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PROJECTS<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
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Project Title: Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition Project (HANAN).<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n
Location: <\/strong>Gaza Strip and West Bank<\/p><\/div>\n\n
Project duration<\/strong>:3 years.<\/p><\/div>\n\n
Donor<\/strong>: US Agency for International Development (USAID)<\/p><\/div>\n\n
Starting Date<\/strong>: first of January, 2005<\/p><\/div>\n\n
Project Budget<\/strong>: US$ 21,000,000<\/p><\/div>\n\n
Implementing agency<\/strong>: John Snow Institute and others<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
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The Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition Project (MCHNP) began on 1 January 2005 and will continue for 36 months. The goal of this project is to bring a basic package of top quality maternal, child health, and nutrition services to Palestinians as close to their homes as possible. The project has offices in Ramallah and Gaza, and will have satellite offices in Hebron, Nablus, and Khan Younis.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Project Goals & Targets<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n
MCHN will seek to expand the public health advances made by USAID through the Maram Project, including:<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Upgrading essential skills of health care providers;<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Enhancing the management skills of clinic managers;<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Working with Palestinian communities to enlist their support for the program;<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Introducing effective health education messages and interventions to promote healthy lifestyles.<\/p><\/div>\n
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The project’s targets will be to:<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Improve the availability of essential services and counseling for women of reproductive age;<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Upgrade well-baby care and infant and child nutrition;<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Improve the management of common childhood illnesses.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Project interventions will focus simultaneously on the service delivery level as well as at the community level. Clinic capacity building and community mobilization will improve access to and quality of MCHN services.<\/p><\/div>\n
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In addition to field implementation of services and information, the Hanan Project will also seek to identify policy needs which—if effected—could further improve access to and quality of services for the most vulnerable Palestinians.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Project Start-Up<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n
During its first four months, the project staff will carry out a series of assessments and will conduct fact finding. These assessments will include the Maram Maternity Homes, and will seek to identify the most vulnerable communities from the maternal and child health perspective. Following data collection and analysis, vulnerable communities will be rank-ordered to select the communities where Hanan will work. We will also conduct a siting analysis to identify potential services provider opportunities in proximity to the MV communities; will assess the interests of communities and providers to become a part of the Hanan-assisted network; will conduct an assessment of the needs of communities and providers to play this role and of training capacity in WB and Gaza.<\/p><\/div>\n
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At the end of this start up period, Hanan will have identified the initial cohort of communities and service providers with whom it will work during the initial year of implementation; will have developed its comprehensive strategic framework, and will have completed a Performance Monitoring Plan, a first year work plan, and the budget. We expect to initiate full implementation by mid 2005.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Coordination with Stakeholders<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n
The project will work in close coordination with the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and other key stakeholders, seeking to achieve measurable improvements in women’s and children’s health and nutritional status.<\/p><\/div>\n
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We are aware that many groups—external and local—are working in the areas of MCHN, and wish to ensure that our efforts are fully complementary and cumulative with these. Two initial coordination mechanisms we envision include:<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Establishing a Project Steering Committee, which will facilitate our ability to know what others are doing, and to get feedback on the appropriateness of Hanan objectives, strategies, priorities, and activities, and coordinate Hanan activities with those of other stakeholders. Membership of the PSC will include the MOH, USAID, one or more representative of NGOs, plus several UN agencies.<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Appointing a senior member of the Hanan technical team to work with a counterpart inside each major stakeholder as a way to ensure close liaison.<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Creating an active program of dissemination of project designs, plans, tools and methods, lessons learned, and<\/p><\/div>\n
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results.<\/p><\/div>\n
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End of Project Vision<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n
Our vision is—by the end of the project–to have:<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Provided access to an essential package of quality MCHN services and information to 60% of the most vulnerable<\/p><\/div>\n
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women of reproductive age and children under 5 (in non-refugee communities).<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Significantly improved the understanding among Palestinian communities about their health needs,<\/p><\/div>\n
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• Helped to improve the capability of the health system to provide quality services available to mothers and<\/p><\/div>\n
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children.<\/p><\/div>\n
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The HQ of Hanan is in the Masrouji Building, 3 Mada’en Street, Suit 200, Al Bireh\/Ramallah, Tel: 02 240 7021\/2, Fax: 02 240 7490<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n\n
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CASUALTIES AND HEALTH INCIDENTS<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
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According to the Palestinian Health Information Center (MOH), during the period 28\/1 – 27\/2, 2005, the number of casualties reported in the West Bank and Gaza Strip was 20 deaths (including 10 children) and 104 injuries (including 31 children)<\/strong>.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
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During February 2005, there were 14 episodes of ambulance delay (for a total delay of 15 hrs). In 4 cases the access was totally denied, according to PRCS, including a delivery at a checkpoint (see news), and the case of a 15 years old boy who was injured in Al Salah area in Hebron, and only after 2 hours the soldiers allow the ambulance to transfer the boy to hospital, where he was declared dead.<\/p><\/div>\n
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The following diagram shows the total number of ambulance incidents by area, the time of delay and the episodes of denied access (D\/A) at the checkpoints:<\/p><\/div>\n
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FOR MORE INFORMATION<\/u><\/p><\/div>\n
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Please feel free to contact us at:<\/p><\/div>\n
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Health Inforum, c\/o Italian Cooperation\/ Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, Tel: 02 532 7447, Fax: 02 532 2904<\/p><\/div>\n
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Health Inforum, c\/o WHO Jerusalem office\/ Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, Tel: 02 5400 595, Fax: 02 581 0193<\/p><\/div>\n
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Health Inforum, c\/o WHO, Gaza office, Al-Bayed building, Al-Halbi Str. Tel: 08-2822033, Fax: 02-2845409<\/p><\/div>\n
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Email: info@healthinforum.org<\/u><\/p><\/div>\n
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