Maternal & Child Health

To determine the difference in delivery success of health messages delivered through pushed SMS, pushed
voice messages sent to personal phones, and voice messages retrieved from a community phone (‘‘retrieved voice
messaging’’), as well as the difference in quality of the user experience. [from abstract]

To determine the difference in delivery success of health messages delivered through pushed SMS, pushed
voice messages sent to personal phones, and voice messages retrieved from a community phone (‘‘retrieved voice
messaging’’), as well as the difference in quality of the user experience. [from abstract]

The overview involved a synthesis and review of recent data and information from key
national representative peer reviewed articles and grey literature from the National Department of
Health and related stakeholder reports. [from abstract]

During the three-and-a-half years of implementation, Ethiopia’s [Federal Ministry of Health] developed a new community health strategy for the Health Extension Program consisting of Primary Health Care Units (health centers and health posts) and the Health Development army. [adapted from abstract]

This paper examines three groups of innovative ideas have been institutionalized in African countries to improve maternal health: policy, institutional and experimental innovations. [adapted from abstract]

This project aimed to meet the technical needs of Health Extension Workers and midwives in Ethiopia for maternal health using appropriate mobile technologies tools. [from introduction]

The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-summary to identify factors affecting compliance among healthcare providers in Africa with clinical practice guidelines for pap screening to reduce cancer incidence and mortality. [adapted from abstract]

The national Health Extension Program aims to provide universal access to primary health care services through more than 34,000 government-salaried female health extension workers. This article reports the effect of the project’s community-based newborn survival interventions on changes in maternal and newborn health care practices. [adapted from introduction]

This paper reviews the literature on generalist and specialist community health workers to assess their potential for strengthening the delivery of adolescent health services. [from abstract]

As part of an assessment of quality of community case management services in Malawi, this report examines the bias associated with measuring community health worker performance by using register review, case scenarios, and direct observation only methods compared with direct observation with re-examination by a higher-level clinician, and discusses the relative strengths and weaknesses of the four assessment methods in the Malawi context. [adapted from author]

This article describes community health workers in government community case management programs for child survival across sub-Saharan Africa. [from abstract]

Community case management (CCM) is a promising task-shifting strategy for expanding treatment of childhood illness that is increasingly adopted by low-income countries. This study uses qualitative methods to explore health workers’ and managers’ perceptions about CCM provided by health surveillance assistants during the program’s first year in Malawi. [adapted from abstract]

This paper documents progress in the scale up of a program to train an existing cadre of community based health workers, known as health surveillance assistants, to provide integrated community case management of childhood illness between 2008 and 2011. It describes some critical challenges that affect the effectiveness and sustainability of the program, and proposes solutions. [adapted from introduction]

This article assessed how a program for integrated community case management (iCCM) for children under 5 years addresses newborn care in three mid-western districts through document reviews, structured interviews, and focus group discussions with village health team members trained in iCCM, caregivers, and other stakeholders. [adapted from abstract]

This study compared effectiveness and use of community medicine distributors and drug use under integrated community case management and home-based management strategies in children 6–59 months of age in eastern Uganda. [adapted from abstract]

This briefing argues that the global shortage of skilled health workers means that children in the world’s poorest countries don’t get the care that would stop them dying from causes related to malnutrition. It advocates for the need for more health workers who are trained and supported to prevent and treat malnutrition in the places of greatest need. [adapted from publisher]

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of a national child survival quality improvement project, on key maternal and child health outcomes. [adapted from abstract]

This study assessed the effectiveness, safety, and feasibility of prevention of postpartum hemorrhage using oxytocin injected by peripheral health care providers without midwifery skills at home births. [adapted from abstract]

Using the case of Brazil, this study investigates the extent to which policies and interventions seeking to increase the accessibility of health services among the poor have been effective in decreasing neonatal mortality. [adapted from abstract]

This research aimed to assess how policies reducing demand-side barriers to access to health care have affected service delivery with a particular focus on human resources for health using case studies in five countries (Ghana, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe). In each the authors reviewed financing and HRH policies, considered the impact financing policy change had made on health service utilization rates, analysed the distribution of health staff and their actual and potential workloads, and compared remuneration terms in the public sectors. [from abstract]

This report documents the contributions to and impact of faith groups in relation to providing HIV/AIDS and maternal health services, and identifies the challenges to faith groups, at local, national and international levels, in delivering these health services. [adapted from author]

These guidelines provide the information and guidance needed to implement effective basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care training. Recommendations are made for selecting participants and clinical sites, training schedules, and where to find the materials and resources needed for effective clinical skills practice. Use of these guidelines will enable facilitators to train providers who are competent in evidence-based practices and who will ensure that their facilities offer quality services. [from author]

This article assesses the effect of a trial multifaceted intervention to promote maternity death reviews and onsite training for health workers in emergency obstetric care in referral hospitals with high maternal mortality rates in Senegal and Mali. [adapted from summary]

This article documents the intervention package and evaluation design of a study conducted in a rural district of Bangladesh to evaluate the effects of an integrated, community-based maternal and neonatal health and postpartum family planning program on contraceptive use and birth-interval lengths.

Community-based maternal and newborn care programs with postnatal home visits from providers who can deliver preventive or curative services that save lives have been tested in Bangladesh, Malawi, and Nepal. This paper examines coverage and content of home visits in pilot areas and factors associated with receipt of postnatal visits. [adapted from abstract]

This study was carried out to assess the quality of care provided by Health Surveillance Assistants—a cadre of community-based health workers—as part of a national scale-up of community case management of childhood illness in Malawi. [from abstract]

This study aimed to identify determinants of caregivers’ use of village malaria workers services for childhood illness and caregivers’ knowledge of malaria management. [adapted from abstract]

The study contributes to quality improvement programs responsible for accelerating reduction of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in Uganda. It documents and informs clinicians, hospital managers, and policy makers about quality of care aspects that need to be improved in promoting newborns and maternal survival and well being during labor to promote women’s utilization of skilled attendance at birth. [from author]

This report is an evaluation of integrated management of childhood illness, a strategy to reduce mortality and morbidity in children under 5 years by improving health workers’ case management of common and serious illnesses at primary health care level, in two provinces of South Africa. [adapted from abstract]

This article describes the Morang Innovative Neonatal Intervention
(MINI), which tested a replicable model for the community management of neonatal infections within the existing government health system through the use of female community health volunteers. [adapted from author]