Despite the unique role of midwives in communities as trusted sources of information and accessible healthcare workers in the midst of COVID-19, midwives are often an overlooked group.
As such, the Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST), in partnership with Project HOPE, are launching Champions of Community Care: COVID-19 Management Training for Filipino Midwives. The first of its kind, the program is designed to mobilize and empower midwives and midwifery students as conduits of COVID-19 safety, education, and awareness in the community, through capacity development and the provision of quality education materials.
Training sessions covering a range of topics like COVID-19 Infection, Prevention, and Control (IPC), vaccination basics, and effective training tips, are the key activities of the program. Following a Training of Trainers (ToT) formula, Master Trainers will be engaged as initial trainees after which they will roll-out the training to other midwives and midwifery students in their communities and networks.
Overall, the project aims to certify 100 Master Trainers, who will go on to train 2000 midwives and midwifery students to equip them with the necessary knowledge, skills, and educational materials to become protectors against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. This formula of equipping midwives to train their current and future colleagues will enable the exchange of best practices to continue sustainably well beyond the program. In the long run, this will be beneficial to both the midwives and the communities they serve.
Francis Macatulad, Director of Projects and Strategy at ASSIST said, “By connecting with midwives directly, Champions of Community Care is our way of reaching out to this group of essential healthcare professionals and extending to them the same degree of care and protection that they give to their own communities.”
Kick-off activities beginning this month include the virtual training roll-out, distribution of learning materials for asynchronous learning purposes, and the COVID-19 community awareness and education campaign activation.
Along with the indispensable support of John Hancock and module content development by experts at Brown University, the Champions of Community Care training program has also partnered with the Philippine League of Government and Private Midwives and the League of Municipalities of the Philippines.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, ASSIST and Project HOPE partnered to save the lives of healthcare workers (HCWs) through four strategies: protection during service delivery through PPE distribution, training on COVID-19 IPC, vaccine basics, and mental health and resiliency, targeted technical assistance to strengthen COVID-19 IPC measures in healthcare facilities, and raising awareness on COVID-19 vaccination to address vaccine hesitancy. Such partnerships remain vital in amplifying positive impact and achieving transformational change.
For potential partners and more information about the project, contact Franz Raña of ASSIST at [email protected].
Stock photo from: National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
