Midwifery, Nursing & Primary health care

Safiatu Ibrahim

Grace Hospital
Ghana

Abstract Title:

Biography:

Miss Safiatu Ibrahim is a Registered Midwife (BSc) from Valley View University and has completed Monitoring and Evaluation (diploma) in Global Health from the University of Washington, USA. She holds certificates in high-risk pregnancy and management and forensic nursing from the Medical Simulation Skills Institute, Accra, and the University of Ghana respectively, she runs educational channels on Social Media called "Time with Midwife Safia" on Facebook and TikTok. Miss Ibrahim has won several awards, which include Best Health Promotor for the year 2023 and Best Health Education Program and Social Media Personality of the Year 2024 by the Ghana Medical and Health Awards.

Research Interest:

According to the World Bank Gender Data Report for 2021, Ghana has a stillbirth rate of 21.4 per 1000 live births, about twice the Sustainable Development Goal target of less than 12 per 1000 live births. This alarming stillbirth rate, which reflects the situation in the Southern Ghana, is as a result of inadequate monitoring of fetal movement by many pregnant women during the late second and third trimesters. To mitigate these stillbirth rates, a kit called "Paulina Bottle" was invented at the Our Lady of Grace Hospital. This innovative bottle contains fifteen pebbles. Pregnant women ( from 26 weeks gestation upwards) are taught to count each fetal movement daily using the bottle. The women are educated to be alert to any changes in the fetal kick counts and to communicate immediately with Midwives when these fetal kick counts become abnormal and report promptly to the hospital. Subsequently, Paulina Bottle has been implemented in various hospitals, clinics, and Community-Based-Planning and Services (CHPS) across Southern Ghana and evaluated as impactful. A workshop in Cape Coast in 2021 by the National Association of Registered Midwives-Ghana allowed inventors of the Paulina Bottle to share their findings assessing the impact of the bottle. Evidence showed that the Paulina Bottle increased compliance with fetal kick count monitoring among at least 80% of pregnant women. This appreciation in fetal kick count monitoring translated to a decrease in fresh stillbirth rates at (OLGH) from 3.03 per 1000 Live-Births to 2.7 per 1000 Live-Births between 2022 and 2023.