- Jérémie Sansan (responsable recherche Wakobo RCA),
- Cécile Cazes (cheffe de projet scientifique internationale)
- Alice Furtado (géographe de la santé GHiGS/IRD),
- Prof Richard NBGALE (Co-PI Wakobo INSERM),
- Dr DEMFACK Brisse, SHRM-SMN / IRC
- NGBALEO Emmanuel Parfait S/E, CISJEC
- Rodrigue DOYAMA-WOZA, DREP/MSP
- NDOMO Alain Maxime, RSE/ ACABEF
- Dr Jean-Baptiste MADOUNDJI, DGPOS/ MSP
- Dr DENGUEM C. Patrice, PF AQS/ PF, FICR
- Dr Edna Francine DOYAMA-WOZA née MAWA, MCD/ DS de Bimbo - Mme KOUSSA née MALIAVO Léonnie, PF SR/ DS de Bimbo
- DAVEK Richard, MEAL officier / IMC
- Dr KOMAYAN FANGBAILETTE Jean Louis, SEPPS/ MSP
- Dr Gynette-Annick MBOUNOU, DRS1/ MSP
- Dr Bissengue Placide, DREP/ MSP
- Dr SEBOULO Parfait, Direction de la Santé communautaire
- Dr GUEMDOKO Yollande, Chargée de Programme SSR/PF UNFPA CAR - Sorry KEITA, Chef de mission ALIMA/ RCA
- Dr Rodrigue ILBOUDO, Référent Médical/ Desk2- ALIMA/ Dakar
- Jean de Dieu LONGO, Président comité
The Wakobo ti Kodro study has been running since July 2023, and several activities have been carried out. With this in mind, a meeting to present the study to the national monitoring committee was held on April 30, 2024 in the meeting room of the SNIS department of the Ministry of Health and Population.
The meeting was attended by the central directors of the Ministry of Health and Population, United Nations agencies (WHO and UNFPA) and international and national NGOs involved in reproductive and maternal health.
The aim of this first meeting of the national committee was to present the study and to engage with actors in the field of reproductive health in order to appropriate the results of the studies.
The meeting was chaired by Professor LONGO, who chairs the technical committee for validation of health research protocols and results at the Ministry of Health and Population.
After a welcome by Professor LONGO, the meeting began with a presentation of the research project by Cécile CAZES, scientific project manager, and Professor NGBALE (Co-Principal Investigator), followed by a presentation of the results of the interim evaluation of the feasibility/acceptability study.
Following these two presentations, the audience was given the floor to ask questions and make recommendations for the proper implementation of the study's activities.
Questions centered on the limits of the study, the criteria for choosing health areas, the involvement of husbands in the study, the financial barrier, women's refusal to have their homes filmed, and whether consent was obtained from beneficiaries. The issue of patient referral was raised by participants, who wanted to know whether the project supported the referral of women within the framework of the study.
The District Chief Medical Officer congratulated the study implementation team and emphasized that the study had come at the right time to help women at risk of pregnancy complications. Thanks to referrals, high-risk pregnancies can now be managed more quickly. She also emphasized the commitment of the matrons, who were doing an excellent job. The only difficulty lies in the workload of the midwives, who have two documents to fill in, which sometimes leads them to neglect filling in the Ministry's tools in favor of the study.
Professor NGBALE, Jérémie and Cécile provided some answers to participants' questions, pointing out that the referral fees are those from the health centers to the referral hospitals. On the other hand, 'referral fees were not planned for patients coming from villages to the health center, so as not to bias the results of the study. Indeed, if referral fees are introduced at village level, this will attract women who come because of the free service.
As for the limitations of the study, it was explained that this meeting was about the activities carried out during the study, not the final results of the study. The limits of the study will be presented when the results of the study are presented.
It was also made clear that the choice of health areas was modelled on the sites where ALIMA was already active, although both urban and rural areas were targeted.
The recommendation that was taken on board by the participants was the involvement of husbands in the study. In fact, in the home, it is the men who have the economic power and therefore the decision-making power. It would be important to involve them in the study in order to have a panoramic view of the situation with reliable data.
Concerning the collection of consents for the taking of photos of homes, it was specified that within the general framework of the study, consent forms had been drawn up and submitted to the ethics committee, which validated them. These forms are used to collect consent. Specific to home photography, for reasons of location, the consent of the beneficiary is required. Also, for beliefs, awareness-raising work will have to be done, as consent forms already exist in the study documentation. The study team will continue to raise women's awareness to encourage them to agree to have images taken of their homes.
At the end of the meeting, the participants had positively appreciated the study, which had enabled them to take better care of women at risk of pregnancy.
The most important recommendation was to involve the husbands of women at risk of pregnancy in the study.
Participants at the meeting were enthusiastic about the continuation of the study's activities, but above all about sharing the results.
