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In line with national health priorities, the approach chosen to contribute to the reduction of maternal and infant mortality focuses on strengthening the capacities of health care providers, improving the supply and quality of essential services and improving the use of health care services, particularly through community mobilization.
One of the strategic axes of this community mobilization consisted in the implementation of a community participation initiative, called Women Health Service Users Committees (WHSC), in the areas targeted by the project.
These committees are a group of women who act as intermediaries between the health institution (HI) and the population in a given geographic area. They work to ensure that the health needs of women and children are met. Their priority areas of action are to carry out activities aimed at informing the population about existing services and increasing the use of the SIs by encouraging other members of the community to use these services, particularly for the benefit of pregnant women and children, and to encourage the improvement of the quality of the services by facilitating dialogue between the SIs and the community for better consideration of the needs of women and children in the planning, organization and delivery of services.
