How Our 2020 Second half is going…
2020 has been an interesting and unprecedented year. A lot has happened due to direct or indirect effects of the coronavirus pandemic that had the whole world clutching its pearls. The disease has changed day to day interactions and led to the closure of schools and reduction in human gatherings which meant we had to take a step back as an organization to re-strategize and make sure our interventions are impactful and do not break the guidelines put in place against the coronavirus.
The novel virus is highly infectious and in its prevention, the emphasis is placed on handwashing, physical distancing, and the wearing of a face mask. We added a new product to help keep our target population safe, this is the Safer Motherhood kit (Safer – Mkit). The Safer- Mkit is designed as a Hygienic pack with personal hygiene products and supplements to boost their immune system such as; haematinics, vitamin supplements, folic acid, paracetamol, hand sanitizer, face masks, baby wipes, liquid soap, chlorxy-G gel, and IEC materials on Family planning. Other Safer hands health initiative products like the TTT (Training The TBAs) Pack, Safer Family Planning (Safer – FP), Safer Sanitary kit (Safer – Skit) were also assembled and distributed to the appropriate population.
Events for the second half of this year kicked off with the 4th edition of our ” TTT – Training the TBAs” project at Ilo Ajegunle Community on the 9th of July, 2020. The TTT program is our foremost program, which we do from time to time and the main purpose of the event is to educate Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) on appropriate and hygienic techniques for delivery of pregnant women and important precautions to take. We have continually partnered with NURHI 2 and KIT international to bring this event to the communities, and now in a CCOVID-19 compliant manner. Each participant was given a TTT package containing 10 – 20 birthing kits, 50cl of disinfectant, 12 male condoms, 2 female condoms, Nitrile gloves, face masks with pamphlets on family planning methods, hand washing and disinfecting work faces and equipment. Some supplies were also distributed to the staff and apex nurses in the Ilo Ajegunle PHC.
In August, we partnered with CHAIS for the Exclusive Breast Feeding week that ran from the 1st to the 7th of August, 2020. The first two days were used for social media sensitization across the different social media platforms while the next two days we visited partners and the community. On the 5th of August, we had a community outreach to the antenatal clinic at the Ifako ijaiye PHC where we interviewed the medical officer of health and the apex nurse on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding and it was aired on NTA (national television authority). We also donated relief items and maternal and child care items to the health center.
The week continued with a health education session for pregnant women on Thursday, the 6th of August. Issues like care of the breast, breastfeeding position, benefits, breastfeeding as family planning were all extensively discussed during sessions facilitated by maternal and child health experts. There was also a radio campaign with volunteers representing us at Naija FM on ‘doctors on air’ to raise awareness on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding and at Eko FM on ‘youth angle’ where the role of men in breastfeeding was discussed. There was a mini-training for the community birth attendants (CBAs) in the Ifako-ijaiye communities at the PHC– for behavioral modification and knowledge needed to give good delivery room care. This was taken by Dr. August Emele – Project Director, CHAIS, and Dr. Agoyi M. O. Program Manager, SHI.
In September we had another edition of the TTT project at Ojokoro LCDA on the 18th sponsored by the pollination project and our usual partners. In this project, we were able to enroll over 20 new community health care providers. We also had an ANC outreach on the 23rd of September at the PHC in Kola, Alagbado with the help of their medical officers of health and apex nurses.
During this period we also got an invite to a workshop on cyber/digital laws/ policies, AI, ML, and big data in Ibadan, Oyo state, and our application for the Canva pro premium feature for our non-profit got accepted. We also got a seed grant from the pollination project to amplify our “Safer Motherhood and delivery in a pandemic era”, participated in the tweet chat by “Find My Method” in commemoration of the World Contraceptive day #FMMWCD and shared our COVID impact story with “Talkative Africa” on an Instagram live session.
It has been a very eventful year and we have had to regroup to ensure that our goals are met and we are able to impact as many people as possible. We have had several challenges due to the peculiarities of the time we are in and due to inadequate funds however, we surmounted them and our team brought forward ideas that kept our former programs and made them relevant to the current realities. We look forward to the remaining activities for the year.
To contribute to our goals of making the hands of birth attendants safer and overall improving delivery room outcomes, you can send money to our account with Access Bank Nigeria, account name is Safer Hands Health Initiative and the account number is 0783973081.
Thank you for being a part of our journey.
Adejumobi Sekinat
Volunteer Manager