scholarly journals Exploring women’s development group leaders’ support to maternal, neonatal and child health care: A qualitative study in Tigray region, Ethiopia

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257602
Author(s):  
Fisseha Ashebir ◽  
Araya Abrha Medhanyie ◽  
Afework Mulugeta ◽  
Lars Åke Persson ◽  
Della Berhanu
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Women's Development ◽  
Group Leaders ◽  
Health Extension Workers ◽  
Child Healthcare ◽  
And Child Health ◽  
Development Group

Background Community health workers and volunteers are vital for the achievement of Universal Health Coverage also in low-income countries. Ethiopia introduced community volunteers called women’s development group leaders in 2011. These women have responsibilities in multiple sectors, including promoting health and healthcare seeking. Objective We aimed to explore women’s development group leaders’ and health workers’ perceptions on these volunteers’ role in maternal, neonatal and child healthcare. Methods A qualitative study was conducted with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with women’s development group leaders, health extension workers, health center staff, and woreda and regional health extension experts. We adapted a framework of community health worker performance, and explored perceptions of the women’s development group program: inputs, processes and performance. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded prior to translation and thematic analysis. Results The women’s development group leaders were committed to their health-related work. However, many were illiterate, recruited in a sub-optimal process, had weak supervision and feedback, lacked training and incentives and had weak knowledge on danger signs and care of neonates. These problems demotivated these volunteers from engaging in maternal, neonatal and child health promotion activities. Health extension workers faced difficulties in managing the numerous women’s development group leaders in the catchment area. Conclusion The women’s development group leaders showed a willingness to contribute to maternal and child healthcare but lacked support and incentives. The program requires some redesign, effective management, and should offer enhanced recruitment, training, supervision, and incentives. The program should also consider continued training to develop the leaders’ knowledge, factor contextual influences, and be open for local variations.

scholarly journals Women’s development group leaders’ promotion of maternal, neonatal and child health care in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1748845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fisseha Ashebir ◽  
Araya Abrha Medhanyie ◽  
Afework Mulugeta ◽  
Lars Åke Persson ◽  
Della Berhanu
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Child Health ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Child Health Care ◽  
Women's Development ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Group Leaders ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
And Child Health ◽  
Development Group

scholarly journals Explaining the impact of mHealth on maternal and child health care in low- and middle-income countries: A theory-driven scoping review

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eveline Muika Kabongo ◽  
Ferdinand Mukumbang ◽  
Peter N/A Delobelle ◽  
Edward N/A Nicol
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Child Health ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Maternal And Child Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Child Health Services ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
And Child Health

Abstract Introduction Despite the growing global application of mobile health (mHealth) technology in maternal and child health, the contextual factors and mechanisms by which interventional outcomes are generated have not been subjected to extensive review. In this study, we sought to identify context, mechanisms and outcome elements from implementation and evaluation studies of mHealth interventions to formulate theories or models explicating how mHealth interventions work (or not) both for health care providers and for pregnant women and new mothers.Method An electronic search of six online databases (Medline, Pubmed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Academic Search Premier and Health Systems Evidence) was performed. Using appropriate MeSH terms and selection procedure, 32 articles were considered for analysis. A theory-driven approach, narrative synthesis, was applied to synthesise the data. Thematic content analysis was used to delineate the elements of the intervention, including its context, actors, mechanism and outcomes. Retroduction was applied to link these elements using a realist evaluation heuristic to form generative theories.Results Mechanisms that promote the implementation of mHealth by community health workers/health care providers include motivation, perceived skill and knowledge improvement, improved self-efficacy, improved confidence, improved relationship between community health workers and clients, perceived support of community health workers, perceived ease of use and usefulness of mHealth, For pregnant women and new mothers, mechanisms that trigger the uptake of mHealth and use of maternal and child health services included: perceived service satisfaction, perceived knowledge acquisition, support and confidence, improved self-efficacy, encouragement, empowerment and motivation. Information overload was identified as a potential negative mechanism for the uptake of maternal and child health services.Conclusion The models developed in this study provide a detailed understanding of the implementation and uptake of mHealth interventions and how they improve maternal and child health services in low and middle income countries. These models provide a foundation for the ‘white box’ or theory-driven evaluation of mHealth intervention and can improve the rollout and implementation where required.

scholarly journals Assessment of gaps of knowledge and practices of frontline community workers in Chandragiri Mandal, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh: maternal and child health services

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1299
Author(s):  
Shankar Reddy Dudala ◽  
Sathyendra Nath Ponna ◽  
Venkata Prasad Upadrasta ◽  
Hemalatha Bathina ◽  
Renuka Sadasivuni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Vitamin A ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Maternal And Child Health ◽  
Andhra Pradesh ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Child Health Services ◽  
Frontline Workers ◽  
And Child Health

Background: The undernutrition status among the vulnerable groups in rural areas still persists, despite provision of Anganwadi services in villages. Assessment knowledge and practices about maternal and child health services of frontline workers, will identify knowledge and implementation gaps. Objective was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of community health workers of maternal and child health services for identifying gaps for designing and implementing intervention.Methods: In this community based prospective, pre and post intervention-based study, Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) of the community health workers, in 16 villages and 13 Anganwadi centres of Chandragiri Mandal, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh about maternal and child health services were collected. The basic infrastructure of the anganwadis and health centres of Auxiliary nurse midwifes were assessed using a prevalidated survey instrument. Descriptive analysis was used.Results: The knowledge of antenatal and postnatal care was least among Anganwadi workers. Awareness regarding need of colostrum feeding was high in AWW compared to ASHA. ANM and AWW had lesser knowledge about duration of the exclusive breast feeding to the infant. Only 57.1% of ANM had sufficient knowledge about protein energy malnutrition consequences. AWW, ASHA did not have knowledge of vitamin A deficiency signs and symptoms although providing massive dose of vitamin A to children. ASHAs did not have awareness about anaemia and the knowledge was below 50% in ANMs.Conclusions: The study emphasizes the need for proper training with interactive sessions to these frontline workers, which will enhance their knowledge and skills for provision of quality services.

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