This study aimed to establish the outcome of a seminar on the DOH’s “Unang Yakap” as an interventional tool in increasing the knowledge and practices of Midwives on the Essential Intrapartum Newborn Care in selected municipalities in Zamboanga del Norte, namely Tampilisan and Liloy. The research was conducted at the Rural Health Units’ Delivery Room facilities of Tampilisan and Liloy, Zamboanga del Norte where a total of 17 Midwives were directly involved in handling maternal deliveries. The research is a pre and post interventional study utilizing an EINC seminar with midwives as study participants. The DOH’s standard EINC training questionnaires and evaluation checklist was employed enabling the assessment and analysis of respondent’s knowledge and practices. Each respondent was assessed through direct observation on handling maternal deliveries. Out of 17 respondents, all were evaluated in which 12 of them passed and improved their practices in terms of performing the four essential core steps of EINC. Data gathered were analyzed using frequency and distribution to evaluate improvements in knowledge and practices. Increases on the results in knowledge showed mean scores in pre-test and post-test 1 of 6.76 and 8.18 respectively. A decrease in the mean score from 8.18 to 7.65 was evident in the post-test 2 implying that there is knowledge decay a month after the seminar. Based on the results of this study, the researcher concluded that the seminar on Unang Yakap was effective in increasing the knowledge of the midwives from pre-intervention to post intervention outcomes. The researcher also concluded that the intervention improved the practices of the midwives right after the intervention but failed to maintain this 1 month after the seminar.

Keyword: Essential Intrapartum and Newborn Care EINC Midwives