The 8th International conference on the Mother and Child (MCH) Handbook will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 22nd to 26th October 2012. International Conferences on the MCH Handbook take place every two years and this is the first time that this conference in being held in Africa. This conference aims to bring together developing countries that have used the MCH Handbook, mainly from Asia, in MCH service delivery and those that have not yet had the chance to use the MCH Handbook. It comes after the official launch of the Kenyan MCH Booklet, which was done on the 23rd April 2010. The MCH Handbook contains the combined record of mother and child from pregnancy through delivery, new born period, postnatal care and records of the child up to the age of 5 years. As the global community looks forward to the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) target year of 2015, this International Conference aims to stimulate discussion and set the stage for planning acceleration of progress towards meeting MDG 4 & 5 especially in African countries.

For countries which have had the opportunity to use the MCH Handbook, the MCH Handbook has served as a basis for integration of MCH Services, has facilitated continuum of care from pregnancy up to 5 years of the child. It is the aim of this conference to bring out these experiences from countries which have used the MCH Handbook for the benefit of all nations which will participate. The conference will also establish a platform to explore establishment of specific linkages between the community health worker, and the other levels of health care, in order to accelerate progress towards achieving Millenium developing goals #4 and #5.

The 2012 Conference will bring together over 400 participants, from the five regional blocks in Africa namely Central, Eastern, Northern Southern and Western Regions. There will also be participants from selected Asian countries which have had the experience of using the MCH Handbook for a long time and which will share their experiences at the 2012 Nairobi Conference.

Objectives of the Workshop

1. To discuss modalities of improving maternal, infant and young Child Health and Nutrition through effective utilization of the MCH handbook.
2. To share reports on MCH Services (including Child and Maternal Mortality rates) from participating African Countries with particular attention on factors that promote and those that hinder provision of MCH Services.
3. To share reports on MCH Services (including Child and Maternal Mortality rates) from countries /States from outside of Africa that have used the MCH Handbook for more than two years and how the use of the Handbook contributed to streamlining the MCH Services.
4. Working in Sub-Regional African groups, to review the framework for development & use of National MCH Handbooks that came out of the Eastern Africa Workshop of March, 2010 on the MCH Handbook with a view to making adjustment for use in other African sub-regions.
5. To outline required training for National Health worker groups for the development and use of MCH Handbooks.