Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
comprehensive health record book which integrates health records.
As a health education material, health professionals, village health
volunteers and parents can easily understand minimum standard of
MCH care. Also, various activities in health sectors, such as
nutrition, immunization, communicable diseases control, dental
health and family planning are integrated through MCHH activities.
As a comprehensive record book, it enables integration of existing
health cards which have been used for community health services.
This was not possible with conventional health cards because each
card served for a different purpose in a different period: keeping
track of mothers’ health during pregnancy and growth monitoring of
children. Since the mother’s and child’s health records are
integrated, from pregnancy, delivery and child development, it can
be useful as a referral document when a mother or a child is
referred from a health center to a clinic or a hospital.
The common information included in the handbook are: family data,
pregnancy records, maternal immunization record, delivery
information, apgar score, infant information, child’s weight and
height, child’s immunization, child’s illness history, family planning
information and nutrition information. The families are responsible
in safe-keeping the MCHH. In SEA, it is typically provided free of
charge to pregnant mothers.
MCH HANDBOOK IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
CAMBODIA
In Cambodia, the MCHH had been distributed to selected communes
(2 in Memut district and 2 in Thboung Khmum district) in 2007.
Since it was an initial endeavor, the cost of the handbook is yet to
be determined. The handbook initiative is led by the local
government. For the development of the handbook, funding is
provided by donor agencies. Health professionals, health volunteers
and traditional birth attendants are trained on the use of the
handbook. They are also responsible in the distribution and
recording of the handbook. The handbook is useful from pregnancy
until the child reaches the age of five.
INDONESIA
The MCHH was first initiated in only one district of Central Java in
1994. Since then it has been expanded to other districts. JICA has
been responsible for technical support since 1998. Currently, the
handbook is distributed nationwide. The number of MCHH
distributed nationwide in 2005 were 1,768,560 copies. The
production cost of each MCHH ranges from $ 0.50 to $ 2.00. The
MCHH project is a collaboration between the central and local
government, several professional organizations, local NGOs and
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