The Window of Opportunity Project

The reason I'm here in South Africa . . .

One of the projects that I work on at PATH is called the Window of Opportunity (WinOp) project, which is implemented in four districts of South Africa and one district in Mozambique.  To give you a quick overview, here is a synopsis from our promotional brochure:

The goal of WinOp is to improve the health of pregnant women and children up to the age of two. This is because the pregnancy and early childhood, especially up to two years of age, are a very important time, “a window of opportunity”, to improve health and shape the future physical, intellectual, social and emotional development of children.

Our work includes training facility-based clinicians/nurses, community health workers, and supervisors to provide services that address the health and developmental needs of young children.  The health workers then go on to teach parents and caregivers about using antenatal and postnatal services, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, and encouraging child development and stimulation (playtime).  We also provide training to the service providers about data collection and quality improvement, so we can monitor the project's impact and build capacity in the communities.

The Window of Opportunity project started in 2011 and is scheduled to close in December of this year.  We coordinated a large stakeholder meeting in Johannesburg to build interest and showcase the project's successes, in the hopes that we will get more funding and continue the project.

 

Window of Opportunity Banner

 

My manager, Scott Gordon, introducing the project at the stakeholder meeting

I've been working on the preparations and finalizing the materials for the past few weeks and was thrilled to see it all come together.  The meeting included representatives from several provinces in South Africa, as well as the National Department of Health.  I learned so much from the various presentations, and took notes about the clear gaps in implementation and data quality.  Fingers crossed that the project can continue.  (Or if any of you have an extra $25 million that you'd like to donate, we could extend the project for another five years.)  :)

Today (the day after the meeting), a few coworkers and I decided it was a good day to go on a field visit (since it's my last day in South Africa).  I was SO HAPPY to finally see more of the country and visit lower-income communities.  We went to Sebokeng (just south of Johannesburg) and followed the research assistants, who were making house visits to take assessments on child malnutrition and stunting.

PATH staff and the research supervisors

 

Sebokeng housing

Day care center

This was one of the highlights of my week.  I'd much rather do data collection in the field, than sit in the office at the ritzy mall.  Even thought I don't speak Zulu, there's so much more culture to absorb in the rural areas.

That's all from South Africa.  Tomorrow I'm off to Mozambique!!!