Borgou Child Survival Project (2003 - 2007)
In 2003, MCDI received funding from USAID to implement a four-year Child Survival project in the Tchaourou and N'Dali health zones of the Department of Borgou, a focus region of USAID/Benin for piloting both facility-based and household/community Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) activities.
The overall goal is to improve the health of children under five and women of reproductive age in the project area.
The project's objectives are to:
- improve the quality of care delivered by health-service providers
- increase access to health services by expanding the role of community-based structures
- build capacity among post-natal caregivers to increase child survival rates
- strengthen the structures of the MoH and its partners to effectively implement household and community management of childhood illnesses (HH/C-IMCI) activities
Key intervention areas included malaria, pneumonia (ARI), control of diarrheal diseases, immunization, breastfeeding and nutrition, and HIV/AIDS. These interventions are fully integrated within the IMCI framework at the facility level and in the community (HH/C-IMCI).
MCDI's strategy reinforces existing local structures, particularly the ability of the MoH to provide quality child-survival and maternal-health interventions in the targeted areas.
Components of the project strategy include:
- strengthening capacity at the local level through the development of sustainable institutions and the deployment of community-based village coordinators to work directly with mothers
- institutional strengthening of the MoH by developing community-based Quality Assurance Teams (QAT) at each Rural Health Center (RHC) and improving the case management, behavior change communication, and management/supervision skills of RHC personnel
- promoting and facilitating synergies with other donor partners on materials, training modules, equipment, and the exchange of technical knowledge and lessons learned
Innovative approaches:
The project's successes have largely been attributed to the innovative approaches MCDI has utilized to achieve the project's objectives.
Through a network of community-based distributors, (CBDs) the project seeks to ensure that rural communities have access to bed nets, contraceptives, reimpregnation kits, fever medication (aspirin, cholorquine, and paracetamol), oral rehydration salts, and water purification equipment. The project has forged unique partnerships with the private sector to promote HIV/AIDS prevention. MCDI collaborated with local businesses, including a mobile telephone company and a water bottling company, to organize two concerts that attracted a crowd of 8,000 people. During the event, essential health messages were disseminated and contraceptives and insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) distributed. The project's greatest success, however, was the production and sale of an estimated 1.2 million bottles of mineral water, whose labels were printed with key messages on AIDS and malaria. This effort facilitated the transmission of key messages well beyond the targeted areas.
The VISA Approach utilizes local mothers to lead Behavior Change Communication (BCC) activities. Each VISA mother (VM) is responsible for monitoring 5 mothers. The VMs work with the mothers to adopt key behaviors related to a particular health issue. They are responsible for communicating to the mothers what can cause illness in their households, sensitizing them to adopt key behaviors, and assisting them in the process of adopting these behaviors. Once a mother has adopted a key behavior and seen its benefits, she is invited to become a VISA mother and recruit 5 other mothers, who in turn will recruit others so as to renew and sustain the VISA Approach.
Partners:
The project's primary partner is the MoH at the Department, Health Zone, and Rural Area (Arrondissement) levels, as well as all local health facility personnel. The Ministry of Social Promotion supports behavior change and social mobilization initiatives. Ministry of Education authorities are key partners for the implementation of child-to-child activities in the schools. The project works with the local NGO Sia N'Son, USAID's PROSAF project, Catholic Relief Services, Population Services International, the Roll Back Malaria program, UNICEF, and a wide variety of community organizations in implementing the interventions. MCDI also works with the Benin Family Promotion Association to support child-spacing activities.
