Colleagues participated in a brief crowdsourcing survey to share their valuable insights and experiences as global leaders and contributors to the field of Respectful Maternal Care (RMC). For the purpose of this effort, RMC includes approaches implemented since 2009 that improve experiences of care for pregnant people during the antenatal, delivery, and postnatal period. By carrying out this landscaping analysis, we aim to better understand three aspects of respectful maternal care in Africa:
- Which approaches (e.g. interventions, programs, implementation research projects, policies, etc.) have been and are being used to advance RMC?
- Which terms are used to describe respectful care and related efforts?
- Are there any gaps or opportunities where further innovation or testing of interventions is needed?
We hope to expand this landscape to other regions but limited our crowdsourcing to efforts in Africa to start. Our findings will be synthesized together with a review of literature and will culminate in a report and database to be shared with the global community. We hope this work informs future investments, programs, research, strategies, and policies.
For updates on the survey results as they come in and to access more resources on RMC, please visit https://www.respectfulcareresources.com/crowdsourcing. If you have any questions, please email Emily Peca at epeca@urc-chs.com. Thank you for your participation and please forward this on to others in your networks.
Building on the growing body of RMC implementation experience in the last decade, HEARD’s framing and implementation landscape analysis has two components: 1. Identify promising approaches for addressing RMC; and 2. Frame and explain terminology associated with RMC. See the boxes on the right for additional details. The methodology used for both of these components includes rapid scoping of literature and crowdsourcing.
1. Promising Approaches
Background: The prevalence, incidence, and etiology of disrespect and abuse in childbirth has been documented, and a range of RMC interventions have been developed and evaluated. However, policymakers interested in RMC lack the information and evidence they need to understand which intervention(s) should be implemented in their context.
Purpose: To identify and disseminate a summary of the breadth of promising approaches and existing evidence on RMC interventions and programs in Africa.
2. Framing & Terminology
Background: Competing frameworks, terms, and framing for RMC may undermine progress in the implementation of woman-centered, respectful care in priority countries. Re-framing/re-positioning RMC may help accelerate progress in RMC practices. However, differences in language/translation, culture, setting, and origins of frameworks must be considered.
Purpose: To identify and learn from existing RMC framing and terminology to inform strategic positioning of RMC going forward, including careful consideration of barriers and crises.