CENtre de SAnté MATernelle et Infantile de Lambaréné (CENSAMATIL)
Situation:
Forming a multidisciplinary team consisting of local experts and individuals of the community will contribute to obtaining valuable information on how to improve maternal and child health and, addtionally, implementation of the results obtained from the different studies will be possible.
Within this program, training programs are being developed in order to improve dietary and hygiene habits and to improve maternal and child health.
Furthermore, the collaboration between existing health care centers will be strengthened in order to improve e.g. the vaccination rate of newborns.
Objectives:
Improve maternal and child health especially in terms of parasitic infections.
- Analysis of data on routine antenatal care visits during pregnancy and delivery in the study area.
- Consultation of pregnant women on preventive medical measures like prevention of parasitic infections and vaccination of infants.
Establish intensive collaboration between interdisciplinary clinical and research staff as well as with stakeholders for the development of:
- Questionnaires
- Teaching programs to improve hygiene standards, awareness for risks, and compliance
- Development of interventional studies
- Communication and implementation of research results
- Community participation
Forming a multidisciplinary team will contribute to local care in two ways: First, it will enable scientific information to be obtained on the opinion and attitude of relevant stakeholders and the planning of measures to improve maternal and child health. Second, the results will help to bring together the essential findings of our studies to develop new strategies for effective implementation.
Within this program, mothers will receive training to improve dietary and hygiene habits.
Furthermore, the collaboration between existing health care centers will be strengthened in order to improve e.g. the vaccination rate of newborns.
Numerous clinical and immunological studies on the health of pregnant women and children have been carried out in Lambaréné, Gabon.
An interdisciplinary center with the aim of implementing and developing preventive measures to improve the health of mothers, newborns, and infants, based on a scientific background, does not yet exist. This project will provide us with an opportunity to establish such a center in Gabon in order to analyze the effect of interventions in a social context.
