With teaching supplies, participants can teach others about safe birth practices.
Published June 21, 2012, last updated on February 19, 2013 under Education News
The Duke Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program is providing Lamaze childbirth educator training in Nairobi, Kenya, with the most recent trip taking place this past spring. In partnership with Africa Inland Mission, Duke AHEC’s Tara Owens Shuler led training for 26 Kenyan health care providers and community health workers in an effort to promote safe and health birth practices among pregnant women.
Thanks to the many donations and sponsors from colleagues and partners in the US, each program participant has received essential teaching supplies so they can share their newfound knowledge with other women and the larger community.
Since 2005, the Duke AHEC Program has offered three Lamaze childbirth educator trainings in Kenya, reaching more than 50 nurses, midwives, community health workers and one OB/GYN. As a result, hospitals, such as Aga Khan University, Nairobi Hospital and Mater Hospitals, have developed their own childbirth education programs for expectant women and their partners. Some Kenyan midwives have also established their own businesses offering childbirth education to women in the community.
“The Duke AHEC Program is excited to be able to respond to the need for childbirth education training in Nairobi,” said Owens Shuler. “It is our hope to continue offering childbirth education training in Kenya when funding through grants and/or donors is available.”
In rural Nakura, Kenya, childbirth education classes are held in the home or small group sessions because women in Nakura may not have transportation to medical facilities. Educators also found that these women lacked knowledge about or had a distrust of the medical facility; therefore, their service included accompanying pregnant woman to prenatal appointments to help the women feel safe and comfortable seeking medical care.
In addition to its international work, the Duke AHEC Program provides Lamaze childbirth educator training in North Carolina for providers at local health departments, community health centers and hospitals.
The training curriculum was developed based on recommendations by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Lamaze International.
