Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health
- Behavioral Insights Into Micronutrient Powder Use for Childhood Anemia in Arequipa, Peru
Health care provider-caregiver interactions and caregivers’ shifting emotional states between intention formation and use affected their adherence to a government-provided micronutrient powder intervention to prevent childhood anemia. In counseling directed to caregivers, we suggest providers offer clear messaging on MNP impact and planning for challenges during MNP use.
- Implementation of a Pediatric Early Warning Score to Improve Communication and Nursing Empowerment in a Rural District Hospital in Rwanda
Implementation of the Pediatric Early Warning Score for Resource-Limited Settings tool improved nurses’ competency and confidence in their triage capabilities. This tool has the potential to improve patient outcomes. However, staff turnover and limited physician buy-in were barriers to sustainability of the tool in low-resource settings.
- 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.
- 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.
- A Qualitative Exploration of Community Ownership of a Maternity Waiting Home Model in Rural Zambia
Community-based maternal child health programs should foster a sense of community ownership to promote sustainability. In rural Zambia, health interventions should be accessible to target communities and clear roles should be established among stakeholders for effective governance.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.