"Passerelle" - Gateway to midwifery training at ISSI (Institut Supérieur en Sciences Infirmières) - Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

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LINCCO
630 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Bureau 400

Montréal, Québec, H3A 1E4 Canada

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Need

In 2011, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimated that in the DRC there were only two midwives per 1,000 live births compared to six to twelve in other countries on the continent, such as Ghana and Uganda.

Despite a major reform of midwifery training, introduced as part of the global effort to improve maternal and child health several years ago, it is clear that the skills of midwives and nurse midwives still fall far short of the minimum international standards required to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality.

The need for qualified midwives is undeniable in the DRC, particularly in rural areas but also in peri-urban areas.

	DRC	WORLD (average)	Sub-saharan Africa	OECD
Life expectancy (at birth)	60	72.2	60.8	80
Maternal mortality (per 100,000 live births)	693	216	547	14
Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000)	29	18	27.2	4
Infant mortality rate (under 5 years/per 1000)	91	39	76	7
Number of doctors (per 1000 inhabitants)	0.1	1.5	0.2	2.9
Number of caregivers (nurses & midwives/per 1000)	1	3.1	1.1	7.9

Source: World Bank, WHO – Most recent figures (2009-2018)

Action/Results

Twenty years after the launch of the Nursing course, it is time for l’Institut Supérieur en Sciences Infirmières (ISSI) to launch the Midwifery course.

The training is aimed at practising healthcare professionals (nurses and nurse deliverers) and is spread over a two-year period. The first cohort (2021-2023) graduated 13 new trainers, and a second cohort will start in 2024.

The goal is for our graduate midwives to be able to become academic and clinical trainers for future cohorts. This way, in the short or medium term, external international expertise will no longer be required.

Details

The implementation of this project is based on several years of close collaboration between LINCCO and ISSI and on the financial support of La Fondation Thérèse et Guy Charron.

LINCCO is grateful for the invaluable involvement of Ms. Marie Hatem, a full professor at the School of Public Health of the University of Montreal who has developed midwifery training programs in various countries.

Testimonies

For more information, feel free to contact LINCCO`s project coordinator: nicole@lincco.org .

To learn more about our mission, we invite you to hear the following powerful testimonies:

testimony of Ms. Mejda Shaiek, a Canadian midwife actively involved in the midwifery training project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
First testimony from Chérubin and second testimony from Chérubin, who completed an internship in Spain after her training to become a teacher for future midwives.

Goal: 30,000 $/Year