Communication for Maternal and Child Health Programmes Training Course

Course Introduction

Effective communication is essential to improving maternal and child health outcomes because it connects health services, evidence, policies, families, communities, and healthcare providers. Communication can influence knowledge, attitudes, care-seeking behaviour, service utilisation, treatment adherence, prevention practices, and trust in health systems, making it a critical component of sustainable maternal and child health programmes.

The Communication for Maternal and Child Health Programmes Training Course equips participants with practical strategies for planning, delivering, and evaluating communication interventions that address the diverse needs of women, newborns, children, families, and communities. The course explores strategic communication, health education, social and behaviour change, community engagement, advocacy, risk communication, media relations, and digital communication.

Participants will examine how communication can address critical maternal and child health challenges, including antenatal care utilisation, skilled birth attendance, postpartum care, immunisation, breastfeeding, nutrition, family planning, newborn care, childhood illnesses, adolescent health, and reproductive health. Particular attention is given to developing messages that are accurate, culturally relevant, accessible, respectful, actionable, and responsive to the realities faced by different communities.

The training addresses the changing communication environment in which health programmes operate. Participants will explore misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, digital health communication, social media influence, artificial intelligence, health emergencies, stigma, gender inequalities, cultural beliefs, low health literacy, and unequal access to information. These issues are considered within the broader context of strengthening trust, health-system resilience, community participation, and equitable access to essential maternal and child health services.

Through practical exercises, case studies, communication planning activities, audience analysis, message-development sessions, stakeholder mapping, campaign design, and monitoring and evaluation exercises, participants will develop the ability to translate complex health evidence into understandable and motivating communication. The course also emphasises interpersonal communication, community dialogue, counselling support, media engagement, and digital approaches that can reach audiences through trusted and appropriate channels.

By the end of the training, participants will be able to develop evidence-informed communication strategies that contribute to improved maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes. They will gain practical tools for influencing positive health behaviours, strengthening community trust, improving service uptake, supporting health workers, managing communication risks, countering misinformation, and demonstrating the contribution of communication interventions to programme performance and population health.

Duration

10 days

Who Should Attend

• Maternal and child health programme managers and project coordinators

• Public health officers working on maternal, newborn, and child health initiatives

• Health communication and social and behaviour change communication specialists

• Community health workers and community health programme coordinators

• Ministry of Health officials responsible for maternal and child health programmes

• NGO and civil society professionals implementing maternal and child health projects

• Reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health programme officers

• Health promotion, education, and community mobilisation professionals

• Midwives, nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals involved in health education

• Development partners and donor-funded programme communication specialists

• Media and public relations professionals covering health and development issues

• Monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning professionals supporting health programmes

• Advocacy officers working on reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health priorities

• Digital health and social media communication professionals

• Researchers, consultants, academics, trainers, and health programme advisors

Course Objectives

• Develop strategic communication approaches that support improved maternal, newborn, and child health knowledge, behaviours, service utilisation, and programme outcomes.

• Analyse maternal and child health audiences according to their information needs, beliefs, behaviours, motivations, barriers, vulnerabilities, and preferred communication channels.

• Design clear, evidence-based, culturally appropriate, and audience-centred messages that address priority maternal, newborn, and child health concerns.

• Apply social and behaviour change communication principles to promote antenatal care, skilled delivery, breastfeeding, immunisation, nutrition, hygiene, and appropriate care-seeking practices.

• Strengthen interpersonal and community communication techniques that improve trust, counselling quality, participation, informed decision-making, and relationships with health service providers.

• Develop communication interventions that address harmful social norms, misconceptions, stigma, gender-related barriers, and cultural beliefs affecting maternal and child health outcomes.

• Use traditional media, digital platforms, social media, community networks, interpersonal channels, and emerging technologies to reach diverse health audiences effectively.

• Develop effective health risk and crisis communication approaches for disease outbreaks, maternal emergencies, vaccine concerns, misinformation, disasters, and other public health threats.

• Strengthen advocacy and stakeholder communication capabilities to influence policies, mobilise resources, improve partnerships, and increase institutional commitment to maternal and child health.

• Integrate gender responsiveness, disability inclusion, health equity, cultural sensitivity, adolescent considerations, and vulnerable population needs into communication programme design.

• Develop communication monitoring and evaluation systems using appropriate indicators, audience feedback, behavioural measures, digital analytics, and evidence to demonstrate programme effectiveness.

• Produce practical communication strategies, campaigns, messages, materials, stakeholder engagement plans, and evaluation approaches that can be implemented within maternal and child health programmes.

Comprehensive Course Outline

Module 1: Foundations of Maternal and Child Health Communication

• Understanding the strategic role of communication in improving maternal, newborn, child, reproductive, and family health outcomes.

• Key principles, concepts, terminology, theories, and functions of communication within maternal and child health programmes.

• Relationships between health communication, service delivery, health promotion, community participation, behaviour change, and health-system strengthening.

• Emerging communication challenges involving health misinformation, declining trust, digital transformation, health inequities, and rapidly changing audience expectations.

Module 2: Maternal and Child Health Programme Context

• Understanding major maternal, newborn, and child health challenges and their communication implications across diverse population and health-system settings.

• Communicating the importance of antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, postpartum care, newborn care, immunisation, nutrition, and childhood illness prevention.

• Examining social, economic, cultural, geographic, and health-system factors that influence access to maternal and child health information and services.

• Communicating health priorities within broader agendas involving universal health coverage, health equity, gender equality, resilience, and sustainable development.

Module 3: Communication Strategy Development

• Developing integrated communication strategies aligned with maternal and child health programme goals, evidence, priorities, resources, and implementation realities.

• Establishing communication objectives, priority audiences, key messages, communication channels, activities, responsibilities, timelines, and expected results.

• Aligning communication strategies with programme theories of change, national health policies, clinical guidelines, and relevant development priorities.

• Integrating communication planning throughout programme design, implementation, monitoring, learning, adaptation, and sustainability rather than treating it as an isolated activity.

Module 4: Audience Research and Stakeholder Analysis

• Conducting audience research to understand maternal and child health knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, motivations, fears, barriers, and information preferences.

• Segmenting audiences according to age, gender, pregnancy status, location, socioeconomic characteristics, health needs, behaviours, and communication access.

• Mapping health workers, mothers, fathers, caregivers, adolescents, community leaders, policymakers, media, religious leaders, and other influential stakeholders.

• Using stakeholder and audience insights to create targeted communication approaches that improve relevance, participation, trust, and service engagement.

Module 5: Health Message Development

• Developing accurate, concise, persuasive, culturally sensitive, and actionable messages for maternal, newborn, and child health priority areas.

• Translating complex clinical and public health information into language that families, caregivers, adolescents, and communities can understand and use.

• Applying message framing, storytelling, emotional relevance, social norms, trusted messengers, and calls to action to encourage appropriate health behaviours.

• Adapting health messages for different literacy levels, languages, cultural settings, communication platforms, audience needs, and stages of behaviour change.

Module 6: Social and Behaviour Change Communication

• Understanding behavioural determinants influencing antenatal attendance, skilled delivery, breastfeeding, immunisation, nutrition, hygiene, and childhood healthcare practices.

• Applying behavioural science, social norms approaches, behavioural insights, and evidence-based frameworks to maternal and child health communication interventions.

• Designing campaigns that move audiences beyond awareness toward intention, action, maintenance, and sustained adoption of healthy maternal and child health behaviours.

• Using community influencers, peer support, trusted health workers, family networks, social norms, and feedback mechanisms to reinforce positive health practices.

Module 7: Community Engagement and Participation

• Designing inclusive community engagement processes that encourage women, caregivers, families, adolescents, health workers, leaders, and vulnerable groups to participate.

• Using community dialogues, listening sessions, participatory meetings, household engagement, peer groups, and local networks to understand health concerns and priorities.

• Building community ownership through transparent communication, responsive feedback, local leadership, shared decision-making, and meaningful participation in programme activities.

• Addressing community resistance, misinformation, stigma, cultural concerns, communication fatigue, and trust barriers that may reduce participation in health programmes.

Module 8: Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Risk Communication

• Developing communication approaches for maternal emergencies, disease outbreaks, childhood epidemics, vaccine concerns, disasters, and other urgent public health situations.

• Communicating health risks clearly and rapidly while maintaining accuracy, transparency, empathy, credibility, reassurance, and appropriate urgency.

• Establishing crisis communication procedures involving spokespersons, approval systems, communication channels, rapid response teams, and information coordination.

• Managing rumours, misinformation, fear, stigma, public anxiety, conflicting information, and uncertainty during maternal and child health emergencies.

Module 9: Media Relations and Health Journalism

• Building effective relationships with journalists, broadcasters, editors, community media organisations, health reporters, and digital media professionals.

• Preparing press releases, media briefs, interviews, statements, fact sheets, talking points, expert commentary, and other health communication materials.

• Communicating maternal and child health evidence responsibly while avoiding sensationalism, misinformation, stigma, unnecessary fear, or misleading simplification.

• Preparing health programme spokespersons to handle difficult interviews, controversial topics, public criticism, misinformation, and sensitive maternal and child health issues.

Module 10: Digital Health and Social Media Communication

• Using websites, social media platforms, mobile messaging, online communities, digital campaigns, and health applications to improve communication reach.

• Creating engaging digital content including short videos, infographics, educational posts, interactive materials, testimonials, and evidence-based health stories.

• Addressing digital misinformation, vaccine misinformation, online harassment, privacy concerns, platform changes, algorithmic amplification, and harmful health narratives.

• Exploring artificial intelligence, chatbots, automated communication, digital analytics, personalised health messaging, and other emerging technologies in health communication.

Module 11: Gender, Equity and Inclusive Health Communication

• Integrating gender considerations into communication approaches addressing maternal health, reproductive health, newborn care, child health, and family decision-making.

• Designing accessible communication for persons with disabilities, low-literacy audiences, adolescents, marginalised populations, displaced communities, and underserved households.

• Addressing social determinants, poverty, geographic barriers, cultural expectations, discrimination, gender norms, and unequal power relationships affecting health communication.

• Applying ethical, respectful, culturally responsive, human-centred, and rights-based communication principles across maternal and child health interventions.

Module 12: Advocacy and Stakeholder Communication

• Designing advocacy communication that influences policymakers, health leaders, programme managers, donors, communities, and institutions to prioritise maternal and child health.

• Communicating research findings, programme evidence, service gaps, health inequalities, and investment priorities to decision-makers and development partners.

• Building partnerships among government agencies, health facilities, NGOs, communities, professional associations, researchers, media, and private-sector organisations.

• Developing compelling advocacy narratives that connect maternal and child health investments with social wellbeing, economic development, health equity, and resilient health systems.

Module 13: Health Literacy, Counselling and Interpersonal Communication

• Understanding health literacy barriers that affect the ability of women, caregivers, adolescents, and families to understand and act on health information.

• Strengthening provider-client communication through active listening, empathy, respectful counselling, shared decision-making, and culturally sensitive interpersonal techniques.

• Developing communication materials and approaches that support informed decisions about pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, immunisation, nutrition, and child healthcare.

• Addressing communication barriers involving language, stigma, fear, low literacy, disability, misinformation, provider attitudes, and unequal relationships within healthcare settings.

Module 14: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

• Developing communication indicators that assess reach, engagement, knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, service utilisation, trust, participation, and programme contribution.

• Designing baseline, process, outcome, and post-intervention assessments to determine whether communication strategies achieve their intended health objectives.

• Using surveys, interviews, focus groups, digital analytics, community feedback, observation, and routine health data to assess communication effectiveness.

• Applying adaptive learning processes to refine messages, channels, campaigns, stakeholder approaches, and communication strategies based on evidence and audience feedback.

Module 15: Emerging Issues and Future Trends

• Communicating emerging maternal and child health risks associated with climate change, extreme weather, displacement, infectious diseases, and health-system disruptions.

• Addressing artificial intelligence, deepfakes, synthetic media, automated health content, misinformation, and the growing complexity of digital health information environments.

• Exploring telehealth, mobile health, digital counselling, online peer support, remote communication, and innovative technologies for reaching underserved populations.

• Preparing communication systems for future challenges involving demographic change, urbanisation, adolescent health needs, health emergencies, digital inequality, and evolving public expectations.

Module 16: Integrated Communication Planning and Practical Application

• Developing a complete maternal and child health communication strategy integrating research, objectives, audiences, messages, channels, activities, resources, partnerships, and evaluation.

• Designing practical health communication campaigns addressing realistic challenges such as immunisation hesitancy, antenatal care gaps, nutrition, breastfeeding, or newborn care.

• Conducting communication simulations involving media interviews, community dialogue, crisis response, misinformation management, stakeholder negotiation, and advocacy engagement.

• Presenting, evaluating, and refining communication plans using peer review, facilitator feedback, evidence-based criteria, implementation considerations, and measurable outcome indicators.

Training Approach

This course will be delivered by our skilled trainers who have vast knowledge and experience as expert professionals in the fields. The course is taught in English and through a mix of theory, practical activities, group discussion and case studies. Course manuals and additional training materials will be provided to the participants upon completion of the training.

Tailor-Made Course

This course can also be tailor-made to meet organization requirement. For further inquiries, please contact us on: Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com Tel: +254 721 331 808

Training Venue 

The training will be held at our Upskill Training Centre. We also offer training for a group (at a discount of 10% to 50%) at requested location all over the world. The Onsite course fee covers the course tuition, training materials, two break refreshments, buffet lunch, airport transfers, Upskill gift package, and guided tour.

Visa application, travel expenses, dinners, accommodation, insurance, and other personal expenses are catered by the participant

Certification

Participants will be issued with Upskill certificate upon completion of this course.

Airport Pickup and Accommodation

Airport pickup and accommodation is arranged upon request. For booking contact our Training Coordinator through Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com, +254 721 331 808

Terms of Payment:

Unless otherwise agreed between the two parties’ payment of the course fee should be done 3 working days before commencement of the training so as to enable us to prepare better.