NOTE

The publication provides guidelines for assistingdeveloping countries in determining strategies for the utilizationand training of traditional birth attendants (TBAs). TBA's arepersons (usually women in rural areas) who assist the mother atchildbirth and who initially acquired their skills through experiencerather than formal training. After a chapter giving the results of aWorld Health Organization survey of birth_attendants in variouscontries, it describes the formulation of strategies for TBAinvolvement in maternal and child health a-d family planningprograms. It outlines a suggested training program (includinglearning objectives and tasks for antepartal, intrapartal,postpartal, and infant care, family planning and coordination withhealth services) stressing that the course should be adapted to theneeds of individual TBAs. The publication deals also with thepreparation of trainers and supervisors and with the problems andtechniques of supervision. It ends with chapters on evaluation and ontopics that call for further investigation. Each chapter is followedby a list of references. Appended are: titles used to designate TBAs,statistics on supervision of deliveries in various countries,analysis of existing training programs for TBAs (20 countries, 1972),national workshop questionnaire on activities of Indonesian TBAs, andsuggested tasks of the trained TBA working in collaboration with thehealth establishment. (Author/MS