Latest Articles
- 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.
- Bringing Greater Precision to Interactions Between Community Health Workers and Households to Improve Maternal and Newborn Health Outcomes in India
We identified how the quantity and quality of actions taken by community health workers can be refined to move from a one-size-fits-all model to a precision approach that stands to benefit the health of the mothers and newborns they support.
- Opportunities and Challenges of Delivering Postabortion Care and Postpartum Family Planning During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Devoting scarce health resources to meet the family planning needs of pregnant, postabortion, and postpartum women during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is an investment against higher health systems burdens during subsequent waves of the pandemic and a means to save lives and improve livelihoods.
- Mask Reuse in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Creating an Inexpensive and Scalable Ultraviolet System for Filtering Facepiece Respirator Decontamination
We outline a simple, low-cost design—both scalable and adaptable worldwide—to decontaminate filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) using ultraviolet bulbs and supplies found in most hardware stores. The setup will help health care workers safely reuse FFRs in light of the shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Factors That Influence Data Use to Improve Health Service Delivery in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
We identified factors that may influence the relationship between information generation and improvement of health service delivery: governance (leadership, participatory monitoring, regular review of data); production of information (presentation of findings, data quality, qualitative data); and health information system resources (electronic health management information systems, organizational structure, training).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Integrating Calcium Into Antenatal Iron-Folic Acid Supplementation in Ethiopia: Women’s Experiences, Perceptions of Acceptability, and Strategies to Support Calcium Supplement Adherence
In household trials of improved practices, rural Ethiopian women were motivated to adhere to antenatal calcium supplementation regimens, and tailored home-based strategies helped them overcome barriers such as regimen complexity, forgetfulness, side effects, and discouragement from others.
- 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.