ACCESS-SSP holds national midwifery workshop in Afghanistan
30 September 2006
 The
ACCESS Program's Service
Support Project (SSP) conducted a National Midwifery Education and Accreditation (NMEA)
Workshop in Kabul, Afghanistan, from 26-28 September 2006. The
goal of the workshop was to promote the quality of education in midwifery programs through
the accreditation process, revision of educational standards and incorporation of clinical
standards with the educational standards.
The workshop followed efforts, under the leadership of the Institute of Health
Sciences (IHS) in Afghanistan, to establish and maintain high standards of educational quality
in midwifery programs. To further this initiative, the IHS and other implementing partners
developed an accreditation system so that hospital and community midwifery programs across
the country have a standard educational methodology.
The National Midwifery Education and Accreditation Policy, which calls for
all midwifery programs in the country to be accredited, was endorsed by the Afghanistan
Ministry of Public Health’s (MoPH) Executive Board on 23 November 2005. The National
Midwifery Education Accreditation Board (NMEAB) was then formed and has accredited 13
programs to date.
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Dr. Sayed Mohammed Amin Fatimi, Afghanistan's Minister of Public Health,
speaks to participants
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Ms. Pashtoon Azfar, President of the Afghan Midwives Association, hands
out certificates to workshop participants
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The results of the workshop included the following:
- Introduction to the NMEAB
- Orientation of participants to the role of the Board in
program accreditation and its benefits
- Increased knowledge of the participants about midwifery
educational policy
- Heightened understanding of the midwifery education
accreditation process and NMEAB guidelines
- Revision of the educational standards
- Introduction of some clinical standards and incorporation
of them with educational standards
- Development of criteria for a quality assurance subcommittee
- Election of two new NGO representatives as Board members
- Distribution of awards for accredited programs
- Creation of a database for accreditation assessments
- Increased knowledge of the participants about maintaining
quality in the programs
- Preparation of a list of participants for "Effective Teaching
Skills" and "Essential Obstetric Care" courses
- Preparation of a distribution list of anatomic models
for the respective programs
- Distribution of teaching materials to the respective programs
To ensure that the standard educational methodology was fully understood
by those who participated in the process, workshop facilitators agreed that efforts
would be made to follow up with workshop participants in their respective programs.
They also decided to conduct baseline assessments for the programs that want to use
the new clinical standards.
The following recommendations for improving future workshops were as follows:
- Participants should attend all of the accreditation workshops
in the series.
- Priority should be given to midwives from all of the respective
programs to participate in the workshop.
- The respective programs should take measures to ensure
delivery of high-quality education.
- The final version of the revised standards should be sent
to all programs.
About ACCESS
The ACCESS Program is the U.S. Agency for
International Development's global program to improve maternal and newborn health.
The ACCESS Program works to expand coverage, access and use of key maternal and newborn
health services across a continuum of care from the household to the hospital—with the
aim of making quality health services accessible for women and newborns. Jhpiego
implements the program in partnership with Save the Children, Constella Futures, the
Academy for Educational Development, the American College of Nurse-Midwives and
IMA World Health.
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