Report by Nazeem Muhajarine
The Canada-Mozambique Maternal Health Project had a very busy month, June 2022. The team based in Inhambane saw three visits to the project—first, by a team from Global Affairs Canada, who are based in the capital Maputo (the Canadian High Commission), second, by Principal Investigator Nazeem Muhajarine, and then, by Nadege Sandrine Uwamahoro, a specialist Realist researcher, based in Denmark.
A successful showcasing of the project for the GAC visitors
From June 1 to 3, a three-member team, on behalf of our funder Global Affairs Canada (GAC)–Ashraf Hassanein, Filipa Franco and Mbate Matandalasse–visited project sites. The GAC team met with the Project team, including PI Nazeem Muhajarine, and met with project partners and community members, observing firsthand the activities and accomplishments of the project.
The GAC team was warmly welcomed by the Provincial Governor, the Director of the Provincial Health Directorate, and district Administrators, the hospital director, and by the communities themselves. The team visited a newly built and operating maternal waiting home, the adjacent newly built maternal facility in Murrie, and toured two communities in Morrumbene and Zavala districts, meeting and discussing with community leaders the activities, including the successful chicken-raising, flour mill economic development projects, the motor-cycle ambulances for transporting mothers to facilities, the leadership of women in the communities, involvement of youth, and the operation of the new maternal health facilities.
The GAC team was effusive and unequivocal in complementing the achievements of the project to date. They singled out the partnerships we have built across formal government structures as well with the communities as exemplary. The integrated and multi-prong intervention activities, the quality of the health facilities built which are now operating, and the intervention research conducted were also noted as enormous strengths.
Realist evaluation of Maternal Waiting Homes kicks-off
Following a 2-year long comprehensive realist review and synthesis of global literature on Maternal Waiting Homes (MWHs)—the paper currently peer reviewed—the program theories identified will be tested in a realist evaluation of the new MWHs built by the project in Inhambane. Leading this work on the ground, Dr Nadege Sandrine Uwamahoro visited the project in June 2022. The highlight was the 2-day workshop on the realist evaluation project held on June 22-23 with participants from the district health facilities, provincial health directorate, and our community support workers.
Maternal Near-Miss project launched in Quissico District Hospital
The maternal near-miss study in the district hospital Quissico was launched on June 8, 2022. Fernanda André, PhD student in CH&E, led a team of four nurse-researchers who began collecting data to address questions: What is the prevalence of maternal near-misses in districts of Zavala and Massinga? Who experiences these near-misses, and how do mothers describe their experience of a near-miss event? Data collection is expected to wrap up at the end of August 2022.
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