First Sub-Regional Level MAQ Exchange Held in Honduras
Photos by Bob Rice, FHI From 22 to 26 April 2002, the first sub-regional MAQ Exchange was held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Seventy-five participants from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic attended the Exchange, including representatives from the public and private sectors, NGOs, and USAID missions. The technical agenda for the workshop was determined by a needs assessment, which pointed to priority technical areas (e.g., access barriers, adolescent reproductive health, contraceptive security, antenatal and postnatal care, medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use, community-defined quality, supervision, family planning and reproductive health service integration, HIV/AIDS and contraceptive technology updates).
During the workshop, facilitators presented updates in best practices in priority technical areas and country teams developed action plans using a structured quality-improvement methodology. Teams selected interventions that could be implemented within one year to address such problems as limited provision of family planning services to postpartum and postabortion clients in hospitals, high maternal mortality caused by postpartum hemorrhage, limited use of standards and guidelines in labor and delivery and postpartum care in the public sector, and limited preservice education for healthcare students in the area of reproductive/sexual health service norms and guidelines. The Honduras MAQ Exchange is the first in which seed money will be dedicated to support the action plans that were developed. Each country will submit a final proposal to receive $15,000 to support its 1-year action plan.
The Honduras Sub-Regional MAQ Exchange was a dynamic, interactive event.
MAQ Exchange Held for Three States in Nigeria
From 19 to 22 March 2002, a MAQ Exchange was held in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The agenda for this 4-day workshop was based on the results of an in-depth performance needs assessment that had been carried out in the three participating states in December 2000. The Nigeria Exchange included technical updates on a variety of topics (e.g., access barriers, infection prevention, service delivery guidelines, client-centered communication, leadership and supervision, and reproductive health services integration).
Fifty-five representatives from three states—Enugu, Bauchi, and Oyo—participated in this event. Participants included family planning/reproductive health service providers, program managers, and supervisors from the public and private sectors and local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Three members of the Federal Ministry of Health co-facilitated the workshop. And, representatives from USAID/Nigeria's implementing partner agencies (CEDPA, JHU/CCP and EngenderHealth) took an active role in the Exchange.
The last day and a half was dedicated to developing four distinct action plans—one for each of the three states and one for the Federal Ministry of Health. These action plans focused on issues such as ensuring effective management at all levels of the healthcare system, updating the reproductive health service delivery guidelines for use by providers, developing management information systems to maintain client records, including community outreach in family planning workers' job expectations, and orienting providers to better infection prevention practices.