Implementing an internet-based capacity building program for interdisciplinary midwifery-lead teams in Ethiopia, Kenya Malawi and Somalia.

The Swedish care model MIDWIZE defined as midwife-led interdisciplinary care and zero separation between mother and newborn, was implemented in 2020-21 in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and Somalia in a capacity building programme funded by the Swedish Institute.
Objective: To determine the feasibility of using an internet-based capacity building programme contributing to effective midwifery practices in the labour rooms through implementation of dynamic birthing positions, delayed umbilical cord clamping and skin-to-skin care of newborns in the immediate postnatal period.
Methods: The design is inspired by process evaluation. Focus group discussions with policy leaders, academicians, and clinicians who participated in the capacity building programme were carried out. Before and after the intervention, the numbers for dynamic birthing positions, delayed umbilical cord clamping and skin-to-skin care of the newborn in the immediate postnatal period were detected.
Results: Participants believed the internet-based programme was appropriate for their countries' contexts based on their need for improved leadership and collaboration, the need for strengthened human resources, and the vast need for improved outcomes of maternal and newborn health.
Conclusion: The findings provide insight into the feasibility to expand similar online capacity building programmes in collaboration with onsite policy leaders, academicians, and clinicians in sub-Saharan African countries with an agenda for improvements in maternal and child health.
(Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)