Latest Articles
- Effects of a Community-Based Program on Voluntary Modern Contraceptive Uptake Among Young First-Time Parents in Cross River State, Nigeria
Among young first-time mothers, participation in a comprehensive, community-based program led to a 3-fold increase in voluntary modern contraceptive use and other positive changes. These results demonstrate the importance of investing in interventions for this youth population that ideally address a range of priorities across the first-time parent lifestage.
- Remote Mentorship Using Video Conferencing as an Effective Tool to Strengthen Laboratory Quality Management in Clinical Laboratories: Lessons From Cambodia
This program to strengthen laboratory quality management systems in Cambodia demonstrated significant improvements in conformity to ISO 15189 standards in participating laboratories, correlating with laboratory participation time in video conference training activities led by quality improvement mentors over the program implementation period.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- Impact of Improved Biomass and Liquid Petroleum Gas Stoves on Birth Outcomes in Rural Nepal: Results of 2 Randomized Trials
Improved biomass stoves may not reduce indoor air pollution as much as is needed to have an impact on adverse birth outcomes.
- 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.
- Private Providers’ Experiences Implementing a Package of Interventions to Improve Quality of Care in Kenya: Findings From a Qualitative Evaluation
Although private providers felt that social franchising, quality improvement interventions, and accreditation helped them to increase the quantity and quality of services in their facilities, the quality improvement process was viewed as prohibitively expensive, and the accreditation process often was complex and difficult to navigate without outside assistance.
- The All Babies Count Initiative: Impact of a Health System Improvement Approach on Neonatal Care and Outcomes in Rwanda
A health system improvement program combining facility readiness support, clinical training/mentoring, and improvement collaboratives increased quality improvement capacity, improved maternal and newborn quality of care, and reduced neonatal mortality. These results can be used to inform system improvement approach design to transform quality of care and outcomes for newborns.