Videos of MoTeCH Durbars

Some videos of the MoTeCH Durbars in the Upper East earlier this month have now been posted on YouTube for the enjoyment of all of those who could not attend:

http://www.youtube.com/motechghana#p/a/u/1/t87pV4fF2Jk

http://www.youtube.com/motechghana#p/a/u/0/2miVcu68HPQ

Anoinette's Journey Home to the Upper East with MoTeCH

I joined MoTeCH not long ago. I believe it was the right time though as I had the opportunity to travel with the MoTeCH team to the Upper East region to train nurses on how to use mobile phones to register patients, especially pregnant woman and children under five years; to educate people from the eleven implementation CHPS zones about MoTeCH; and to launch the MoTeCH project, which intends to enable these community members to get better access to healthcare service delivery and information to improve upon their lives.


Growing up in the Upper East region, to be precise in Navrongo, I realised access to community healthcare service delivery was a problem in the past. It has always been my dream to help improve this precarious situation or be part of a system that strives to unlock the persistent high level of poor health service delivery in our society. Thanks to Navrongo Health Research Center for improving healthcare service delivery in various communities. Ghana Health Service has also saved the situation by providing additional clinics and CHPS compounds at various communities in the district.

I have also grown to understand the needs of the people of Kassena-Nakana West district. I have realized that healthcare service delivery is a basic need for the people in the district. However, I believe that introducing MoTeCH to the district will make a great impact on the lives of the people of Kasen-Nakana West district and Upper East Region as a whole.

DURBAR
The people of Navrongo speak commonly Kasem and Nakam. They are very friendly and hospitable. I had the opportunity to interact with some communities during our durbars. I realized that organizing durbars in the communities is an effective way of communicating with the community members. During the durbars I got convinced that the messages about MoTeCH went down well with the people based on the question they asked, though there were some few issues in relation to Ghana Health services.

What interested me most in the various communities were the traditional songs, drumming and dancing; after a very long time I had the opportunity to rehearse my traditional dancing skills.

TRAINING

Training the nurses on the mobile phone was yet another aspect that exposed me to new things about the mobile phone technology that MoTeCH will be deploying. I found the training very exciting, because the nurses found it very interesting and were excited about the impact it could have on their work. Nurses were smart in understanding the operation of the phone and the various studies very quickly. We encountered poor network services which makes uploading data into MoTeCH system sometimes difficult. I think this will be a challenge for MoTeCH, though fortunately nurses can save forms on their phone to upload later when they have network. Some of the nurses raised the concerns of their facilities not having electricity or solar panels to enable them to charge the phones. Notwithstanding these few challenges, so far things are moving on well.

-- Posted by Antoinette Akanlise - MoTeCH Support Center Agent

Consumer Research/Field Data for Ghana

This site has a lot of information to inform design of applications and services for Ghana.  Thought it might be of interest to others:

http://www.audiencescapes.org/country-profiles/ghana/ghana/communication-profile-317

Maternal and Child Health News from Ghana

Upper East Region Midwife wins Midwife of the Year award from Jhpiego:
http://www.theworld.org/2010/06/11/midwife-of-the-year/


Family Planning in the Upper East:
http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_health/r_16663/

Abigail's First Journey to the Upper East

There is always a firs time to do something and I had the opportunity to travel to the Upper East region for the first time, precisely to Navrongo. Since it was my first time to travel that far, I decided not to sleep on the way so that I can look at things on my way through out my journey. Personally for me it was a sightseeing journey. On my way to UER, just at Tamale I noticed that most people are using motor cycles and bicycles. Traffic wardens give way to these cycles to go before the cars, I found that very interesting especially the way they direct the traffic, because in Accra there is nothing like that. Also I realized that animals like sheep, goats, donkeys and cows cross the road most often.

PURPOSE FOR MY JOURNEY
Finally, I arrived in the UER (Navrongo) where our project site is and the main reason to be here is to train nurses in each of our selected CHPS zones, launch the MoTeCH project and then register patients on MoTeCH.

ORGANISING DURBARS

Due to the low level of technology and undeveloped areas in the UER, communicating information to the people effectively is through durbars. So far I have enjoyed all the durbars I attended and I have learnt new things about these people and their tradition. Some of these things are:

• At their durbar grounds the women sing to welcome us, even to the extent of bowing down to greet us. The men also drum and dance to welcome and greet us, they do this separately.
• In most of the communities I visited, they have used calabash and sheep’s skin to make a drum. The drums are played accompanied by whistles curved from wood to produce good sounds for dancing.
• They perform a “strength needed dance”, that believe me you need extra strength to this dance. Honestly, I tried to learn their dance but I didn’t get it so well because it needs so much strength.
• Talk of their environs; I call it nature at it best. A lot of baobab trees , Shea-nut trees with lots of cows, sheep, goats, pigs and donkeys grazing and some taken to the farms by the owners to carry their load to their homes. Also you find the birds also feeding on these cows, sheep etc.
• They have these fascinating names for their communities such as kayoro, Kurugu, Mirigu, nyanyai, ketui, kajelo, kananai etc.
• Languages spoken here are Kassem and Nankam and I have decided to learn the languages while am here. I have started with Kassem and here a few of the common ones spoken often.
• Good morning - Din Wor
• Good afternoon -Din wi
• Good evening -Din didan
• General greeting -din l
• Sorry -Din la
• Thank you -Akin le

TRAINING OF NURSES AND PREPARATION TOWARDS THE LAUNCH

So far, so good! The training is going down well with the nurses and they are finding it very interesting. They hope it is really going to ease the pressure and then feel good about their work. Also the people of these communities are also very welcoming and ready to join MoTeCH for this wonderful and quality health gaining project.

We are still training the nurses and preparing for the official lunch of the MoTeCH project in the first week of July. Like I said earlier on that, so far it’s been very good and we are hoping to achieve the best result out of this project.  

I am really enjoying my stay here, thanks to MoTeCH!

--Posted by Abigail Annang, MoTeCH Ghana Administrative Assistant

Introducing MoTeCH to Communities One Durbar at a Time

Durbars are community entry ceremonies that must be done in all of the 11 zones where we are working with Mobile Technology for Community Health (MoTeCH) .  They include bringing offerings to the Chief, telling the community members about MoTeCH, dancing and hopefully getting the community members to formally “accept” MoTeCH as a valuable health service.  Durbars last for several hours, usually take place under a tree and we’re holding them for all 11 zones this week so we can keep on schedule with our launch activities. 

Both of yesterday’s durbars were received very differently.  One community was very excited, engaged and asked great questions (several questions from men about whether they could sign up even if they don’t have a wife!).  The community emphatically “accepted” MoTeCH when asked by their chief.  The other community had many questions and concerns about services provided by Ghana Health Service, so wasn’t  able to engage in discussion about MoTeCH.  These experiences provide an important lesson, that we need to realize that each community will be different and will have a different set of experiences with other NGOs and health care providers that will influence how they feel about MoTeCH in the beginning.

Posted by:  Kirsten Gagnaire, MoTeCH Project Manager

"Wired Mothers" in Tanzania

Jim and Neal Lesh tipped me off to a similar initiative to MoTeCH being done in Zanzibar called Wired Mothers, which sends SMS reminders of required care to pregnant mothers and allows them to call/connect with their health facility via voice calls.

http://www.i-m-s.dk/files/publications/Stine%20Lund%20Wired%20Mothers.pdf

http://www.enrecahealth.dk/archive/wiredmothers/

I've reached out to Dr. Lund to find out more about their program and to see if there are opportunities to learn from their implementation so far.