schools, provided updated equipment and conducted staff training to ensure high-quality services and compliance to national standards. Under the new grant, JHPIEGO will continue to improve the overall quality of midwifery education at two key schools in Aceh by strengthening classroom teaching, laboratory practice and clinical services at all levels — hospitals, puskemas (community health clinics) and village midwifery clinics. JHPIEGO will also ensure that the training given to midwifery students is correctly implemented and fully institutionalized and that the leadership and management of midwifery education are stable and long lasting.

Because a midwife is the village's first point of contact for primary care and referral, the education of new and practicing midwives is one of the key factors in re-establishing and improving health care in Indonesia.

With the American Refugee Committee grant, JHPIEGO will begin work in the post-earthquake region of Pakistan, conducting a one-week pilot "training of trainers" in the Bagh Tehsil region. The goal of this short project is to enhance the medical and training capacity of local ARC senior staff to improve the performance of health care providers and other professionals who support the service delivery environment. Technical updates will be provided in emergency obstetric care, family planning and infection prevention, and a clinical training skills course will be conducted.

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