Russia Project

For maternal, newborn, and child health, its home-based record is a document that can be used to record health services’ history received by an individual. It is available in either paper or electronic format and usually kept at home by the individual or their caregiver. The record usually contains health information to complement learning materials, such as books, brochures, pamphlets, among others.

The home-based records are used globally. At least 163 countries are using the records, but a massive variation exists across countries and regions concerning the design and the documented health information. In some countries, ownership is nearly universal but very inconsistent or isolated in others.

For decades, their cost-effectiveness, benefits and harms have not been well analyzed systematically. To date, the evidence is scarce as to whether these records can improve the continuum of care and utilization of maternal, newborn and child health services. Hence, this gap must be addressed to improve their quality.

The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) handbook is one type of the above-mentioned home-based records developed in Japan about 75 years ago. It is an effective tool to support healthy pregnancies, reduce birth risks, and improve childcare quality. The MCH handbook is used to record the mother and baby’s health history from pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum. In addition, it is used to record mothers’ subjective feeling and emotion during this period.

The MCH handbook has another function, too. It is a tool to connect people, services, and systems. The MCH handbook is distributed at the local government office during the time of pregnancy registration. Nurses, midwives, obstetricians, pediatricians, and dentists may write down medical records in the handbook at hospitals, clinics, or primary health facilities. Mothers (parents) bring their handbook to health facilities during checkups and record their course of pregnancy, child’s growth chart, immunization, among others. This set-up allows communication and coordination among different parties.

To date, the MCH handbook in Japan is officially made for children up to 6 years of age. Some local governments, however, have extended its period even up to 20 years old. This was done due to the increased health needs among school children and adolescents and life course health promotion. Most mothers (parents) keep MCH handbooks until their children get married or handed them over when they reached 20 years old.

In October 2018, the World Medical Association provided recommendations on the use of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) handbook:

In 2005, Speaking Books® was launched at the Global Health Conference in Washington, D.C. Its purpose is to provide an affordable solution for reaching low literacy communities as a health promotion tool. In 2010, it was introduced as an educational tool for maternal and child health through a partnership between Ethiopia’s Federal Ministry of Health and the United Nations International Children Fund (UNICEF). The Ethiopian version of Speaking Books contains 16 key messages on community-based maternal and child health presented through text, pictures, and recorded soundtrack in Amharic, Ethiopia's official language.

In Thailand, they provided QR codes on the back cover page of the MCH handbook. When the QR codes are scanned, it links to informational videos on pregnancy check-ups, prevention of STDs, family planning methods, among others. The Thailand version of the MCH handbook is available in color consisting of 80 pages overall.

In the Netherlands, they used a different home-based record and called it “The Growth Guide.” It contains information on becoming pregnant in a healthy way, the development of the fetus, and the health and parenting of the child in the various phases of its life. They also use apps and websites as platforms to disseminate information. Below you can find some guidelines from planning for parenthood to the postnatal period up to puberty. Parents can record a child’s development with all its growth curves, immunizations, developmental milestones, photographs, among others.

References:

• https://www.mchhandbook.com/mchhandbooks/
• https://www.groeigids.nl/
• https://speakingbooks.com/

A pilot Russian version of the MCH handbook was developed by the Parent & Child Health Handbook Promotion Association in Japan, and it was presented at the All-Russia scientific-educational forum ‘Mother and Child’ on September 26, 2018.

To make it an official MCH handbook in Russia, a project officially launched in May 2019. Russian team consists of Ministry of Health in Russia, National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology, or “Kulakov” named after Academician V.I. Kulakov, National Medical Research Center for Children’s Health. Japan team then consists of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, The University of Tokyo, Keio University, and Jumonji University. After series of meetings and discussions, in December 2019, a meeting was held among three institutions' (Kulakov, National Medical Research Center for Children’s Health, and The University of Tokyo) representatives, and a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed.

Specialists of Kulakov revised the pilot Russian version of the MCH handbook and we are currently working on our next steps to deliver this handbook to the mothers and children in Russia. There is also a plan to create a prototype of the digital version of the handbook. After its completion, further studies are needed to evaluate Russian mothers' perceptions towards the handbook and how this record may impact mothers and children’s health.

WeCanChange is different from “We can change.” The major difference is no space or no “physical distance” between words and the use of capital letters for each word. By this, we would like to emphasize the power of “WeCan” and the speed of “CanChange.”

WeCanChange was founded in April 2020 when the world was severely hit by COVID-19. It aimed to provide a platform for Positive Deviance and Health Promotion actions worldwide to overcome the new threat to the people in the world.

Positive deviance approach is “an asset-based, problem-solving, and community-driven approach that enables the community to discover successful behaviors and strategies and develop a plan of action to promote their adoption by all concerned (https://positivedeviance.org/).

Health promotion is “the process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health.” Both concepts move beyond a focus on individual behavior towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions.

In April 2020, while we observed many disappointing voices, we could also find promising behaviors among the vulnerable population and some government leaders. We found their behaviors unique and promising, and they can be named “positive deviants.” Then, we expected those who receive our findings to follow these unique behaviors. More importantly, we have been expecting them to become new “We's," who can say “WeCanChange.”

Our mission statement is that “a single behavior, no matter how small, can change the course of the world forever.”

At the moment, WeCanChange accumulated about 15,000 followers from all its social media accounts. Please follow us on our social media accounts to get more updated on positive deviance and health promotion actions worldwide.

Reference:

• The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. First International Conference on Health Promotion, Ottawa, 21 November 1986. Available online: https://www.cscd.osaka-u.ac.jp/user/rosaldo/140611OttawaCharter1986.html

The 51st Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) Conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand, from November 20 to 22, 2019. Professor Masamine Jimba made a poster presentation entitled “Developing a maternal and child health handbook that addresses a country’s health challenges: Framework of editing procedure under the international collaboration.”

The 6th National Conference on Perinatal Medicine: From Pre-pregnancy Care to Healthy Motherhood and Childhood was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, from February 6 to 8, 2020. Professor Masamine Jimba gave a special lecture entitled “Mother and Child Health Handbook in Russia and Japan: Traditions and Innovations. On the same day, Assistant Professor Akira Shibanuma chaired a symposium entitled “Mother and Child Health: A Modern Task for the Family and State. Health Handbook as an Effective Tool in Japan: Implementing in Russia.” Project Assistant Professors Rogie Royce Carandang and Jennifer Lisa Sakamoto made a presentation entitled “Home-based Records for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.”

The Annual Meeting and Expo 2020, American Public Health Association, was held online from October 24 to 28, 2020. Project Assistant Professor Jennifer Lisa Sakamoto made a presentation entitled “The roles of maternal and child health handbook and other home-based records on newborn and child health: A systematic review.” Project Assistant Professor Rogie Royce Carandang also made a presentation entitled “Factors associated with the access and utilization of maternal, newborn and child health services in Russia: A systematic review.”

For more than a year since the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 has limited us to move around the world. However, as after rain comes fair weather, it will not take long to go back to the old days. Not only limiting our freedom to move, but COVID-19 has also severely damaged our society globally.
However, we can learn one lesson from it. The "Baby, go global" project was born by realizing the potential value of going beyond the country's borders. The virus badly affected us, but there must be something worth spreading to the world after COVID-19. This is a project to welcome new babies to this world who will go global after COVID-19. As migration will be more common, an increased number of babies will be destined to travel to other countries.
This project uses a social networking service (SNS) for mothers and pregnant women. They can record personal information about their pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare. For example, pregnant women can monitor their course of pregnancy, and mothers can monitor their child’s growth.
It will also allow international communication among mothers and children worldwide to share their experiences. Like WHO stated in their World Health Report 2006, mothers are the first health workers for their babies, and their experiences are worth sharing. Using this device, mothers can share information through posting messages on both private and public platforms. Timely reminders will be set up about receiving antenatal care, postnatal care, and immunizations. Uploading photos is also possible to keep their precious memories, and mothers have an option to make their photo albums public or private. There will be a signs and symptoms dictionary so that mothers will be aware of the danger signs, and a link to access nearby health facilities will be included, too.
The “Baby, go global!” platform will be available first in the English and Russian languages and will later be translated into other languages to reach more users. Through this SNS, we hope that mothers and children can access and utilize healthcare services regardless of their location and form a supportive and international community beyond the country's borders. It is time for us to think more about what we should spread to the world. Let’s see how babies can go global in good health through this initiative.