Who would ever have thought I would go to Zanzibar on a work trip?I am just back from 3 days there visiting the Midwifery School and the main maternity Hospital.
It was wonderful to be near the sea again and have time to swim in the ocean. My day at the College was certainly interesting. One realised how in Tanzania and Zanzibar that there is just so much a better infrastructure and basic foundation than what I saw in Sierra Leone.
The principal of the school was a wonderful older midwife who had a passion for teaching ethics. I spent time with the 3rd year students getting them to fill in a skills questionnaire. There are 68 students in this class. Almost impossible to teach a clinical profession like midwifery with so many.
It was very interesting that of all of them only 1 wanted to work as a midwife when she was qualified. This set alarm bells going for me. We have to find a way to train students in a way that they will want to practice the profession once they are qualified.Also the question really is should we not begin to focus more on quality than quantity? I know not an easy question to ask in an African context.
I was hosted by UNFPA as I was going some consulting work for their mainland office.
The maternity hospital was the main referral hospital on the island. Here too the midwives did the Gap Analysis Assessment. Despite being overworked as they kept telling me, they still seemed to have time to sit and chill.
It is a very busy hospital. The midwife in charge was brilliant. Motivated and enthusiastic. She is committed to doing a great job. In the time I was there I saw her teaching, training, reprimanding, doing clinical work and organising - she is someone to treasure and work with.
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| Students in their classroom |
It was wonderful to be near the sea again and have time to swim in the ocean. My day at the College was certainly interesting. One realised how in Tanzania and Zanzibar that there is just so much a better infrastructure and basic foundation than what I saw in Sierra Leone.
The principal of the school was a wonderful older midwife who had a passion for teaching ethics. I spent time with the 3rd year students getting them to fill in a skills questionnaire. There are 68 students in this class. Almost impossible to teach a clinical profession like midwifery with so many.
It was very interesting that of all of them only 1 wanted to work as a midwife when she was qualified. This set alarm bells going for me. We have to find a way to train students in a way that they will want to practice the profession once they are qualified.Also the question really is should we not begin to focus more on quality than quantity? I know not an easy question to ask in an African context.
I was hosted by UNFPA as I was going some consulting work for their mainland office.
The maternity hospital was the main referral hospital on the island. Here too the midwives did the Gap Analysis Assessment. Despite being overworked as they kept telling me, they still seemed to have time to sit and chill.
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| Midwives doing the Gap Analysis Tool |
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| A Zanzabari's midwife hands |
