Cross-Cutting Topics
- Beyond Institutionalization: Planning for Sustained Investments in Training, Supervision, and Support of Community Health Worker Programs in Bangladesh
Institutionalizing community health workers (CHWs) is insufficient for improving program quality. Governments must plan for sustained investments for salaries and benefits, as well as systems enabling adaptive management of the CHW cadres. Greater coordination is needed at the global level to pool and align donor investments to support the ecosystem underlying CHW programs.
- Impact of Solar Light and Electricity on the Quality and Timeliness of Maternity Care: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster-Randomized Trial in Uganda
Lack of access to reliable energy is a major neglected health system challenge to maternal and child health. We found that installing a solar energy system intervention in rural Ugandan maternity facilities led to modest increases in the quality of maternity care and reductions in delays in care.
- Health Sector Resource Mapping in Malawi: Sharing the Collection and Use of Budget Data for Evidence-Based Decision Making
By tracking budgets for health through its annual resource mapping exercise, the Government of Malawi generated evidence for planning and budgeting, quantifying resource needs, mobilizing funds to fill financial gaps, and coordinating investments across stakeholders with different priorities toward common goals. The exercise was adapted to conduct COVID-19 resource mapping to inform planning and coordination of the national pandemic response.
- Evaluation of 2 Intervention Models to Integrate Family Planning Into Worker Health and Livelihood Programs in Egypt: A Difference-in-Differences Analysis
Integrating family planning and reproductive health messages into worker health programs and livelihood programs may offer a unique approach for raising young people's awareness of family planning and reproductive health.
- Enhancing Performance and Sustainability of Community Health Worker Programs in Uganda: Lessons and Experiences From Stakeholders
We conducted a 1-day workshop—a unique opportunity to engage stakeholders at all levels of community health worker (CHW) program involvement—to discuss learned experiences and strategies to enhance and sustain the CHW program in Uganda.
- Can We Use Routine Data for Strategic Decision Making? A Time Trend Comparison Between Survey and Routine Data in Mali
Routine data, which is available more regularly than the "gold standard" survey data, can be used to inform programmatic decisions in Mali at the national level. However, caution must be used if using data at a subnational level.
- Effects of Pharmacist Intervention on Community Control of Hypertension: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Zunyi, China
There has been growing interest in the role of pharmacists in managing chronic conditions. We tested the effects of a pharmacist intervention on community control of hypertension. Findings showed significant short-term improvement in patient knowledge, medication adherence, and lowered blood pressure.
- The Development and Inclusion of Questions on Surgery in the 2018 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey
Data from household surveys serve as the backbone to sustainable development planning. For the first time, questions on surgery have been included in a nationwide Demographic and Health Survey, showing that it is feasible to integrate these questions into a large-scale survey.
- From Insecurity to Health Service Delivery: Pathways and System Response Strategies in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
We identify the mediating factors through which insecurity affects both health service quality and delivery and investigate the strategies adopted to sustain service provision in the provinces of North and South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Nutrition Capacity Building to Meet National Priorities: Lessons Learned in Developing and Implementing Malawi's First Dietetics Program
We describe the lessons learned in building nutrition capacity through the development and implementation of the first dietetics training program in Malawi.