Effects of an mHealth intervention for community health workers on maternal and child nutrition and health service delivery in India: protocol for a quasi-experimental mixed-methods evaluation

IntroductionMillions of children in India still suffer from poor health and under-nutrition, despite substantial improvement over decades of public health programmes. The Anganwadi centres under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) provide a range of health and nutrition services to pregnant women, children <6 years and their mothers. However, major gaps exist in ICDS service delivery. The government is currently strengthening ICDS through an mHealth intervention called Common Application Software (ICDS-CAS) installed on smart phones, with accompanying multilevel data dashboards. This system is intended to be a job aid for frontline workers, supervisors and managers, aims to ensure better service delivery and supervision, and enable real-time monitoring and data-based decision-making. However, there is little to no evidence on the effectiveness of such large-scale mHealth interventions integrated with public health programmes in resource-constrained settings on the service delivery and subsequent health and nutrition outcomes.Methods and analysisThis study uses a village-matched controlled design with repeated cross-sectional surveys to evaluate whether ICDS-CAS can enable more timely and appropriate services to pregnant women, children <12 months and their mothers, compared with the standard ICDS programme. The study will recruit approximately 1500 Anganwadi workers and 6000+ mother-child dyads from 400+ matched-pair villages in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. The primary outcomes are the proportion of beneficiaries receiving (a) adequate number of home visits and (b) appropriate level of counselling by the Anganwadi workers. Secondary outcomes are related to improvements in other ICDS services, and knowledge and practices of the Anganwadi workers and beneficiaries.Ethics and disseminationEthical oversight is provided by the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects at the University of California at Berkeley, and the Suraksha Independent Ethics Committee in India. The results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and analysis data will be made public.Trial registration numberISRCTN83902145

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Depression: major problem for public health

Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale ◽

10.1017/s1121189x00001974 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 4-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Eugene S. Paykel

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Primary Prevention ◽

Secondary Prevention ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Professional Education ◽

Common Disorder ◽

Social Adversity ◽

Physical Disorders ◽

Public Health Programmes ◽

Health Programmes

AbstractThe aim of this Editorial is to discuss depression as an important disorder for public health. The literature regarding epidemiology, consequences, adequacy of service delivery and prevention of depression is reviewed. Depression is a common disorder with high lifetime rates, particularly in women, and those experiencing social adversity. It is a major cause of disability, and causes death both by suicide and due to raised rates of physical disorders. Many cases are undiagnosed and treatment is often inadequate. Primary prevention is not yet easily feasible but secondary prevention by earlier recognition, public and professional education, can produce benefits. There is a need for public health programmes aimed at improving recognition, treatment, and reducing consequences.

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Facilitating community participation in family planning and contraceptives service provision and uptake: community and health provider perspectives

10.21203/rs.2.21862/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Adam Silumbwe ◽

Theresa Nkole ◽

Margarate N Munakampe ◽

Joanna Paula Cordero ◽

Cecilia Milford ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Family Planning ◽

Community Participation ◽

Service Provision ◽

Large Scale ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

Community Members ◽

Provider Perspectives ◽

Public Health Programmes ◽

Health Programmes

Abstract Background: Although community participation has been identified as being important for improved and sustained health outcomes, the challenge of designing and successfully implementing it in large scale public health programmes, including family planning and contraceptive (FP/C) service provision remains. Zambian participants in a multi-country project (the UPTAKE project) took part in the development of an intervention involving community and healthcare provider participation in FP/C services provision and uptake. This study reports key thematic areas identified by the study participants as critical to facilitating community participation in this intervention. Methods: This was an exploratory qualitative research study, conducted in Kabwe District, Central Province, in 2017. Twelve focus group discussions were conducted with community members (n=114), two with healthcare providers (n=19), and ten in-depth interviews with key community and health sector stakeholders. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis approach. Results: Four thematic categories were identified by the participants as critical to facilitating community participation in FP/C services. Firstly, accountability in the recruitment of community participants and incorporation of community feedback in FP/C programming. Secondly, engagement of existing community resources and structures in FP/C services provision. Thirdly, building trust in FP/C methods/services through credible community-based distributors and promotion of appropriate FP/C methods/services. Fourthly, promoting facilitative strategies that address structural failures such as feminisation of FP/C services and the lack of FP/C services responsive to adolescent needs. Conclusions: Understanding and considering community members’ and healthcare providers’ views regarding contextualized and locally relevant participatory approaches, facilitators and challenges to participation, could improve the design, implementation and success of participatory public health programmes, including FP/C.

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Facilitating community participation in family planning and contraceptives service provision and uptake: community and health provider perspectives

10.21203/rs.2.21862/v3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Adam Silumbwe ◽

Theresa Nkole ◽

Margarate N Munakampe ◽

Joanna Paula Cordero ◽

Cecilia Milford ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Family Planning ◽

Community Participation ◽

Service Provision ◽

Large Scale ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

Community Members ◽

Provider Perspectives ◽

Public Health Programmes ◽

Health Programmes

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Public Health Workforce Burnout in the COVID-19 Response in the U.S.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18084369 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (8) ◽

pp. 4369

Author(s):

Kahler W. Stone ◽

Kristina W. Kintziger ◽

Meredith A. Jagger ◽

Jennifer A. Horney

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Workforce ◽

Work Experience ◽

Large Scale ◽

Health Workers ◽

Public Health Workforce ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Public Health Response ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The U.S

While the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline health care workers have been well described, the effects of the COVID-19 response on the U.S. public health workforce, which has been impacted by the prolonged public health response to the pandemic, has not been adequately characterized. A cross-sectional survey of public health professionals was conducted to assess mental and physical health, risk and protective factors for burnout, and short- and long-term career decisions during the pandemic response. The survey was completed online using the Qualtrics survey platform. Descriptive statistics and prevalence ratios (95% confidence intervals) were calculated. Among responses received from 23 August and 11 September 2020, 66.2% of public health workers reported burnout. Those with more work experience (1–4 vs. <1 years: prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.08−3.36; 5–9 vs. <1 years: PR = 1.89, CI = 1.07−3.34) or working in academic settings (vs. practice: PR = 1.31, CI = 1.08–1.58) were most likely to report burnout. As of September 2020, 23.6% fewer respondents planned to remain in the U.S. public health workforce for three or more years compared to their retrospectively reported January 2020 plans. A large-scale public health emergency response places unsustainable burdens on an already underfunded and understaffed public health workforce. Pandemic-related burnout threatens the U.S. public health workforce’s future when many challenges related to the ongoing COVID-19 response remain unaddressed.

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Who evaluates public health programmes? A review of the NHS Breast Screening Programme

Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine ◽

10.1258/jrsm.2009.090342 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 103 (1) ◽

pp. 14-20 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Karsten Juhl Jørgensen ◽

Peter C Gøtzsche

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Breast Screening ◽

Screening Programme ◽

Breast Screening Programme ◽

Public Health Programmes ◽

Health Programmes

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The complication of cyber manhunt: How cyber manhunt further complicated the ethical conflict between breaching the confidentiality and endangering the society in face of the COVID-19 pandemic (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.29135 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yen-Chang Chen ◽

Yen-Yuan Chen

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Large Scale ◽

Health Workers ◽

Early Stage ◽

Personal Information ◽

Public Health Intervention ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Online Activity ◽

Contact Investigation ◽

The Impact

UNSTRUCTURED While health care and public health workers are working on measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an unprecedentedly large number of people spending much more time indoors, and relying heavily on the Internet as their lifeline. What has been overlooked is the influence of the increasing online activities on public health issues. In this article, we pointed out how a large-scale online activity called cyber manhunt may threaten to offset the efficacy of contact tracing investigation, a public health intervention considered highly effective in limiting further transmission in the early stage of a highly contagious disease outbreak such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first section, we presented a case to show how personal information obtained from contact investigation and disclosed in part on the media provoked a vehement cyber manhunt. We then discussed the possible reasons why netizens collaborate to reveal anonymized personal information about contact investigation, and specify, from the perspective of public health and public health ethics, four problems of cyber manhunt, including the lack of legitimate public health goals, the concerns about privacy breach, the impact of misinformation, and social inequality. Based on our analysis, we concluded that more moral weight may be given to protecting one's confidentiality, especially in an era with the rapid advance of digital and information technologies.

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