MCH Leadership

Participants will be exposed to data describing the current status of maternal and child health globally. This overview will focus on recent advances in maternal and child health, focusing on gaps in program development and services provided. The presentation will also cover notes from the field, which will explore challenges and success faced by previous attendees of the MCH Institute.

With MCH Leadership competencies serving as the back drop participants will explore the fundamentals of MCH leadership. Interactive exercises will assist participants in determining the qualities of a leader. The goal of this session is to have participants move from discovery to delivery and to develop real life application of their leadership skills to help improve the health and well being of women and children.

The pursuit of good health is both an obligation and a right. Fairness and equity are important to health because maintaining normal functioning contributes to opportunities for all and the fair distribution of goods. Participants will be guided through scenarios which help them to identify inequalities in healthcare which will help them to analyze and improve their leadership skills in order to effect change on multiple levels.

Each year millions of women and children die from preventable causes. Evidence-based practices are available to help limit these untimely deaths but they are not always available to those most in need. In order to increase awareness of such effective prevention tactics, maternal and child health can no longer be seen only as a health problem- it is a human development challenge. There needs to be a concerted effort to address the needs of economically disadvantaged populations, low-income nations, among other socially underprivileged groups, as the institute will tackle by training participants to face these issues head-on. During this session participants will be able to use the scientific data to determine the health status of women and children but also use their skills to offer strategies to address these short comings.

The Institute faculty realizes that “leadership” is a detailed set of skills and there are some aspects that need to be taught and others that need to be honed. Leadership is also about personal values and beliefs. This session will explore these ideals within and their commitment to maternal and child health. Participants will also review effective ways of sharing thoughts and ideas in a group setting to encourage collaborative leadership.