Nepal Safer Motherhood Project (NSMP) About the project: The Nepal Safer Motherhood Project (NSMP) is the largest and longest running project in the National Safe Motherhood Programme of His Majesty's Government of Nepal (HMGN). It is based in HMGN's Family Health Division and employs a team of over 20 professionals, with support from Options Consultancy Services, the managing agent. The project aims to bring about a sustained increase in the use of quality midwifery and essential obstetric care (EOC) (link to definitions page). The goals of this project are 1. Policy and Programme Development 2. Service Provision 3. Increasing Access
Policy and Programme Development : The Nepal Safer Motherhood Project (NSMP) supports the development of His Majesty's Government of Nepal's (HMGN's) National Safer Motherhood Plan and policy in two main ways: a) By using the experience of implementing its district‐level programmes to influence the government's thinking, planning and policy development. This approach is called 'rooted advocacy'. b) By supporting initiatives of emerging importance that, though sometimes unrelated to current district‐level experiences, are critical for the long‐term development of the sector. An example is promoting the safe abortion agenda.NSMP is able to achieve these strategies due to its high levels of internal technical expertise, combined with an excellent working relationship with HMGN's Health Divisions.
Service Provision Quality : Needs assessment studies of 16 health facilities in Nepal between 1997 and 2000 identified many problems with the quality of care in services provided in the country's maternal health sector. The quality of midwifery and obstetric care fell below WHO's standard 'Ten Elements of Quality of Care'. Facilities and infrastructure were poor, essential drugs and supplies were lacking, hospital management and support systems were weak and staff morale was low. The technical competence of staff was seen to be below the level specified in national clinical 1 | P a g e
protocols and there was a shortage of good quality training sites for midwifery and emergency obstetric care (EmOC). Service Provision Quality has done through ‐ 1) The 'Whole‐Site Support Package' 2) Supporting Maternal and Child Health Workers (MCHWs) 3) Hospital and Primary Health Management Committees
Increasing Access Barriers : The increasing access component of the Nepal Safer Motherhood Project (NSMP) aims to improve the social context for, and access to, midwifery and obstetric services by addressing six major barriers to care in Nepal: 1) Lack of knowledge on danger signs during pregnancy and the medical services available to help. 2) Traditional attitudes towards childbirth that may discount danger signs and discourage care seeking. Contributing factors include the low status of women in families and the concept of Laj (shame) when discussing women's health. 3) Poor physical access to health centres caused by inadequate transport services and the poor condition of many roads, trails and bridges. There is also a shortage of patient carriers, such as 'Dokos' (baskets) and 'Dolas' (hammocks) in villages. 4) Financial barriers created by the need to raise large sums of money quickly to meet the costs of emergency obstetric care (EmOC). 5) Inadequate referral practices caused by the low level of skills among community health workers that, in turn, lead to delays in correctly identifying problems and making timely referrals. 6) Inadequate institutional support, including funding and other resources, for the promotion of safe motherhood at district level. 2 | P a g e
Monitoring Progress: The overall goal of the Nepal Safer Motherhood Project (NSMP) is to achieve a sustained increase in the availability and use of quality midwifery and obstetric services. To this end, the project works in three main areas: 1) Policy and Programme Development. 2) Service Provision. 3) Increasing Access. Accurate monitoring in all of these areas is vital to measure if progress is being made towards meeting the project's overall goal. The NSMP Logical Framework has undergone several revisions during the project's 7‐year lifespan. These have been in response to both progressive thinking in safe motherhood and the changing security situation in Nepal. Project monitoring is closely linked to the logframe, but also provides NSMP with valuable feedback with which to improve its activities and meet community needs. Measuring changes in maternal mortality rates cannot be used to directly inform programme progress or effectiveness. This is because it is difficult to accurately measure changes in ratesover a 3‐5 year period. However, changes can be measured using proxy data from facilities providing basic and comprehensive Essential Obstetric Care (EOC). Such data includes: ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐
The number and geographical distribution of facilities The percentage of births in these facilities The calculated 'met need' (the percentage of EOC cases predicted from statistical analysis which are met at health facilities) The rate of caesarean sections in Nepal Attitude surveys The performance of various institutions
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