Utilizing cost-effective interventions in promoting maternal and child health

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-30
Author(s):  
Eleanor Daka Msidi
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Maternal And Child Health ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
And Child Health

Task shifting in maternal and child health care: An evidence brief for Uganda

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harriet Nabudere ◽  
Delius Asiimwe ◽  
Rhona Mijumbi
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Maternal And Child Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Perinatal Outcomes ◽  
Implementation Strategies ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Task Shifting ◽  
Care Seeking ◽  
And Child Health

The Problem: There is a shortage and maldistribution of medically trained health professionals to deliver cost-effective maternal and child health (MCH) services. Hence, cost-effective MCH services are not available to over half the population of Uganda and progress toward the Millennium Development Goals for MCH is slow. Optimizing the roles of less specialized health workers (“task shifting”) is one strategy to address the shortage and maldistribution of more specialized health professionals.Policy Options: (i) Lay health workers (community health workers) may reduce morbidity and mortality in children under five and neonates; and training for traditional birth attendants may improve perinatal outcomes and appropriate referrals. (ii) Nursing assistants in facilities might increase the time available from nurses, midwives, and doctors to provide care that requires more training. (iii) Nurses and midwives to deliver cost-effective MCH interventions in areas where there is a shortage of doctors. (iv) Drug dispensers to promote and deliver cost-effective MCH interventions and improve the quality of the services they provide. The costs and cost-effectiveness of all four options are uncertain. Given the limitations of the currently available evidence, rigorous evaluation and monitoring of resource use and activities is warranted for all four options.Implementation Strategies: A clear policy on optimizing health worker roles. Community mobilization and reduction of out-of-pocket costs to improve mothers’ knowledge and care-seeking behaviors, continuing education, and incentives to ensure health workers are competent and motivated, and community referral and transport schemes for MCH care are needed.

scholarly journals Improving Maternal and Child Health in Bangladesh: The Integration of Midwives in Conjunction With the United Nations Millenium Development Goals Initiative

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Casto
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Maternal And Child Health ◽  
Millennium Development Goals ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Cost Effective Method ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Child Health

As the United Nations Millennium Development Goals initiative comes to a close, it is important to examine what has been effective in combating disparities in developing nations. In this paper I explore the impact midwives have on improving maternal and child health in Bangladesh by focusing on how the United Nations Millennium Development Goals initiative has helped to change societal views on women and birth as midwives become more integrated into improving maternal and child health. It is a quantitative and qualitative approach analyzing the statistics of implementing midwives as these impact cost-effectiveness and change in mortality rates in addition to social changes that have occurred in the culture towards maternal and child health. The paper further analyzes programs implemented by countries such as India and Sri Lanka comparatively. Data have been collected from published United Nations and governmental reports, media, and research articles. The paper concludes that the implementation of midwives has provided a cost-effective method of reducing maternal and child health in Bangladesh, and will be increasingly efficient as governmental programs continue to improve various aspects and laws of the country. It is important to analyze what is working in order to further improve maternal and child health on both a regional and global level. The use of midwives can provide a fundamental framework in communities that can aid in reducing health disparities as well as all improve all facets of reproductive wellness, providing the support needed at all stages to improve maternal and child health.

scholarly journals Mitigating Gender and Maternal and Child Health Injustices through Faith Community-Led Initiatives

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-155
Author(s):  
Ikenna J. Nwakamma ◽  
Amber Erinmwinhe ◽  
Arinzechukwu Ajogwu ◽  
Aniekan Udoh ◽  
Anne Ada-Ogoh
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Child Health ◽  
Maternal And Child Health ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Northern Nigeria ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
And Child Health

Background and Objective: Congregational Health Empowerment and Social Safety Advocates (CHESSAdvocates) initiative, a project aimed at mitigating maternal and child health (MCH) and gender injustices in religiously pluralistic societies, was implemented in two Northern Nigerian states of Benue and Kaduna between September 2018 and July 2019. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness, sustainability and factors of success in the CHESS-Advocates model as a faith community approach to mitigating gender and MCH injustices in Northern Nigeria. Methods: Data were from desk review of monthly project reports which were documented monthly all through the 10-month project life, and qualitative assessment conducted in July 2019 at the end of project. The assessments involved focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and in-depth interviews conducted in four randomly selected communities in each of the project states. The variables of interest were sustainability, effectiveness of initiative, and the factors that contributed to the success of the program. Results: The CHESS-Advocate model was effective in the mobilization of community response that improved uptake and acceptance of antenatal care (ANC), immunization, and uptake of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing services. The model was cost-effective and able to instigate change in harmful practices, particularly in highly religious communities. The model showed promise of sustainability and identified some factors that led to its success in the different communities. Conclusion and Global Health Implications: The CHESS advocates model showed promises of efficacy in engaging faith communities as important actors in promoting MCH practices and mitigating gender injustices particularly in rural and underserved communities. Like other faith based models, the CHESS-Advocates model provided opportunities in faith congregations for building sustainable development in health and social justice. The model helped to improve MCH seeking behavior, influenced change in harmful gender norms and in community response against gender based violence in rural communities. Key words: MCH • Gender justice • HIV • CHESS-Advocates • Faith • Northern Nigeria • Nigeria   Copyright © 2019 Nwakamma et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Com - mons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

scholarly journals Projecting stunting and wasting under alternative scenarios in Odisha, India, 2015–2030: a Lives Saved Tool (LiST)-based approach

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. e028681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nihar Ranjan Mishra ◽  
Sanjay K Mohanty ◽  
Devjit Mittra ◽  
Mansi Shah ◽  
Wahengbam Bigyananda Meitei
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Maternal And Child Health ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Family Health ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
World Health ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Lives Saved Tool ◽  
Alternative Scenarios ◽  
And Child Health

ObjectiveAlthough nutrition-specific interventions are designed based on maternal, household and community-level correlates, no attempt has been made to project stunting and wasting and identify intervention priorities in India. The objective of this paper is to model the stunting and wasting in the state of Odisha, India by scaling up maternal and child health interventions under alternative scenarios.DesignThis study primarily used data from National Family Health Survey 4, 2015–2016.MeasuresThe LiST (Lives Saved Tool) software is used to model the nutritional outcomes and prioritise interventions. The projections were carried out under four alternative scenarios: scenario 1—if the coverage indicators continued based on past trends; scenario 2—scaled up to the level of the richest quintile; scenario 3—scaled up to that of Tamil Nadu; and scenario 4—scaled up to an aspirational coverage level.ResultsIn 2015, out of 3.52 million under-5 children in Odisha, around 1.20 million were stunted. By 2030, the numbers of stunted children will be 1.11 million under scenario 1, 1.07 million under scenario 2, 1.09 million under scenario 3 and 0.89 million under scenario 4. The projected stunting level will be 25% under scenario 4 and around 31% under all other scenarios. By 2030, the level of wasting will remain unchanged at 20% under the first three scenarios and 4.3% under scenario 4. Appropriate complementary feeding would avert about half of the total stunting cases under all four scenarios, followed by zinc supplementation. Water connection at home, washing hands with soap and improved sanitation are other effective interventions.ConclusionSustaining the maternal and child health interventions, promoting evidence-based stunting and wasting reduction interventions, and a multisectoral approach can achieve the World Health Assembly targets and Sustainable Development Goals of undernutrition in Odisha.

Improving Maternal and Child Health Care: A Blueprint for Community Action in Pittsburgh Region: Summary

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Alan Pincus ◽  
Stephen B. Thomas ◽  
Donna J. Keyser ◽  
Nicholas Castle ◽  
Jacob W. Dembosky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Child Health ◽  
Maternal And Child Health ◽  
Community Action ◽  
Child Health Care ◽  
And Child Health

Maternal and child health nurses’ experiences of implementing two community-based breastfeeding interventions in Victoria, Australia: A mixed methods process evaluation

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhian L Cramer ◽  
Helen L McLachlan ◽  
Touran Shafiei ◽  
Lisa H Amir ◽  
Meabh Cullinane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Maternal And Child Health ◽  
Randomised Trial ◽  
Cluster Randomised Trial ◽  
Breastfeeding Initiation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Breastfeeding Support ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Significant Drop ◽  
And Child Health

Despite high rates of breastfeeding initiation in Australia, there is a significant drop in breastfeeding rates in the early postpartum period, and Australian government breastfeeding targets are not being met. The Supporting breastfeeding In Local Communities (SILC) trial was a three-arm cluster randomised trial implemented in 10 Victorian local government areas (LGAs). It aimed to determine whether early home-based breastfeeding support by a maternal and child health nurse (MCH nurse) with or without access to a community-based breastfeeding drop-in centre increased the proportion of infants receiving ‘any’ breast milk at four months. Focus groups, a written questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were undertaken to explore the interventions from the perspective of the SILC-MCH nurses (n=13) and coordinators (n=6), who established and implemented the interventions. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify themes, then findings further examined using Diffusion of Innovations Theory as a framework. SILC-MCH nurses and coordinators reported high levels of satisfaction, valuing the opportunity to improve breastfeeding in our community; and having focused breastfeeding time with women in their own homes. They felt the SILC interventions offered benefits to women, nurses and the MCH service. Implementing new interventions into existing, complex community health services presented unforeseen challenges, which were different in each LGA and were in part due to the complexity of the individual LGAs and not the interventions themselves. These findings will help inform the planning and development of future programs aimed at improving breastfeeding and other interventions in MCH.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document