A word cloud visualization of women’s experiences at the Birth Waiting Homes in Tikonko and Gondama, Tikonko Chiefdom, Bo District, Sierra Leone
This past summer and fall, RHCI collaborated with the Gillings School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina to facilitate an evaluation of RHCI’s Birth Waiting Homes. This project was coordinated by Sheila Leatherman, CBE, HON FRCI, Gillings Global Advisor at the Gillings Humanitarian Health Initiative, and Julie Hoffer, Epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health and RHCI Board member.
Women staying at each Birth Waiting Home were interviewed as they were being discharged home with their newborn. This information will be used to improve the operations of the homes. The Word Cloud, created by the team, is a visualization of women’s experiences during their stay. The majority of the responses were very positive, highlighting that their experience was amazing, comfortable, educative and provided a supportive peaceful comfortable an clean environment.
Evaluations on the Mobile Outreach Clinic and stakeholder evaluation are currently in progress. Further results will be forthcoming and used in program improvement. RHCI is grateful for the expertise of the UNC Humanitarian Health Initiative participants in this undertaking, including Leslie Lytle, Maggie Holly and Doreen Alumaya.
