Mentoring is uncommon in medical and nursing education and training in India. Recognizing the value of mentoring, the Maternal Health Task Force partnered with St. John’s Medical College and Research Institute to create the Maternal Health Young Professionals (MHYP) program, a year-long mentoring program for health professionals throughout India.
Eight young health professionals from the private and public sectors were paired with a mentor from their home institutions in India, as well as a mentor from an external institution including Jhpiego, St. Johns Research Institute, Myrada, India’s Institute of Public Health and India’s National Institute of Epidemiology.
With support from their mentors, the MHYP program participants took part in a residential training on maternal health, research methodology and report writing at St. John’s Medical College and then set out to apply their new skills to a variety of projects including developing low-tech solutions for home-based blood pressure monitoring and measuring the impact of implementing the WHO Safe Childbirth Checklist.
The MHYP program aimed to enhance participants’ research, evaluation and managerial skills, preparing them to become national and global leaders in maternal health.