title: Preparing the next generation of maternal and newborn health leaders: the maternal and newborn health champions initiatives.
abstract: A champion in health care can be defined as any health professional who has the requisite knowledge and skills in a relevant health field, who is respected by his/her peers and supported by his/her supervisors, and who takes the lead to promote or introduce evidence-based interventions to improve the quality of care. Jhpiego used a common approach during two distinct initiatives to identify individuals in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean whose expertise in their clinical service area and whose leadership capacity could be strengthened to enable them to serve as champions for maternal and newborn health (MNH). These champions have gone on to contribute to the improvement of MNH in their respective countries and regions. The lessons learned from this approach are shared so they can be used by other organizations to design leadership development strategies for MNH in low-resource countries.
authors.affiliation: Jhpiego, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: blami.dao@jhpiego.org.
authors.forename: Blami
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dao
authors.affiliation: Jhpiego, Abuja, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Otolorin
authors.affiliation: Jhpiego, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.affiliation: Jhpiego, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.affiliation: Jhpiego, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Harshad
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sanghvi
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D001208:Asia; D057191:Capacity Building; D017691:Caribbean Region; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000068104:Infant Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007843:Latin America; D007857:Leadership; D000068097:Maternal Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D009938:Organizations; D011247:Pregnancy; D011320:Primary Health Care; D035862:Vulnerable Populations
keywords: Capacity building; Champions; Leadership; Maternal health; Newborn health