Title Training for effective perinatal care – UNFPA supports improving perinatal care

Three-day trainings for gynecologists and midwives that work in the perinatal departments of the Hospitals in Shtip, Bitola, and Strumica were held in May, organized by UNFPA in North Macedonia, the Ministry of Health, and the Committee for Safe Motherhood. These trainings combined theoretical lectures with presentations and practical solving of cases that will be encountered in hospitals or solving case scenarios. Evidence suggests that interactive casework among professionals has the greatest effect on sharing and enriching knowledge, as well as strengthening capacities to overcome some unpredictable situations in midwifery.

As part of the main goals of the Master Plan for improving the situation with perinatal care, this is one of the essential ways to promote cooperation between different levels of perinatal health care.

The number, distribution, and competencies of the health workforce represent the foundation of the health system and largely determine the quality and comprehensiveness of health service provision to the population. The Republic of North Macedonia declared the strategic priority of the country’s government for the next years to strengthen the health system and to fast-track progress towards improving maternal and newborn health outcomes and accelerate the path toward achieving ambitious targets of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Therefore, a Master Plan for improving maternal and neonatal health was developed in 2020. The data show the disproportional distribution of health professionals providing perinatal care services with few of the clinics overstaffed and the majority of them experiencing a significant deficiency in 24/7 access to specialist health professionals, nurses, and midwives. In deficient clinics, there is a permanent need to supplement specialists from other hospitals. Importantly, with the stratification of the perinatal care services, there is an urgent need to strengthen the clinical capacity of health care professionals to provide high-quality level-appropriate care. The intensive and continuous level-appropriate training, applying various forms and methods of health professionals adult learning (theoretical course, practical skills-gaining exercises, on-the-job and rotational pieces of training) are strongly recommended for all level perinatal health professionals (ob/gyns, neonatologists, nurses, midwives etc).