Recently independent and post-conflict
Kosovo has demonstrated improvements in health care generally and maternal child healthcare specifically. Progress has been slow, however with the country's outcomes significantly worse than its European neighbors, this issue has come to the forefront of
national health priorities. The perinatal mortality rate is estimated to be 19.1/1000 as of 2010, however, this does not include the deaths at home and in private sector (Partnership to Improve Women's and Children's Health in Kosovo, 2012) There continues
to be significant evidence that pregnancy outcomes are concerning and the quality of individual care and current delivery systems need accelerated improvement.
Dartmouth and the Ministry of
Health have partnered to improve the regionalization neonatal of care. Through the process of health delivery systems improvement, knowledge gaps have emerged including limited data regarding neonatal transports and referrals, which hinders program development.
Using a combination of qualitative, quantitative and geospatial mapping techniques, students will utilize existing demographic referral data to design a more appropriate referral system. The objective of this project would be to develop a data collection method
which: accurately reflects the referral rate, identifies gaps in data and develops a plan for data collection going forward. At the conclusion of the field experience, the intern will be responsible for presenting their findings along with a set of recommendations.