Life expectancy in Burkina Faso was 54.78 years in 2014. There is due to poor accessibility to health care. The biggest domestic challenge is to boost the health status of pregnant women and their newborn children. To assist the country in increasing accessibility to health care services, TaiwanICDF and Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital in eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County are collaborating in implementing a project to improve the skills of medical personnel in Burkina Faso. In summary, this project promotes:

1. Capacity building for health care personnel 
2. Upgrading the functions of health care units

1. Capacity building for health care personnel:

• Capacity training for maternal and newborn health care workers
• Capacity training for community-based health care workers
• Upgrading the health education functions of health care units

2. Upgrading the functions of health care units:

• Upgrading the basic maternal care and newborn care functions of health care units.

1. Capacity building for health care personnel:

• Provided two two-month training courses on maternal care and emergency newborn care to eight seed instructors at Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital in Taiwan.
• Held two local training workshops on maternal care and emergency newborn care for 60 health care personnel.

2. Upgrading the functions of health care units:

• Submitted a medical equipment suggestion list to the Burkina Faso Ministry of Health.
• Collected data on maternal mortality and newborn mortality in project sites.