Birth across the Borders: exploring contextual education as a catalyst for improved maternal health.

Families that lose a mother in pregnancy or childbirth face many challenges. They are left with a gap that can lead to a loss of income and poverty. It can cause a lot of family pressures, especially for girls are left to care for younger children and are not able to go to school. Many of these families come from communities that are already poor, with very little infrastructure and limited access to decent healthcare. This can cause a much higher risk of death, both for mothers and babies, especially in poor countries. Opportunities are more limited because families lack money and education. Myanmar is a South East Asian country that has had many years of tension and conflict between the different people groups. Many of these groups live in remote mountainous areas where basic resources and infrastructure such as electricity are limited. There is often little healthcare in these areas with very few doctors, nurses or midwives to care for mothers and their families. One in 23 women in Eastern Myanmar either die or come close to death during pregnancy or childbirth. These challenges are all very typical in developing countries across the world today, but a lot can be changed with education that makes sense to mothers and families in their situations. Working together with our local partners we intend to learn more about the specific challenges facing families in four regions of Myanmar. From this we will co-develop three education programmes which will be especially adapted for each region. One of these programmes will help families and communities understand the processes of pregnancy and birth, recognise what is normal, what is unusual and what is dangerous and to know what to do and where to go to get help. Our second programme will further train health workers to understand the different signs and symptoms that are dangerous in pregnancy and birth and find ways to help mothers in time to prevent complications. Poverty is very high in parts of Myanmar, so our third programme is for community leaders and local people to support them to start and grow businesses. This way families can afford to eat well and get good healthcare when they need it. Our project will focus on remote regions in Myanmar and together we plan to learn how to find ways to overcome the legacy of many years of poverty and conflict. This project will include staff from our universities in Northern Ireland and Thailand as well as local partners who come from or have been working in the region for many years. Through this project we hope to help support the work of all our partners and improve education for mothers, families and communities. A key part of our project is making sure that the education they receive makes sense in their situations and includes their beliefs and customs leading to improved health, social and economic opportunities and accessible healthcare. We plan to share what we do with other organisations working in Myanmar who may also benefit from our research. Finally, it is hoped that our research will contribute to current policies and practices in partnership with the government of Myanmar and the ethnic health organisations.