Starfish
Capacity Building Project for Healthcare Providers Working with Neonates, Infant and Under-five Children
Starfish is a capacity building project that aims to improve neonatal, infant and under-five child care in South Africa through collaborative initiatives.
The project works with healthcare professionals, healthcare workers and institutions to strengthen knowledge, clinical skills and leadership, while building a long-term picture of the care needs and outcomes of young children and their families across the country.
Aim
Improving neonatal, infant and under 5 child-care in South Africa by means of collaborative initiatives.
Objectives
The Starfish project can be divided into neonatal, infant and under five child care objectives to influence healthcare professionals; healthcare workers, as well as organizational objectives.
01. Neonate, Infant and Under Five Child Care (and Parents)
- Establish provincial registers with baseline data regarding neonatal infant and under five care and services in South Africa.
- Improved short and long-term outcomes in neonatal, infant and child care in line with the SDGs.
- Identify care and follow-up needs of infants and under five child care in South Africa.
- Development of screening and follow-up assessment tools for the high risk infant/child-families, suitable for the national context.
- Determine parental perceptions and health needs.
- Determine neonatal, infant and under five child care outcomes in the South African context over a period of time (20+ years).
02. Healthcare Professionals and Healthcare Workers (Re-engineering Teams)
- Human capacity building by means of a leadership program.
- To develop and present structured knowledge and clinical skills update programs to be presented to selected individuals per province.
- To improve staff confidence in various settings working with neonates and under 5 children.
- To develop leadership in multi-disciplinary teams with an appetite for sustainable change, quality of care and life-long learning.
- To develop a sense of ownership in participants.
- Improving the uptake of the latest available research evidence.
03. Institutional
- To determine the change in working environment in the enrolled institutions.
- Establish an industry funded research chair, neurodevelopmental laboratory and sustainable teaching and learning platform in this field.
- Establish centers of excellence for various functions related to neonatal and child care throughout South Africa.
- Establish sustainable partnerships with relevant industry and international partners.
Project Design
Nine one-day face-to-face sessions of groups of up to 50 persons.
Topics Covered
Fetal development and normal adaptation to the extra-uterine environment
The 4th stage
Assessment of the neonate
Newborn care during the 4th trimester
Puerperium
Child illness
Emergency child care
Nutrition
Normal development
Short Learning Programmes Embedded in Project
STARFISH
Short Learning Program on neonatal, infant and under five childcare for the multi-professional health care team.
Project Leader
Ms Dibolelo Lesao
Starfish Research Programme
Telephone: 018-299 1829
Email: dibolelo.lesao@nwu.ac.za