22-10
TEACHING AIDS FOR LEARNING ABOUT BIRTH
In a short training course in a village setting, health workers usually do not have a
chance to attend many births. Good teaching aids are therefore essential. The more
lifelike they are, the better. But it is important that the aids used be ones that the
students can make themselves at low cost. That way they can use them for health
education with mothers and midwives in their own villages.
On page 11-3, we showed 3 models for teaching about childbirth: one made of
plastic, one of cardboard, and one a real person. Of these, the plastic model is least
appropriate because it cannot be duplicated by the health workers.
The cardboard box model is
appropriate because of its simplicity.
Also, the back flap can be cut to form
breasts, so students can practice putting
the baby to the breast right after birth.
This is important because it helps to
prevent hemorrhage and to push out the
placenta.
A male health worker in the Philippines
‘delivers a baby’.
Babies for these
demonstrations can
be made of cloth
stuffed with rags or
straw, or children’s
dolls can be used.
An even more appropriate teaching
model (where culturally acceptable) is
a real person with a doll baby hidden
inside her clothing. The person wears a
pair of pants with the crotch cut to form
a ‘birth opening’. This way, the ‘mother’
and the birth attendant can act out all the
emotions and events of childbirth.
Women may be embarrassed to act out
childbirth before a mixed group. But even
when they are not, it is a good idea to
have a man act the part! This way, men
become more sensitive to the woman’s
situation during labor.
The placenta
can be made of
red cloth sewn
so that the lobes
can be spread and
inspected. Make
the membrane
of thin plastic
(cellophane).