Improving Health Care for Women and Children in Morocco

In recent decades, Morocco has made significant progress in the area of women and children's health. However, maternal and infant mortality rates are still high, especially considering that 93% of these maternal deaths are preventable and that 73% occur in health care facilities. Morocco also has the highest incidence and mortality rates in the region in cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women. This situation has made the improvement of health care during childbirth and postpartum a priority and led, two years ago, to the creation of a training programme designed to build institutional capacities and improve the training of health care personnel. The programme was funded by "la Caixa" Foundation and run by the ISGlobal research centre together with a number of local partners.

The two-year programme (2012-2013) has trained 369 health professionals (over 70% of whom were women) on specific topics related to their work, including obstetric and neonatal emergency care, control of cervical cancer, and neonatal resuscitation.

One very positive outcome of the project has been the creation of two university diplomas on high priority subjects that were previously only taught in seminars or short courses: a university certificate in obstetric and neonatal emergency care and a university diploma in neonatal resuscitation. These courses are organised jointly with the Faculty of Medicine in Rabat University and Ibn Sina Hospital (CHIS).

The programme has also supported the introduction of new technologies for the continuing education of health professionals through the creation of an online training platform that has already been used to teach eight sessions of a cervical cancer control course in Morocco. This work was done in collaboration with the Departments of Epidemiology and Population of the Ministry of Health, the Lalla Salma Foundation Against Cancer and the Hassan II University Hospital in Fez.

In the technical evaluation of the project, the integration of these programmes into policies implemented by the Moroccan Ministry of Health was singled out as one of the most notable achievements. Improving training in neonatology, emergency obstetric and neonatal care, and the control of cervical cancer form part of health strategies that combat diseases which represent a high burden of disease in Morocco.