ESOG Certified as CPD Accreditor

The Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG) is certified as a CPD Accreditor by Human Resource Development Directorate, CPD Committee at the Ministry of Health (MoH). The status gives ESOG the authority to accredit organizations, associations, training centers and the likes to provide accredited CPD courses. It also allows ESOG to approve national CPD courses particularly courses on reproductive health, maternal and women’s health. The endorsement has been given for a year to be renewed every year.

On another note, the renewal for ESOG’s certification, as a CPD Provider by Ethiopian Midwives Association (EmWA), is underway and on its final stage. ESOG was certified as CPD Provider by EmWA in August 2019 for a year to be renewed every year. Given this important status in the national CPD implementation effort of the MOH, ESOG will have a great responsibility to discharge the roles as CPD accreditor and provider as expected by the national CPD guideline and directive.

ESOG is also working on developing the electronic CPD platform and database particularly required in the COVID-19 era. IT officers at our Society are developing the e-learning platform which will allow members and any other health professionals to e-register, attend e-learn courses, which are fully credited, receive e-certificate, have trainers’ and trainees’ profiles uploaded and exported by the CPD accreditor and regulatory bodies as deemed necessary, among many other features. The team is working on it to be ready for the upcoming pre-conference CME which is anticipated to be conducted in a hybrid mode.

Clinical Mentorship for RMNCH Service Providers

The Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG) provided comprehensive catchment-based clinical mentorship for Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, and Children’s Health (RMNCH) service providers. The mentorship was undertaken on August 9-19, 2020. The mentorship was undertaken particularly on Family Planning (FP) and Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) services for project health facilities.

Mentors stayed at the health center for two to three days. The team is comprised of 2 Emergency Surgical Officers (ESOs) and two senior midwives. The mentorship involves knowledge and skills assessment and evaluation, review of documents, ground inspections, discussions with facility managers and providers on service gaps, designing FP and CAC quality projects, performing daily activities with providers, case discussions, provision of onsite practical training, PowerPoint presentations, among others. 

The overall goal of the project entitled- Strengthening Capacity and Improving Quality of Reproductive Health (Family Planning (FP) and Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC)) and Reducing Stigma on Abortion Care Service Providers- is to improve the quality of FP and CAC in the primary health care units to increase service uptake and support the Ministry of Health (MoH) on developing effective de-stigmatization strategies for safe abortion care among health care workers. To achieve this end, the projects aim at institutionalizing FP and CAC and newborn health mentorship programs at primary hospitals and health centers through producing Emergency Surgical Officers (ESOs). Strengthening the quality improvement programs in FP, CAC, maternal and child health at primary hospitals and health centers, and reducing stigma and discrimination against abortion care providers are also the objectives of the project.

The project involves a total of 100 health centers and 12 hospitals in two zones, North Shewa and North Wollo of the Amhara Regional State, and in three zones: Arsi, West Shewa, and West Hararge of the Oromia Regional State. 

Funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and partnering with MoH, regional health bureaus, woreda health offices, hospitals, and health centers, the project will run until July 31, 2021.