Support project for high-risk pregnant women

Stigma associated with mental illness and disability can lead to loss of social support in pregnancy which impacts negatively on the mother’s ability to cope or access prenatal care hence increasing the risk of their pregnancies. Birth defects in pregnant women that limit or increase the risk of complications at birth can be a source of psychological distress and contribute to the development of perinatal depression which consequently leads to postpartum depression and poor coping. The Purpose of the Program or Project. The program will aim to provide social support, psychological support and counseling and education for high-risk pregnant women. The project will aim to provide the support through employing a patient-centered approach to be able to address the specific individual needs of the high-risk pregnant women to achieve a safe pregnancy and coping after childbirth.

The provision of psychological support and social support for pregnant women such as those with depression, history of abuse and disabilities is essential in reducing the risks for postpartum depression which can impact negatively on child care (Sockol, Epperson & Barber, 2013). The program will hence be beneficial in preventing the incidence of postpartum depression in high-risk pregnancies such as depressed mothers, mothers with a history of abuse and those with family or previous history of postpartum depression. Provision of care for pregnant women with a history of drug and substance abuse is important to prevent the risk of development of congenital birth defects for babies born of drug-abusing mothers (Bhakta, Bainbridge & Borgelt, 2015). Drugs and other teratogens such as alcohol, cigarettes and exposure to chemical teratogens increase risks of development of congenital defects such as alcoholic syndrome in babies, grey baby syndrome due to antibiotic misuse (chloramphenicol) among others.

Effective care and follow-up management of women with disabilities and defects or complications will be important in preventing miscarriages, premature birth, maternal complications such as bleeding, infections, prolonged labor. They will be engaged for 12 months, same as the patient counselors, monitoring and evaluation officer and accountant. The midwife stipend will be $800 per year each. The counselors will provide patient counseling and assessment and link patients to psychiatric care, they will be paid a stipend of 500 per year. The project accountant will be the administrator in charge of managing finances for the project his stipend will be $ 600 per year. The project monitoring and evaluation officer will be in charge of assessing the projects cycle, its achievements of the key deliverables and will be paid a stipend of $ 600 per year.

The proposal is also in line with the United Nations Sustainable development goal number 3 which aims to ensure healthy lives and the promotion of wellbeing (United Nations, 2015). What are some strengths and weaknesses of the proposal? The strengths of the proposal are that it succinctly articulates the requirements of the proposal and also outlines the process and the responsible persons involved. It also has key strength in that the proposal includes an aspect of sustainability by drawing a plan of sustainability through involvement of department of health and health staff capacity development. The notable weakness of the proposal is that although the budget is well stipulated, the figures proposed for the budget may not be realistic to cover the cost of the proposal.