The Mobile Obstetric Maternal Health Workers Project

Just released: Final Results

The Mobile Obstetric Maternal Health Workers (MOM) Project employs a unique approach to addressing the dire neonatal and maternal health situation among internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in eastern Burma. Our partners—the Global Health Access Program, the Mae Tao Clinic, the Back Pack Health Worker Team and Mobile Clinic ethnic groups—have been able to establish a network of 12 mobile health centers inside Burma that serve as capacity building sites for 33 maternal health workers, 147 health workers, 350 traditional birth attendants and other community participants.

Although the long-term objective of the project is to reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality among IDPs within eastern Burma, the primary aim is to increase access to proven antenatal interventions and to basic emergency obstetric care. The centers provide proven and appropriate antenatal, peripartum and postpartum newborn and maternal health interventions, and are sites for standardized collection of program indicators, as well as referral centers for specialized emergency obstetrical care.

The need to quantify the associations between human rights violations and health outcomes is increasingly obvious and this project gives evidence to the feasibility of obtaining data to understand such associations.  By illustrating the intricate and undeniable influence that human rights violations play on the health of marginalized populations, policies can be created or changed and programs can be implemented.  To this end, Drs. Luke Mullany and Chris Beyrer have been presenting the lessons learned from this project to local and international organizations with the hopes of bringing about future action for research, advocacy, and program implementation in the context of human rights violations.

Supported by: The Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

More information:

Articles:

The Health of Mothers in Eastern Burma Improved by Mobile Obstetrics Project Medical News Today

Women's Access to Health Care Increased: Researchers The Irrawaddy

Borderline Health Johns Hopkins Magazine presents an in-depth look at the dedication of the MOM Project team

Presentations:

Public Health and Human Rights: Challenges, Synergies, and Methodologies Dr. Mullany and Dr. Beyrer's 2009 presentation to the CDC

Publications and Reports:

Mullany LC, Lee TJ, Yone L, Lee CI, Teela KC, et al. Impact of Community-Based Maternal Health Workers on Coverage of Essential Maternal Health Interventions among Internally Displaced Communities in Eastern Burma: The MOM Project. PLoS Med; 2010, 7(8).

Teela KC, Mullany LC, Lee CI, Poh E, Paw P, Masenior N, Maung C, Beyrer C, Lee TJ. Community-based delivery of  maternal care in conflict-affected areas of eastern Burma: Perspectives from lay maternal health workers. Soc Sci & Med 2009: 1–9.

Mullany LC, Lee CI, Yone L, Paw P, 0o EKS, Maung C, Lee TJ, Beyrer, C. Access to essential maternal health interventions and human rights violations among vulnerable communities in eastern Burma.  PLoS Med 2008 Dec: 5(12): e242.

Mullany LC, Lee CI, Paw P, Shwe Oo EK, Maung C, Kuiper HK, Masenior N, Beyrer C, Lee TJ. The MOM Project: Delivering maternal health services among internally displaced populations in Eastern Burma. Reproductive Health Matters 2008 May 16; 16(31):44-56.

Mullany L, Richards A, Lee C, Suwanvanichkij V, Maung C, Mahn M, Beyrer C, Lee TJ.  Population-Based Survey Methods to Quantify Associations between Human Rights Violations and Health Outcomes Among Internally Displaced Persons in Eastern Burma. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2007 Oct;61(10):908-14.

Training Manuals: