Maternal and Newborn Health Symposium 2014: Sharing Experiences & Learning from Stakeholders
Future Health Systems
The Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) has conducted several maternal health related projects over the years. Interaction with a diversity of key stakeholders has mainly been at the beginning and at the end of these studies. However, under the auspices of two projects under the Future Health Systems Research Consortium (Maternal and Neonatal Implementation for Equitable Systems study - MANIFEST and the Maternal and Newborn Study - MANEST) and the EQUIP study, MakSPH held a Maternal and Newborn Health symposium on May 14, 2014 in Kampala to herald a new beginning in dealing with key stakeholders. This publication recaps the key takeaways from the symposium and captures various views of participants.
The main focus of the symposium was for the MakSPH study team to share MANIFEST, MANEST and EQUIP progress (early successes, lessons and challenges) to date, but at the same time also get experiences from stakeholders who are implementing or have implemented similar interventions.
In addition to hearing from the three MakSPH projects, the symposium was also graced with presentations from HealthPartners Uganda and the Association of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Uganda. It is the day’s five presentations that formed the basis for the symposium discussions. However, a poem titled The Man in the Land Cruiser and opening remarks from the first two chairs were a good starter to the symposium and set the scene for the presenters of the day.