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Eswatini

Ensuring a healthy future for Eswatini mothers and children - Maternal and Infant Health Care Improvement Project in the Kingdom of Eswatini (Phase II) officially kicks off

The Maternal and Infant Health Care Improvement Project in the Kingdom of Eswatini (Phase II), implemented by the International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF) in collaboration with Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, and the Ministry of Health in the Eswaztini has officially kicked off in January, 2019. This marks the first time the TaiwanICDF cooperates with two hospitals in Taiwan for a nationwide public health and medicine project. The project will strengthen the quality of maternal and child health care services among more than half of the public and Christian hospitals in Eswatini, ensuring better health for the country’s pregnant women and infants.

The TaiwanICDF and Chia-Yi Christian Hospital cooperated with the Government of Eswatini on the Maternal and Infant Health Care Improvement Project in 2016 to strengthen the functions of care services in seven health facilities in Manzini region. From January this year, in partnership with Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, the scope of phase II of the project will be expanded to 85 selected health facilities in the country to benefit more women and children.

The existing maternal and infant health care system in Eswatini does not include comprehensive care throughout the pregnancy, birth and postpartum period. This makes it difficult to detect high-risk pregnancies to then provide subsequent appropriate care to reduce preterm labor and neonatal mortality. In order to increase the accessibility of maternal and infant health care services, the project will continue to enrich health care personnel’s knowledge of high-risk group care, upgrade the functions of health care facilities, strengthen maternal and infant health care education in the community, and enhance data analysis capacity.