Midwives, as trusted health care professionals, play a critical role in supporting and caring for victims of Gender-Based Violence (GBV). They are often the only care provider that a woman will seek care from in her lifetime. To improve and support their skills in providing trauma-informed care to survivors, FAHM will provide, at no cost to them, 4-day GBV training for 50 Haitian midwives, webinars for 200 midwives supporting their mental/emotional health and a public awareness campaign.
GBV is a complex issue with multiple layers of consequences (psychological, physical, economical, social/societal, legal and cultural). According to the 2017 Demographic Health Surveys (DHS), approximately 23.5% of women in Haiti reported sexual and physical violence committed by a partner. The Haitian Midwives Association (AISFH) requested to have additional training for midwives and student midwives in order to improve their skills in performing trauma-informed care for victims.
Empowering Haitian midwives with the knowledge, skills and sensitivity required to work with GBV victims creates a sustainable model of care. Haitian Midwives are part of the community in which they live and work. They are in the optimal position to provide culturally sensitive evidence based care to Haitian victims and survivors. Midwives attending the training will come from each of the 10 departments of Haiti and return armed with the proper tools to adequately address the issue.
The project will train 250 midwives in identifying barriers to seeking care, cultural/societal norms affecting health, sexual and reproductive health, respectful and privacy protected care, principles of trauma informed care, types of gender-based violence, human/women's rights according to Haitian law, medical exam of the survivor, medical-legal aspects/reporting and ethics/professional development. Midwives will return to their respective communities where they serve hundreds of women monthly.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
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