scholarly journals A Pregnant Women’s Group: an Innovative Approach to Reduce Maternal and Neonatal Deaths in Developing Countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhagawan Das Shrestha
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
World Health ◽  
Maternal And Newborn Health ◽  
Health Staff ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Visual Methods ◽  
Disadvantaged Community ◽  
Maternal And Newborn

In Nepal, the utilization of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) care services exhibit big gaps between rich and poor, for instance poorest quintile is at 10.7% skill births attendant services while richest at 81.5%, despite the services being free of cost. Pregnant women’s group (PWG) approach was initiated to address MNCH inequities prevailing in the disadvantaged community. The PWG is a socially cohesive peer support group of 8-15 pregnant women and postnatal mothers who meet monthly for participatory teaching and learning sessions on MNCH cares and semi-annual publicly group commitment meeting. At the meetings, husbands, mothers- in-law and father-in-law verbally commit to support their pregnant wives and daughters-in-law in present of pregnant women. Local health staff also commits to provide those services. The literature review was done on women’s group and its impact of MNCH. The findings were compared with PWG approach of Nepal in line with "the World Health Organization’s recommendation on community mobilization through facilitated participatory learning and action cycles with women’s groups for maternal and newborn health". The PWG approach fulfill the WHO’s consideration of more than 30% of pregnant women participation, the role of men and other members of the community, visual methods and ethnic group mix. The PWG approach can be a strategy to reduce the high burdens of maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality in developing countries. The approach needs monthly participatory teaching learning sessions, use of a behavioural mapping mat for self-monitoring and biannually publicly group commitments by husbands and mother and father-in-laws.Journal of Advanced Academic Research Vol. 3, No. 2, 2016, page: 66-81

scholarly journals A Pregnant Women’s Group: Its Effects on Maternal and Neonatal Health Care Services among Disadvantaged Community in Makawanpur, Nepal

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-36
Author(s):  
Bhagawan Das Shrestha
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Educational Status ◽  
Health Staff ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Disadvantaged Community ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Postnatal Mothers

In Nepal, the utilization of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) care services exhibit big gaps between rich and poor, for instance poorest quintile is at 10.7% skill births attendant services but richest at 81.5%, despite the services being free of cost. Pregnant women group (PWG) approach was initiated to address MNCH inequities prevailing in the disadvantaged community. The PWG is a socially cohesive peer support group of 8-15 pregnant women and postnatal mothers who meet monthly for participatory teaching and learning sessions on MNCH cares and semi-annual publicly group commitment meetings. At the meetings, husbands and mothers-in-law verbally commit to support their pregnant wives and daughters-in-law in present of pregnant women. Local health staff also commits to provide those services. Retrospective cohort study was undertaken in which 449 randomly selected recently delivered women who were members of PWG in last pregnancy and next 449 non-members to PWG from same villages of Makwanpur were introduced the structured questionnaires between March and April 2015. The results indicated that the increase in the utilization of MNCH care services was statistically significant (P<0.0001 for all indicators) among women who were PWG members than those who were not. Despite the fact that the average age, educational status, parity, ethnicity, location and access to health services were constant. Pregnant women’s group approach increases the utilization of MNCH care services for disadvantaged community in Makwanpur, Nepal. Thus, the PWG approach can be a strategy to reduce the inequity MNCH care services coverage in developing countries.

Training health workers to provide person-centred maternal and newborn health care in Burkina Faso

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-159
Author(s):  
Janet Perkins ◽  
Aminata Bargo ◽  
Cecilia Capello ◽  
Carlo Santarelli
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Newborn Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Maternal And Newborn Health ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Maternal And Newborn

Assuring the provision of person-centred care is critical in maternal and newborn health (MNH). As a component of the national strategy to improve MNH, Burkina Faso Ministry of Health, supported by Enfants du Monde, La Fondation pour le Développement Communautaire/Burkina Faso and UNFPA, is implementing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) framework for Working with Individuals, Families and Communities (IFC) to improve MNH. As a first step in district implementation, participatory community assessments were conducted. These assessments consistently revealed that poor interactions with healthcare providers posed one important barrier preventing women from seeking MNH services. In order to address this barrier, healthcare providers were trained to improve their interpersonal skills and in counselling women. During 2011-12 a total of 175 personnel were trained over a 5-day course developed using a WHO manual. The course was met with enthusiasm as providers expressed their need and desire for such training. Immediate post-test results revealed an impressive increase in knowledge and anecdotal evidence suggests that training has influenced provider’s behaviours in their interactions with women. In addition, health care providers are taking concrete action to build the capabilities of women to experience pregnancy and birth safely by engaging directly with communities.  While early findings are promising, an evaluation will be necessary to measure how the training has influenced practices, whether this translates into a shift of perceptions at community level and ultimately its contribution toward promoting person-centred care in Burkina Faso.

scholarly journals Individual, community and societal correlates of insecticide treated net use among pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa: a multi-level analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Kwabena Ameyaw
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Maternal And Newborn Health ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Itn Use ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Background Malaria in pregnancy is a crucial public health concern due to the enormous risk it poses to maternal and newborn health. The World Health Organisation therefore recommends insecticide-treated net (ITN) for pregnant women. The world over, sub-Saharan Africa bears the highest prevalence of malaria and its associated complications. This study investigated the individual, community and society level factors associated with ITN use among pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods The study was conducted with Demographic and Health Survey data of 21 sub-Saharan African countries. A total of 17,731 pregnant women who possessed ITN participated in the study. Descriptive computation of ITN use by survey country and socio-demographic characteristics was conducted. Further, five multi-level binary logistic regression models were fitted with MLwiN 3.05 package in STATA. The Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation procedure was used in estimating the parameters whilst the Bayesian Deviance Information Criterion was used for the model fitness test. Results On average, 74.2% pregnant women in SSA used ITN. The highest prevalence of ITN use occurred in Mali (83.7%) whilst the least usage occurred in Namibia (7%). Women aged 30–34 were more likely to use ITN compared with those aged 45–49 [aOR = 1.14; Crl = 1.07–1.50]. Poorest women were less probable to use ITN relative to richest women [aOR = 0.79; Crl = 0.70–0.89]. Compared to women who did not want their pregnancies at all, women who wanted their pregnancies [aOR = 1.06; Crl = 1.04–1.19] were more probable to use ITN. Women in male-headed households had higher likelihood of ITN use compared to those from female-headed households [aOR = 1.28; Crl = 1.19–1.39]. On the whole, 38.1% variation in ITN use was attributable to societal level factors whilst 20.9% variation was attributable to community level factors. Conclusion The study has revealed that in addition to individual level factors, community and society level factors affect ITN use in SSA. In as much as the study points towards the need to incorporate community and societal variations in ITN interventions, active involvement of men can yield better outcome for ITN utilisation interventions in SSA.

scholarly journals Maternal and neonatal response to COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 319 (2) ◽  
pp. E315-E319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thea N. Golden ◽  
Rebecca A. Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Preterm Birth ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Vertical Transmission ◽  
Newborn Health ◽  
Maternal And Newborn Health ◽  
Placental Infection ◽  
Neonatal Response ◽  
Maternal Disease ◽  
Maternal And Newborn

The risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to maternal and newborn health has yet to be determined. Several reports suggest pregnancy does not typically increase the severity of maternal disease; however, cases of preeclampsia and preterm birth have been infrequently reported. Reports of placental infection and vertical transmission are rare. Interestingly, despite lack of SARS-CoV-2 placenta infection, there are several reports of significant abnormalities in placenta morphology. Continued research on pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2 and their offspring is vitally important.

scholarly journals Provision of intensive care to severely ill pregnant women is associated with reduced mortality: Results from the WHO Multicountry Survey on Maternal and Newborn Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 150 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-353
Author(s):  
Fabiano M. Soares ◽  
Rodolfo C. Pacagnella ◽  
Özge Tunçalp ◽  
José G. Cecatti ◽  
Joshua P. Vogel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Newborn Health ◽  
Maternal And Newborn Health ◽  
Maternal And Newborn

Improving child immunisation rates in a disadvantaged community in New South Wales, Australia: a process evaluation for research translation

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 310
Author(s):  
Susan Thomas ◽  
Helen Higgins ◽  
Julie Leask ◽  
Lisa Menning ◽  
Katrine Habersaat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Process Evaluation ◽  
Home Visiting ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
World Health ◽  
Research Translation ◽  
Health Staff ◽  
Disadvantaged Community ◽  
South Wales ◽  
New Strategy

The World Health Organization’s Tailoring Immunization Programmes approach was used to develop a new strategy to increase child vaccination coverage in a disadvantaged community in New South Wales, Australia, including reminders, outreach and home visiting. After 18 months, the strategy hasn’t been fully implemented. A process evaluation was conducted to identify barriers and facilitators for research translation. Participants included child health nurses, Population Health staff, managers and general practitioners. The Capability–Opportunity–Motivation model of behaviour change (COM-B) was used to develop questions. Twenty-four participants took part in three focus groups and four interviews. Five themes emerged: (i) designing and adopting new ways of working is time-consuming and requires new skills, new ways of thinking and changes in service delivery; (ii) genuine engagement and interaction across fields and institutions helps build capacity and strengthen motivation; (iii) implementation of a new strategy requires clarity; who’s doing what, when and how?; (iv) it is important not to lose sight of research findings related to the needs of disadvantaged families; and (v) trust in the process and perseverance are fundamental. There was strong motivation and opportunity for change, but a need to enhance service capability. Areas requiring support and resources were identified.

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