Birzeit University participates in annual meeting of Midwifery Education and Research Development project

The Midwifery Education and Research Development project partners held their annual meeting on Monday, January 30, 2023. The project is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, which aims to enhance the quality and relevance of higher education and scientific research in women's health in Palestine.

The meeting was attended by the project’s main partners, including Birzeit University, Palestine; Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway; and the University of Ghana. The meeting was also attended by the supporting partners, namely the University of Dundee, the United Kingdom; the United Nations Population Fund, Palestine; and the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

During the meeting, the project partners presented an overview of the project in the year 2022. As the project manager, Dr. Sahar Hassan presented the project’s goals, activities, achievements and challenges. She explained that one of the most important achievements was the launch of the Women’s Health master’s program. The program is the first of its kind locally and in the Arab world and is an important national-level intervention that seeks to develop education and research related to women’s health and provide scholarships for midwives to pursue doctorate and master’s degrees in women's health.

The project will also introduce digital courses specialized in women's health to facilitate access to knowledge for midwives and healthcare providers. As for research, Dr. Sahar asserted that they are currently working on two specialized research projects in the field of reproductive health and youth health.

The meeting was held in a hybrid format and was launched at the University of Ghana, where the Norwegian partners attended physically. Unable to obtain a visa, the Palestinian partners participated via Zoom, as Ghana requires Palestinians to apply for a visa at the Embassy of Ghana in Egypt.