Maternal and infant health protection project in The Gambia

Abstract

The main problems of Gambia in terms of high mother and children mortality are insufficient healthcare facilities, low number of healthcare professionals, inadequate pregnancy follow-up, delivery at home. According to WHO; infant mortality rate was 34.0, neonatal mortality rate was 25.3 per 1000 live births. Stillbirth rate was 21.0 per 1000 births, the frequency of receiving at least 4 antenatal care was 78.5%. The maternal mortality rate was 458.2 per 100000 births. The number of nurses/midwives was 8.9 per 10000 people. A training course for 30 doctors, nurses and midvives was given at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, between February 5-9, 2024. In addition, visits were made to the delivery room, neonatal intensive care unit and pediatric emergency units. The second part of the training was held with the participation of 14 trainees at Ankara University Cebeci Hospital between July 29-August 9, 2024. The training in our country was mostly focused on practical procedures such as patient care in areas such as out-patient and in-patient clinics, delivery rooms, operating rooms, and emergency rooms. In this report, we described healthcare problems, training program, our determined problems, recommendations. We have planned to do training program annually, monitor healthcare quality parameters as mortality rates. Main target of our Project is to decrease mother, neonatal and infant mortality. We know this can’t be only short educational program, also it should be supported to infrastructure, medical equipment, manpower.