Nurse Theresa has worked at Mwananyamala Referral Hospital since 2011 as the Head of the Neonatal Clinic. She was trained as a pediatric nurse, and has been a nurse for 20 years. In 2018, she underwent a five day breastfeeding training organized and led by CCBRT’s Maternal Health Capacity Building (MHCB) Program. Theresa was one of five nurses from Mwananyamala in the training, which covered  the importance of breastfeeding, potential problems with breastfeeding, how to help babies breastfeed early, etc. Theresa shared that the training was very beneficial, and they learned a lot in only five days! She left the training interested in learning more. The breastfeeding training was conducted in both English and Swahili, and participants received a book on the topic written in Swahili.

After her five day training, Nurse Theresa returned to Mwananyamala to lead  on-the-job training for the other nurses in the ward who could not attend the training. Prior to the CCBRT MHCB training, the nurses at Mwananyamala had identified that mothers were struggling to understand the importance of early breastfeeding and breastfeeding in general. Following the training, Nurse Theresa and all of the nurses on the  neonatal ward provide regular breastfeeding training and support for new mothers.

Nurse Theresa regularly contacts CCBRT’s MHCB staff when she has questions, and they often check in with her. She is thankful that she could attend the training, and that she was able to share what she learned as  a Trainer for her colleagues. She looks forward to attending future CCBRT training on other topics such as low birth weight babies, and kangaroo mother care.