Liberian Partnership on Task-Sharing
Latest updates on the implementation of the Liberian partnership on Task-Sharing which began in 2014 between MCAI and The Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF, Irish Aid, UNFPA, ALSG and Edinburgh University.
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Presentation on latest state of the Task Sharing program in Liberia (June 2022) (PDF)
Key projects in the updated task-sharing program
1. Two years of training for an additional 8 nurses to become Neonatal Clinicians to provide hospital care for critically ill newborn babies in an additional 4 public hospitals in 4 rural counties.
2. Three years of training for an additional 9 nurses and midwives to become Obstetric Clinicians to provide advanced comprehensive emergency obstetric hospital care, including surgery, for adults and adolescent girls who are pregnant living in an additional 5 rural public hospitals in 5 counties.
3. Two years of training for the first 6 nurses to become Paediatric Clinicians to provide advanced hospital care for critically ill and injured children in 3 public hospitals in 3 rural counties.
4. Renovating and equipping 5 hospitals and Major Health Centres (Martha Tubman, CB Dunbar, Sinje, Konobo, St. Timothy’s) to provide advanced neonatal, obstetric and paediatric care in three counties.
5. Provision of emergency drugs, equipment, medical, surgical and anaesthetic supplies to the hospitals in these three counties. For the last 2 years there has been a major national problem in the provision for public hospitals of these essential components of advanced obstetric, neonatal and paediatric care.
6. Utilising the skills of trained obstetric clinicians, including ultrasound scanning and other obstetric monitoring equipment, monthly outreach visits from county hospitals to ante-natal clinics in two counties; many of which are far away from the hospitals.
In addition to identifying dangerous conditions in maternity patients and neonates and transferring pregnant women with conditions such as placenta praevia and pre-eclampsia to hospital, these visits provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for nurses and midwives working in these clinics.
7. Provision of a program in 4 rural hospitals where mothers assist nurses, midwives, obstetric clinicians and doctors and undertake monitoring of their unborn babies during labour using doppler ultrasound probes.
Monitoring occurs for 1 minute immediately following every uterine contraction during labour and mothers notify attending birth attendants when they identify any changes in the fetal heart rates (see link here to publication).
8. Provision of specially designed trolleys to 56 rural clinics to provide neonatal resuscitation for those babies born there who do not breathe immediately after birth.
These trolleys (pictured) do not have an overhead heater but have a Lithium battery operated lights and clock enabling resuscitation at night when electrical power if often not available. Provision of these trolleys will be undertaken by a nurse trained in advanced neonatal care who will provide training in neonatal resuscitation, in the recognition of serious illnesses in newborn infants and their transfer when necessary, to the nearest hospital.
9. Provision of intravenous paracetamol for the control of pain during labour in two county hospitals.
