Sudan’s Health Professionals and Science Institutions Receive Critical Equipment and Supplies Needed to Advance Maternal and Child Health Education Programs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rennie Sloan, 404-420-5129, [email protected]

Sudanese Federal Ministry of Health Distributes Health Science Supplies, Equipment and Materials Provided with Support from The Carter Center
and the Qatar Fund for Development

ATLANTA…In a ceremony today in Khartoum, Sudan, The Carter Center joined officials from the Sudan Federal Ministry of Health and other dignitaries to distribute critical supplies, textbooks, and equipment as part of a five-year partnership to improve the country’s maternal and child health education program efforts.

These teaching and learning aids are delivered to health professionals and science institutions as part of the Sudan Public Health Training Initiative, a partnership to build the knowledge and skills of frontline health workers to meet the health needs of mothers and children.

“Today’s event of distribution of skill labs and text books comes as part of multiple successful interventions to enhance the education environment, revise the curriculum, and build the capacity of the faculty members in learning and teaching, competency-based education, and scientific research,” said Dr. Essam Mohamed Abdallah, Undersecretary, Federal Ministry of Health in Sudan.

The ceremony took place at Omdurman Midwifery School in Khartoum and included representatives from the Sudanese federal government and Embassy of the State of Qatar to the Republic of Sudan as well as other invited guests.

“Many sectors have come together to achieve a common goal of improved maternal and child health in Sudan. This partnership between Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and The Carter Center provides overall support for the health sector and advancement of peace in Sudan,” said Mr. Khalifa Al-Kuwari, director general of QFFD.

“This partnership will make a sustainable impact to improve maternal and child health in Sudan,” said Amb. (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, CEO of The Carter Center. “The valuable support from the Qatar Fund for Development enables Sudan’s dedicated health professionals to provide quality for women and children in rural communities.”

The Center has worked with the Sudanese government to assess 50 health science training institutions, recommend key updates to midwifery and community health curricula, and train more than 90 health science educators. The ceremony today marked the official handover of donated materials, supplies and equipment to serve institutions of the Academy of Health Sciences and Schools of Midwifery as well as the Continuing Professional Development Centers. Equipment includes skill lab models, mannequins, operation theater equipment, anesthesia lab equipment, desktop computers, laptops, sound systems, printers, stabilizers, electric connectors, projectors, photocopiers, plasma screens, and white boards.

The supplies distributed today include:

• Six midwifery skill labs that will be distributed to five midwifery schools and to the Central Continuous Professional Development Centers.
• Six medical assistance skill labs that will be distributed to six Academy of Health Sciences branches for the medical assistants training program.
• Six operation theater scrub skill labs that will be distributed to six Academy of Health Sciences branches for operation theater scrub training program.
• 3000 reference/textbooks that will be distributed to nine Academy of Health Sciences branches in eight states and the central level.

The goal is to support eight target states and central level institutions, covering almost half of Sudan. In addition, to procuring and distributing teaching and learning aids, the program also works to revise and update pre- and in-service training curricula, and to enhance the teaching skills of 490 health science faculty who train midwives, community health workers, medical assistants, anesthesia assistants, operation theater scrub attendants, and environmental and public health officers. In total, the teaching and learning environment of 50 health science institutions will have been vastly improved.

Learn more about this initiative here. According to World Bank indicator estimates, the maternal mortality ratio for Sudan in 2015 was 311 per 100,000 child births, with a decreasing trend over the years. Similarly, child mortality was reduced to 70 per 1,000 live births. The availability and accessibility of skilled frontline health workers is a priority in strategies adopted by the government of Sudan to improve the health of mothers and their children.

The Carter Center has worked since 1986 with the people of Sudan to help resolve conflict, negotiate peace, increase crop production, and improve health. After an initial focus on working with farmers, the Center expanded into additional programs, including the prevention or elimination of Guinea worm disease, river blindness, and trachoma.

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"Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope."
A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.