The focus of ETATMBA on maternal and child health has similarities with other projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. Doug Simkiss has explored some of these though the HIFA2015 and CHILD 2015 message boards and some collaborations have been established.

Clinical Training Videos

Dr Deb van Dyke of the Global Health Media Project has been developing clinical videos for frontline health workers in primary and district level facilities. The first ten videos on newborn care best practices are now available on the Global Health Media website.

The films are available free-of-charge for use in low-resource settings through Global Health Media's Creative Commons license. They are formatted for two download options:

• Mobile phone version (smaller file size with lower resolution)
• Laptop/tablet version (medium size and resolution)

The following topics are covered in the videos:

• Basic skills
• Setting up an IV line
• Newborn physical exam
• Inserting an IV
• Referring a sick baby
• Taking a heel blood sample
• Inserting a gastric tube
• Breathing problems
• Feeding with a gastric tube
• Umbilical infections

A Spanish voice-over is planned during the next few months and a condensed version of some of the videos will be produced as a refresher sequence. There are 25 additional newborn care videos in the pipeline. The project team are planning to film soon at a clinical site in Asia in keeping with their strategy to internationalise the series.

Any feedback, especially from those who are directly involved with training frontline health workers, would be much appreciated by the team.