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Remote support of the GIC candidates in Bwindi

12 candidates for instructor training were selected at the first Neonatal Care Courses that were run in Bwindi in February 2022. They were supposed to be trained in November 2022 but the Ebola outbreak (in a different part of the country) put pay to NICHE International’s travel plans and we had to disappoint the group by postponing the training.

We have been doing some preliminary pre-course training with the candidates via a Zoom link. The Pocket Guide to Teaching for Clinical Instructors is the manual for the internationally taught and recognised Generic Instructor Course. Our educator, Jo Lawrence, arranged for some to be sent to Bwindi and the candidates have been busy reading about the “Set, Environment, Dialogue and Closure” structure of all teaching modalities.

Last week, the “Green group” of four each presented their prepared 5 minute lectures for Grace and I, their group mentors. The tropical rain was hammering down on Bwindi’s tin roof and the temperate wind was howling around my house in the UK. Only Cameroon’s weather sat quietly and listened to our four enthusiastic learners teaching us about hypoglycaemic fits, neonatal resuscitation and the risks of being born too early.

This is exciting and ground breaking work. The Advanced Life Support Group started to run “remotely enhanced” GICs during the pandemic in the UK but we are not aware of anyone else doing pre-course GIC training with overseas instructors. Our Cameroonian colleague, Grace, was instrumental in driving this forwards as she pointed out that the ethos of the GIC is new to many African healthcare workers and it takes time to get used to the GIC educational theories and practices.

There is a nurse training school based at Bwindi Community Hospital. Some of the GIC candidates are nurse tutors in the training school.

All systems go for Uganda again!

The Ebola outbreak in Uganda has been declared “over” and the team is busy preparing for the postponed return trip to Bwindi Community Hospital to teach one Generic Instructor Course and two Neonatal Care Courses. We will be training 12 new instructors and then supervising them while they facilitate the NCCs for 48 learners.

Watch Dr Birungi talking about the work done at Bwindi Community Hospital back in 2013. 10 years later, Dr Birungi is still overseeing nearly all of the projects mentioned here.

Sad news

Hildegarde (left) was a paediatrician and one of NICHE’s NCC instructors in Cameroon

We were deeply saddened this week to learn of the sudden death of a young paediatric colleague in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Hildegarde was won of the first Neonatal Course instructors to be trained by NICHE and was one of the team who recently travelled to the far north of the country to teach the first 2 Neonatal Care Courses to health professionals there. She was an enthusiastic trainer and passionate about improving the care of newborn babies in her country.

Our deepest condolences to her family and friends as they prepare to attend her funeral tomorrow. She will be sorely missed.

NICHE team in Bristol, UK

L to R: Cath, Alistair, baby manikin, Jo, Jo, Julia

A NICHE team was supposed to be in Uganda at the moment, running the first Generic Instructor Course. The trip has been postponed because of an Ebola outbreak. Jo B-J, head of resuscitation services at Bristol and never one to miss a trick, persuaded 4 of us to go to Bristol instead to teach on the GIC her department was running. It was a great course, well run as always with lots of learning at every level.

Impromptu meeting to discuss Jo, the educator’s, plans for remotely supporting the Ugandan GIC instructors prior to a rescheduled visit

It was good to meet the new members of the instructor team face to face. Jo is an experienced educator with the Resuscitation Council and Cath is a neonatal consultant with overseas experience who instructs on a variety of neonatal and paediatric life support courses as well as the generic instructor course. I am very much looking forward to working with both of them at Bwindi – hopefully in February 2023.

A fine team to be part of

First Neonatal Care Course in the Far North Region of Cameroon

Dr Alison Earley

B marks Maroua, the main city in the far north region of Cameroon, a 36 hour journey by bus from Yaoundé

The Far North Region of Cameroon is at the Northern tip of the country, between Nigeria and Chad. Its capital is Maroua, which lies to the East of the Mandara mountains.

Pictures from the Mandara mountains

This is where Cameroonian Instructors are currently teaching the Neonatal Care course. Two of the instructors did their instructor training in Yaoundé in April this year, when NICHE International volunteers visited to facilitate the course. Other instructors are more experienced and have taught on several Neonatal Care Courses before.

Faculty member, Felicia, ready for action at Maroua CBCHS health facility


The perinatal mortality is particularly high in this remote region, and the course is much needed. The instructors travelled for 36 hours from Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, to reach Maroua where they are training healthcare workers in the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services facility. The majority of the health care workers in the Region are French speaking, and the course manual has been translated into French for them.

Felicia in action, training nurses and midwives in neonatal resuscitation

They shared their past frustrations and said this course will help them to save many lives

Grace on the learners’ feedback after course number 1 last night

Empowering local healthcare staff

Mme Ngome Vivian, recently trained NCC instructor, returned to her health facility and delivered training on the oxygen concentrator

The Neonatal Care Course is a short, stand alone course on the care of the newborn baby in the first 28 days of life but the ripple effects of the training are far-reaching. NICHE believes that training local instructors leads to this sort of – hopefully long lasting – empowerment. Many oxygen concentrators are abandoned or broken because they are poorly maintained or not fully understood. Here, Vivian is teaching staff at Nkoabang Baptist Health Centre how to look after this vital piece of equipment.

Nkoabang Baptist Health Centre, 15 miles outside of Yaoundé, Cameroon

The transcript below is Vivian’s WhatsApp message to Grace in Cameroon, delighted that a baby’s oxygen saturations came up so demonstrably after she had overhauled the concentrator and got it working again:

[5:00 pm, 25/05/2022] NDZE GRACE BONGBAN: Greetings to everyone in the house above is my first presentation on oxygen concentrator to the staff body in Nkoabang Baptist health center infact i really thank Ma Grace and Daddy Justin Fombe for the knowledge I have rescued a patient’s life today we had a patient whose saturation stood at 88 just from cleaning changing distilled water, positioning and ventilation saturation is now 91 dear colleagues let’s pass this knowledge to safe lives on another positive note i emphasized on the need for a projector and we bought one to facilitate teaching
[5:00 pm, 25/05/2022] NDZE GRACE BONGBAN: Also did a presentation to MCH Staff today on convulsion and there was a lot of learning
[5:00 pm, 25/05/2022] NDZE GRACE BONGBAN: We keep on putting our knowledge into practice and results will be visible

International Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) Awareness Day

Dr Alison Earley, 15th May 2022

Skin to skin care, also known as kangaroo mother care, is one of the key interventions suggested by the World Health Organisation to improve survival of babies.  It has so many advantages for new born babies, including preventing hypothermia, promoting breastfeeding, reducing infection and encouraging mother/baby bonding. The feature picture here is from Healthy Newborn Network (https://www.healthynewbornnetwork.org/) to remind us that KMC is an especially important intervention for babies who are born premature.

Although the advantages of skin to skin care have been recognised for many years, and in many countries, it is still not as widely practised as it could be. Including in the UK.

NICHE International emphasises this skill as part of the Neonatal Care Course which we are teaching. It saves lives (see https://www.nicheinternational.org.uk/kangaroo-mother-care-saves-lives/).

A doctor and nurse practise putting a baby skin to skin during a recent NCC in Cameroon.

Today is International Nurses’ Day!

Dr Alison Earley

International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.

Felicia with baby manikins donated to or bought by NICHE, and used for training in new born resuscitation

The theme for 2022 is ‘Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in Nursing and respect rights to secure global health

Working in neonatal care in Cameroon, Liberia and Uganda it is very obvious just how crucial good nurses are to the survival of all babies, but especially those who are premature or unwell. 

We have also found ‘voices to lead’ among the nurses with whom we have worked, and seen their dedication and abilities.

Felicia is a nurse working in an isolated rural setting in Adamawa Region, one of the Regions in the North of Cameroon which has very high perinatal mortality.

The European instructors have gone home

THE CAMEROONIAN FACULTY ARE INTO THE LAST STRETCH OF THIS INTENSIVE TRAINING PERIOD WITH THE SECOND NCC BEING DELIVERED NOW

by Grace Ngoran

The second NCC kicked off today with 28 participants in attendance (the 4 extra being the staff who could not make it down to Yaoundé from Bamenda earlier in the week due to concerns around their safety). The excitement was evident as the instructor candidates came up again powerfully with excellent performance. The workshops were really excited particularly the breastfeeding workshop where everyone used the breast models to demonstrate proper latching technique. Participants were observed to be more involved and participatory.

Knitted visual aids in use during the breastfeeding workshop in Yaoundé today

Brighten the corner where you are…

….is a Cameroonian expression meaning do your best to improve things wherever you find yourself. 

Instructor candidate Dr Matzo Fanny Kigne teaches practical skills on a Neonatal Care Course.

During the last 2 days our newly trained Instructor Candidates have stepped up and exceeded expectations in the way they have trained 16 learners on a Neonatal Care Course.  Some of these new trainers come from rural districts in the Northern Abamawa Region, where they work in small isolated units.  They are determined to improve the standard of newborn care in the places they work.  They will indeed be brightening their corner!