“ Under the Cashew Tree: Communities in Mozambique Shape Maternal and Newborn Health”

Under a cashew tree in Nanlepo, Mozambican communities are trying to shape their own health in their own languages of Portuguese and Makhua.
Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) Meetings is now happening in Africa — a milestone in Community-led Maternal and Newborn health care.
The first PLA meeting was held at Nampula province in Mozambique by a trained CHW (Government Community Health Worker) who are called APSs (Agentes Polivalentes Elementares. The trainees consisted of APSs, their supervisors, health department officials, and the implementing partner from N’weti where this initiative is being pre-piloted in Namaita and Mutivaze health centres.
PLA empowers communities to identify challenges, co-create solutions and come up with local strategies to strengthen systems of care for mothers and newborns. Together, we are building pathways for healthier beginnings.
This collaboration is a fall-out of over two decades of PLA evidence from several countries, including India — now being tailored and adapted to be tested in a new context, keeping communities at the centre.