THE SCEINCE OF IMPROVING LIVES
Mhuri/Imuli Project Transforms the MNCH Landscape in Manicaland CommuniƟes
Post Reporter
FHI360's Mhuri Imuli Project has brought in a new dawn in Manicaland Province. The 5-year USAID funded program has transformed communiƟes by shiŌing negaƟve socio-cultural and religious pracƟces that act as barriers to access for maternal newborn, child health and family planning services (MNCH-FP) including among members of the apostolic sect. In a province that is dominated by religious objectors, with beliefs that do not promote access to modern services, home deliveries are common in most communiƟes. This exposes women, especially young girls to risks of developing severe complicaƟons during delivery including death However, the Mhuri/Imuli Project has brought unique approaches that have seen the organizaƟon partnering with the Ministry of Health and Child Care to reach out to the objectors and hard to reach areas with life saving informaƟon that has changed the harmful religious and cultural norms across the province. One of these approaches is the Family Life schools (FLS) Program, being implemented across all the 7 districts of Manicaland in partnership with FACT. According to the Project's Advocacy, CommunicaƟons and Social MobilisaƟon Advisor,Mr Jephiter Tsamwi, the approach is sustainably designed to empower men and
women of childbearing age through skills and knowledge transfer that promote uptake of services.
“The FLS program enables rigorouscommunity-based learning in which locally trained facilitators, including village health workers facilitate discussions, guided by a friendly Facilitator's Manual. Because people are grouped according to their life stage, parƟcipants feel free to dialogue and share experiences,” said Mr Tsamwi
In the FLS, parƟcipants are grouped according to 3 categories of Baba Class (for men) Mama class (women of childbearing age) and baby class (for pregnant and lactaƟng women) The program, which has seen its second-round roll into life in 2022 saw close to 2000 members graduate in 2021 with over
3000 members expected to graduate in September this year, and key to note is thatamong these are members from the religious objector communiƟes. The increased knowledge among the communiƟes is leading to improved service
uptake in the supported local faciliƟes.
“In the first cohort, we had 89 pregnant women that had not
registered for ANC at the commencement of the sessions and by the end of the sessions, 87 mothers had registered, saidMr Tonderai Muzire, The Project's Youth and Gender Officer.Mr.Muzire added that in the same group, “a total of 237 parƟcipants in the FLS sessions were pregnant and out these, 226 managed to deliver in their local health faciliƟes, while the other 7 delivered in health facilities but outside Manicaland Province. This shows that the approach is effecƟve in promoƟng good health pracƟces in as far as MNCH is concerned.”
Speaking at one of the graduaƟon ceremonies in Jombe, in Mutasa, District, one of the graduands applauded the program for making deliberate efforts to invite members from the religious objector churches as they are usually leŌ out of such iniƟaƟves
“I lost 3 of my babies. All of them born through home deliveries. I joined this program (FLS) and got to learn a lot on services offered in our local clinics. When I fell pregnant for the 4th Ɵme, I made sure I deliver at the hospital even though my church does not allow. Everything was successful and I am
a proud mother of a baby girl now,” said 30-year-old mother who spoke on condiƟons of anonymity
The government of Zimbabwe is seriously invesƟng in efforts to reduce negaƟve MNCH outcomes including high maternal mortality rates. Approaches like FLS play a criƟcal role in shiŌing negaƟve community pracƟces and save the lives of women and children.
Mhuri Imuli Project has other community approaches like the Changing the Rivers Flow (CTRF) specifically designed to target members of the religious objector communiƟes and the Gender Norms TransformaƟon (GNT) which targets the youths, all aimed at creaƟng plaƞorms for communiƟes to dialogues on their health maƩers and moƟvate each other to adopt posiƟve behavioral pracƟces
Buhera District Celebrates World Breast Feeding Week
It was a wonderful experience for community members in Buhera as they took part in an exciƟng event at Mombeyarara Primary School to mark the World
Breasƞeeding Week CelebraƟons organized by the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC). The event was graced by
various stakeholders including government officials, civil society organizaƟons, members of the business sector, local
leadership and school children.
The Province's Community Radio StaƟon, Diamond FM,
partnered with FHI360 to bring a live broadcasƟng experience at the event, bringing so much excitement to the community members as they interacted with their favourite radio personaliƟes
Speaking during the celebraƟons, guest of honour at the event, the District Medical Officer for Buhera, Dr Shelton Kwiri emphasized the need for communiƟes to support women to adopt recommended breasƞeeding pracƟces like exclusive breasƞeeding.
“The decision for a woman to breasƞeed is not enƟrely made
by her alone. She needs the right support system, especially from the spouse and the Mothers Inlaw,” said Dr Kwiri. He added that it is for that reason that health professionals seriously recommends male involvement in all maƩers related to maternal newborn, child health and family planning.
World Breasƞeeding Week is a global campaign that is officially celebrated from 1st -7th August. The main idea behind World Breasƞeeding Week is to offer an opportunity for people worldwide to join in celebraƟon and acƟon. It also enables policy makers and other actors to evaluate progress towards the protecƟon, promoƟon and support of breasƞeeding.
The theme of this year's World Breasƞeeding Week is “Step
up for Breasƞeeding: Educate and Support”.
Speaking to Diamond FM during the celebraƟons, the Youth and Gender officer for FHI360, Mr Tonderai Muzire
emphasised the need for community wide sensiƟsaƟon on not only breasƞeeding awareness but other important messages on maternal child health issues to both men and women
“As FHI360, we are emphasising on the need for communiƟes to uƟlise their local faciliƟes as much as possible including the available mothers' waiƟng homes for pregnant women,” said Mr Muzire adding that “we are furtherencouraging communiƟes to shun home deliveries to reduce possible
risks during delivery, including death.”
World Breasƞeeding CelebraƟons provided a plaƞorm to learn more about the importance of breasƞeeding and other issues related to maternal health.
Local chiefs who aƩended the program expressed their commitment to conƟnue working with their community members to discourage negaƟve religious and cultural
pracƟces that do not support breasƞeeding and facility deliveries.
The need to end gender based violence in the communiƟes also came under spotlight with various speakers reiteraƟng the need to end all forms of violence against women and children to build healthy families and strong communiƟes.