Using data from an enumeration and mapping exercise of traditional birth attendants in Bo District, Sierra Leone to develop a training curriculum for this cadre of health workers for the essential newborn care corps project

The Essential Newborn Care Corps (ENCC) pilot of the Innovations for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH), an initiative led by Concern Worldwide in collaboration with John Snow, Inc., explores the potential to provide standardized training to traditional birth attendants (TBAs) as MNCH health promoters to ensure quality care for pregnant women and newborns in Bo District, Sierra Leone. 

To inform the design of this program, a paper-based TBA headcount was administered in June 2013 to develop a profile of all TBAs across Bo District.  The following information was collected: demographic and socio-economic status, social networks with other TBAs, current linkages between TBAs and PHUs, health training received, and MNCH-related activities. 

A total of 587 TBAs from Bo District were included in the headcount.  The majority of TBAs had conducted household visits to assess the health of mothers and newborns (86.2%), provided postnatal (79.8%) and antenatal care (81.5%), and advised in emergency situations (76.0%) in the 12 months prior to the survey.  Regarding training, 57.2% of the respondents reported that they have ever received formal training to support them in their role as a TBA.  Among this group only 55.4% have received any formal training in the last five years. 

The information from the TBA headcount along with a review of TBA training curriculums across the country helped the team design a training curriculum that was specific to the context of Bo and therefore build on the current roles of TBAs to enable them to be effective MNCH health promoters.