Most read article(s)
- Practical Implications of Policy Guidelines: A GIS Model of the Deployment of Community Health Volunteers in Madagascar
Geographic information systems can be used to support informed decisions about practical issues related to implementing community health worker (CHW) programs. Demands placed on CHWs regarding expected population and surface area coverage and travel time to facilities need to be carefully considered to ensure they are rational and realistic.
- District Health Teams’ Readiness to Institutionalize Integrated Community Case Management in the Uganda Local Health Systems: A Repeated Qualitative Study
District health teams failed to transition from partner-supported integrated community case management (iCCM) programs to locally-run and fully-institutionalized programs. Successful iCCM institutionalization requires local ownership with increased coordination among governmental and nongovernmental actors at the national and district levels.
- Using Patient-Reported Outcome Measures to Promote Patient-Centered Practice: Building Capacity Among Pediatric Physiotherapists in Rwanda
Tracking outcomes is integral to assessing effectiveness of health systems. Multimodal training was offered in the use of a contextually appropriate, patient-centered outcome measure in a low-resource setting. Results offer insights for designing future capacity-building programs.
- Counseling Is a Relationship Not Just a Skill: Re-conceptualizing Health Behavior Change Communication by India’s Accredited Social Health Activists
The capacity for India’s community health workers—accredited social health activists (ASHAs)—to promote healthy behaviors must be understood within the health system and community context. Their ability to influence health behaviors depends on the strength of their relationships with families and support they receive from the health system.
- Health Care Worker Preferences and Perspectives on Doses per Container for 2 Lyophilized Vaccines in Senegal, Vietnam, and Zambia
When providing immunization services, health care workers balance the mandate of achieving high coverage with limiting vaccine wastage. Workers in 3 countries said that containers with fewer vaccine doses for measles and BCG would enable them to immunize all children who present, while reducing concerns about wasting vaccine.
- Where Do Caregivers Take Their Sick Children for Care? An Analysis of Care Seeking and Equity in 24 USAID Priority Countries
Understanding whether and where parents take sick children for care is critical to improve child health and survival. Stakeholders should use this information to ensure that resources are programmed effectively and that sectors complement one another to increase equitable access to high quality integrated management approaches for sick child care.
- Are We Using the Right Approach to Change Newborn Care Practices in the Community? Qualitative Evidence From Ethiopia and Northern Nigeria
In Ethiopia, high community-level exposure to consistent messages and the perceptions of community health workers and relationships with them drove newborn care behavior change. In Nigeria, exposure to messages was limited, community health workers were less trusted, and behavior change was reported less frequently.
- Factors Associated With Delayed Contraceptive Implant Removal in Ethiopia
Women receiving implant insertion at the community level were significantly more likely to report keeping their implant for more than 3 years. Even when a referral or back-up system for removals existed, efforts to task-shift the provision of contraceptive implants may have inadvertently led to extended implant use.
- How Should Home-Based Maternal and Child Health Records Be Implemented? A Global Framework Analysis
Our assessment of home-based record use in low- and middle-income countries indicated that the implementation process consists of 8 interdependent components involving policy makers, funders, and end users—health care workers, pregnant women, and the parents/caregivers of children. Successful implementation can result in improved maternal and child health outcomes and more efficient use of government and donor investments.
- Determinants of Facility-Level Use of Electronic Immunization Registries in Tanzania and Zambia: An Observational Analysis
We provide a framework to quantify the use of electronic immunization registry systems at the facility level and results show the importance of behavioral and organizational factors in explaining their sustained use in Tanzania and Zambia.