October 2020 – NICHE International

Local Cameroonian instructors, who are now organising their own Newborn Care Courses, ran an NCC last week in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Some NICHE Instructors joined them for parts of the course via zoom from UK, to try out the technology and assess the feasibility of remote training.

We were able, remotely, to:

1. Demonstrate how to run a simulation (this was management of a baby having fits). NICHE Instructors from their homes in London and N. Ireland did this on zoom at the request of Cameroonian Instructors who watched.

2. Deliver one of the lectures on the NCC course via zoom

3. Join the faculty meetings in Cameroon at the end of each day.

4. Join the candidates for certificate presentation at the end of the course.

This was a useful exercise as we are thinking about the practicalities of training online, in particular delivering ‘Instructor Development Days’ for Cameroonian NCC Instructors, which before the pandemic, we had hoped to be able to do in person in November.

There are some technological improvements to make, but generally it was successful.

It was a pleasure to see our Cameroonian colleagues, who keep going despite pandemic and political difficulties.

Some comments from candidates on the course:

The training was an impacting one with lots of skills and knowledge acquired. I could have wish that all health personnel around the world be train if possible to augment care of neonates.
I am confident now that I can take care of a newborn very well as compare to what i was doing in my station, especially resuscitating asphyxiated babies immediately after delivery.

“Universal Health Coverage (UHC) means that all people can access quality essential health services, without having to suffer financial hardship to pay for health care.” Says the World Bank which teamed up with WHO in 2017 to monitor progress with this target. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/health/publication/universal-health-coverage-study-series

“Each year, close to 100 million people are being pushed into extreme poverty because of health expenses, and 800 million spend more than ten percent of their household budgets on health care. Achieving UHC is not just about better health outcomes. The overarching goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)–ending extreme poverty–will remain out of reach without UHC.” [World Bank]

Achieving UHC is one of the targets the nations of the world set when adopting the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 but, despite this, at least half the world’s population has to pay for some or all essential health services. People in the poorest countries are the worst affected.

Colleagues in Cameroon, who have been trained by NICHE International to teach a Neonatal Care Course, recently taught this course in Yaoundé. An important part of the course is the teaching of skin to skin mother care, also called kangaroo care. This has many advantages and is advocated by WHO as a way of promoting the healthy survival of babies.

Premature baby being kept warm sustainably

Candidates on the course recognised these advantages -see comment below from one candidate.

I must comment I learnt a lot on demonstration of S2SMC (skin to skin mothercare) which i thought i could do it but just realised I was far below standard. This training is so empowering. Keep up.

However, a problem that became clear during the course, is that one of the hospitals in Yaoundé asks parents for payment whenever a baby is nursed in an incubator. The hospital management is therefore unwilling for their nurses to introduce skin to skin mother care, as when a baby is nursed with his/her mother, the hospital does not get this payment. This is despite the fact that skin to skin care is usually better and safer than incubator care, particularly in poorer countries.

There is still much to do to advocate for safe basic healthcare for newborn babies.

Month: October 2020

Zooming to Cameroon

Universal health coverage (UHC)