{"id":39005,"date":"2018-07-26T13:30:15","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T17:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=39005"},"modified":"2018-07-31T12:14:17","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T16:14:17","slug":"dnp-candidate-works-in-ethiopia-to-improve-maternal-and-newborn-mortality-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/dnp-candidate-works-in-ethiopia-to-improve-maternal-and-newborn-mortality-rates\/","title":{"rendered":"DNP candidate works in Ethiopia to improve maternal and newborn mortality rates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebekah Maldonado-Nofziger \u201812, a Doctor of Nursing Practice candidate at the University of Washington, is serving for nine months in Ethiopia as a fellow with <\/span>Strengthening Care Opportunities through Partnership in Ethiopia (SCOPE). In Gondar, she is partnering with health workers and faith leaders to improve maternal and newborn mortality rates. <\/span><\/p>\n

She will stay to complete her practicum and capstone next year at the University of Gondar, graduating in March.<\/span><\/p>\n

SCOPE was founded in 2009 \u201cto empower religious leaders to be health advocates in their communities\u201d through education and addressing social and cultural barriers to healthcare. Currently focused on HIV\/AIDS and maternal and newborn health, SCOPE programs link to \u201clocal and sustainable health systems.\u201d They are supported by graduate student fellows from the University of Washington and the University of Gondar, <\/span>its website<\/span><\/a> states.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maldonado-Nofziger is working with a specific intervention called Faith Leaders Advocating for Maternal Empowerment (FLAME). It pairs Ethiopian Orthodox priests with community health workers to decrease the high mortality rate of women and their newborns by encouraging antenatal, delivery and postpartum care.<\/span><\/p>\n

Improving health disparities<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"\"
Rebekah Maldonado-Nofziger is part of a team that pairs Ethiopian Orthodox priests with community health workers to decrease the high mortality rate of women and their newborns by encouraging antenatal, delivery and postpartum care.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Ethiopia \u2013 where 3.2 million babies were born in 2015, <\/span>UNICEF reported<\/span><\/a> \u2013 the statistics are dire. <\/span><\/p>\n

The country\u2019s neonatal mortality rate is nearly three percent, seven times higher than in the United States. <\/span><\/p>\n

Only 32 percent of women in Ethiopia receive at least four antenatal care visits (that number is 97 percent in the U.S.). <\/span><\/p>\n

And in 2014, just 13 percent of Ethiopian women aged 15-49 received postnatal care within two days of giving birth, <\/span>according to UNICEF<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In her role with FLAME, Maldonado-Nofziger updated a training manual and developed standard procedures for guiding the five-day trainings and subsequent interventions. Now, as part of a team, she is visiting six intervention health center sites to provide follow-up discussions for priests and health workers. The meetings focus on building knowledge of maternal and child health and addressing barriers to reaching pregnant women in their communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The team will also collect data at these and 12 other health centers to assess the efficacy of the interventions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maldonado-Nofziger said that EMU gave her a framework for \u201cusing social justice to guide the work that I do,\u201d and, along with the Mennonite church, has helped her \u201cquestion structures of injustice and find ways to partner with communities to change systems of oppression,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPublic health nursing and Mennonites go together,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need more of them!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A meaningful experience<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"\"
For an intervention followup group discussion meeting site visit, Rebekah Maldonado-Nofziger and her teammates “drove a 4×4 car as far as we could go and then walked for about 1.5 hours one way to get to the health center,” she said. “It was rainy.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maldonado-Nofziger\u2019s experience has not been without logistical challenge; she at times lacks access to water, electricity and phone and internet service, which she needs to complete coursework for her population health practicum.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a reminder that global health does not take you to places necessarily of monetary wealth or resources,\u201d she said. \u201cMy colleagues and friends in Gondar have taught me the importance of simplicity and happiness even when resources are lacking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, while the work is important, she is learning that \u201cit is also important to spend time with people.\u201d <\/span>In a SCOPE blog post<\/span><\/a>, she described a restaurant she frequents, where she has become friends with staff. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are often laughing at each other because we are both trying to have thoughtful conversations,\u201d she wrote, \u201cbut as you can imagine, this is challenging without a common language. Together we learn.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One day the restaurateurs treated her to doro wat, a national spicy chicken stew. That same day, other friends she has met at a university library talked her into putting cornrow braids \u2013 <\/span>shorba<\/span><\/i> \u2013 in her hair, after which some \u201ctold me I had turned Ethiopian,\u201d she wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maldonado-Nofziger also took part in an emotional celebration when an Ethiopian SCOPE colleague who had been held for almost two years as a political prisoner was released. He was paraded through the city, with people coming out of their homes and cheering, and then spoke \u201ca message of peace, love and unification between all the regions in Ethiopia,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebekah Maldonado-Nofziger \u201812, a Doctor of Nursing Practice candidate at the University of Washington, is serving for nine months in Ethiopia as a fellow with Strengthening Care Opportunities through Partnership ... read more about DNP candidate works in Ethiopia to improve maternal and newborn mortality rates<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":39009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,17562,5611,5600,14145],"tags":[],"feature":[17427,17426,17241],"class_list":["post-39005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-digest","category-ms-nursing-leadership","category-nursing","category-peacebuilding-and-development","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nDNP candidate works in Ethiopia to improve maternal and newborn mortality rates - 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