SPRING conducts trainings primarily for health care providers at the national level and in its implementation areas to deliver high-quality nutrition services and counselling. Due to high levels of antenatal care, facility delivery, and basic primary health care nationally, capacity building within the Ministry of Health (MOH) is a strategic way to improve the quantity and quality of nutrition services and counselling throughout the country.
The approach for training includes adapting globally available trainings and guidelines to the Kyrgyz context through a consultative process and obtaining approvals from the MOH and the Kyrgyz State Medical Institute for Retraining and Continuing Education (KSMIRCE). SPRING provides a training of trainers (TOT) to a pool of national and regional level trainers, followed by cascade trainings for all health care providers in SPRING implementation areas.
SPRING provides trainings on Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and supportive supervision. A strong supportive supervisory system will allow the government to address gaps early on through regular monitoring and reporting and will ultimately lead to an ability to ensure that all key aspects of IYCF are being covered by health workers. The project also conducts trainings for the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), a system that accredits health facilities in global standards of maternal and child care. SPRING provides supportive monitoring to hospitals in preparation of BFHI accreditation and then supports hospital staff to implement a continuous monitoring plan to ensure standards are maintained.
Trainings on maternal nutrition and the new national anemia guidelines for health care providers, which include new prevention and treatment protocols for various life cycle groups, are also planned.
