Barriers to neurotrauma care in low- to middle-income countries: an international survey of neurotrauma providers

OBJECTIVE Delays along the neurosurgical care continuum are associated with poor outcomes and are significantly greater in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs), with timely access to neurotrauma care remaining one of the most significant unmet neurosurgical needs worldwide. Using Lancet Global Surgery metrics and the Three Delays framework, the authors of this study aimed to identify and characterize the most significant barriers to the delivery of neurotrauma care in LMICs from the perspective of local neurotrauma providers. METHODS The authors conducted a cross-sectional study through the dissemination of a web-based survey to neurotrauma providers across all World Health Organization geographic regions. Responses were analyzed with descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis testing, using World Bank data to provide estimates of populations at risk. RESULTS Eighty-two (36.9%) of 222 neurosurgeons representing 47 countries participated in the survey. It was estimated that 3.9 billion people lack access to neurotrauma care within 2 hours. Nearly 3.4 billion were estimated to be at risk for impoverishing expenditure and 2.9 billion were at risk of catastrophic expenditure as a result of paying for care for neurotrauma injuries. Delays in seeking care were rated as slightly common (p < 0.001), those in reaching care were very common (p < 0.001), and those in receiving care were slightly common (p < 0.05). The most significant causes for delays were associated with reaching care, including geographic distance from a facility, lack of ambulance service, and lack of finances for travel. All three delays were correlated to income classification and geographic region. CONCLUSIONS While expanding the global neurosurgical workforce is of the utmost importance, the study data suggested that it may not be entirely sufficient in gaining access to care for the emergent neurosurgical patient. Significant income and region-specific variability exists with regard to barriers to accessing neurotrauma care. Highlighting these barriers and quantifying worldwide access to neurotrauma care using metrics from the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery provides essential insight for future initiatives aiming to strengthen global neurotrauma systems.

Conceptualizing factors impacting nutrition services coverage of treatment for acute malnutrition in children – an application of the Three Delays Model in Niger

Objective: The Three Delays Model is a conceptual model traditionally used to understand contributing factors of maternal mortality. It posits that most barriers to health services utilization occur in relation to one of three delays: Delay 1: delayed decision to seek care; Delay 2: delayed arrival at health facility; Delay 3: delayed provision of adequate care. We applied this model to understand why a community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) services may have low coverage. Design: We conducted a Semi-Quantitative Evaluation of Access and Coverage (SQUEAC) over three phases using mixed methods to estimate program coverage and barriers to care. In this manuscript, we present findings from 51 semi-structured interviews with caregivers and program staff, as well as 72 structured interviews among caregivers only. Recurring themes were organized and interpreted using the Three Delays Model. Setting: Madaoua, Niger Participants: 123 caregivers and CMAM program staff Results: Overall, 11 barriers to CMAM services were identified in this setting. Five barriers contribute to Delay 1, including lack of knowledge around malnutrition and CMAM services, as well as limited family support, variable screening services, and alternative treatment options. High travel costs, far distances, poor roads, and competing demands were challenges associated with accessing care (Delay 2). Finally, upon arrival to health facilities, differential caregiver experiences around quality of care contributed to Delay 3. Conclusions: The Three Delays Model was a useful model to conceptualize the factors associated with CMAM uptake in this context, enabling implementing agencies to address specific barriers through targeted activities.

An illustration of delays in Mucormycosis: A case Study

Background: Mucormycosis is an opportunistic fungal infection with a high fatality rate and is the third most common fungal infection that is invasive in nature, next to candidiasis and aspergillosis. It is attributed to the poor socio-economic status and triggered by the local trauma due to unhygienic setup or poor health care. The pathway of pathogenesis is not clearly understood in immunocompetent patients and therefore becomes a matter of great concern.Aim& Objective: To explore the pathway of mucormycosis in a case of post SARS-CoV-2 infection Settings and Design: Tertiary Care hospital of Jabalpur DistrictMethods and Material: Interview with the case and care taker and case file review.Results: We could conclude this as a case of rhino- orbital mucormycosis attributed to uncontrolled blood sugar during treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection, three delays that have occurred during the disease progression like ignorance from health service provider, late diagnosis, non compliance to the advice given by health facility, poor oral and nasal hygiene and no use of distilled water in humidifier. Conclusions: The early diagnosis, prompt Treatment , surgical intervention , proper blood sugar monitoring and rational use of steroids are important steps of successful outcome of the disease.

Exploring women’s decisions of where to give birth in the Peruvian Amazon; why do women continue to give birth at home? A qualitative study

Background Despite improvements in maternal mortality globally, hundreds of women continue to die daily. The World Health Organisation therefore advises all women in low-and-middle income countries to give birth in healthcare facilities. Barriers to seeking intrapartum care have been described in Thaddeus and Maine’s Three Delays Model, however these decisions are complex and often unique to different settings. Loreto, a rural province in Peru has one of the highest homebirth rates in the country at 31.8%. The aim of this study was to explore facilitators and barriers to facility births and explore women’s experiences of intrapartum care in Amazonian Peru. Methods Through purposive sampling, postnatal women were recruited for semi-structured interviews (n = 25). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. A combination of deductive and inductive coding was used. Analytical triangulation was undertaken, and data saturation was used to determine when no further interviews were necessary. Results Five themes were generated from the data: 1) Financial barriers; 2) Accessing care; 3) Fear of healthcare facilities; 4) Importance of seeking care and 5) Comfort and traditions of home. Generally, participants realised the importance of seeking skilled care however barriers persisted, across all areas of the Three Delays Model. Barriers identified included fear of healthcare facilities and interventions, direct and indirect costs, continuation of daily activities, distance and availability of transport. Women who delivered in healthcare facilities had mixed experiences, many reporting good attention, however a selection experienced poor treatment including abusive behaviour. Conclusion Despite free care, women continue to face barriers seeking obstetric care in Amazonian Peru, including fear of hospitals, cost and availability of transport. However, women accessing care do not always receive positive care experiences highlighting implications for changes in accessibility and provision of care. Minimising these barriers is critical to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes in rural Peru.

Designed to Fail? Revisiting Uganda’s Maternal Health Policies to Understand Policy Design Issues Underpinning missed Targets for Reduction of Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR): 2000-2015

Background: Despite Uganda and other Sub-Saharan African countries missing their Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) targets for Millenium Development Goal (MDG) 5, limited attention has been paid to policy design in the literature examining the persistence of preventable maternal mortality. This study examined the specific policy interventions designed to reduce maternal deaths in Uganda and identified particular policy design issues that underpinned MDG 5 performance. We suggest a novel prescriptive and analytical (re)conceptualization of policy in terms of its fidelity to ‘3Cs’ (coherence of design, comprehensiveness of coverage and consistency in application) that could have implications for future healthcare programming. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study. Sixteen Ugandan maternal health policy documents and twenty-one national programme performance reports were examined, and six key informant interviews conducted with national stakeholders managing maternal health programmes during the reference period 2000-2015. We applied the analytical framework of the ‘three delay model’ combined with a broader literature on ‘policy mixing’. Results: Despite introducing fourteen separate policy instruments over 15 years with the goal of reducing maternal mortality. By the end of the MDG period in 2015, only 87.5% of the interventions for the three delays were covered with a notable lack of coherence and consistency evident among the instruments. The three delays persisted at the frontline with 70% of deaths by 2014 attributed to failures in referral policies while 67% of maternal deaths were due to inadequacies in healthcare facilities and trained personnel in the same period. By 2015, 37.3% of deaths were due to transportation issues. Conclusions: The piecemeal introduction of additional policy instruments frequently distorted existing synergies among policies resulting in persistence of the three delays and missed MDG 5 target. Future policy reforms should address the ‘three delays’ but also ensure fidelity of policy design to coherence, comprehensiveness and consistency.

Too precarious to walk: an integrated “three delays” framework for modeling barriers to maternal health care and birth registration among stateless persons and irregular migrants in Malaysia

This study extends Thaddeus and Maine’s (1994) “three delays” framework to model the interrelated barriers to maternal health care and birth registration. We focus on stateless persons and irregular migrants, populations that are especially at risk of being “left behind” in United Nations member states’ efforts to “provide legal identity to all” as part of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork conducted in Sabah, Malaysia, we model delays in accessing maternal health care and birth registration as an integrated, cyclical process. We identify the political and legal barriers that stateless or migrant families confront while deciding to make institutional contact (Phase I), identifying and reaching health or registering institutions (Phase II), and receiving adequate and appropriate treatment (Phase III). We find that exclusion from one system raises the risk of exclusion from the other, resulting in a range of negative consequences, including increased health risks, governments’ impaired ability to monitor population health, and the perpetuation of intergenerational cycles of legal exclusion.

322Incidence, and mortality associated with primary postpartum haemorrhage following hospital births in northwest Ethiopia

Background Primary postpartum haemorrhage remains the primary cause of maternal mortality, in low-resource countries such as Ethiopia. National datasets about the incidence of primary postpartum haemorrhage are often limited, incomplete or unavailable. This study was designed to determine the incidence, mortality, and factors associated with primary postpartum haemorrhage following in-hospital births. Methods This was a cross-sectional study design, an audit of 1060 maternity care logbooks of discharged women. The data were abstracted December to May 2018/2019 using systematic random sampling. The tool used was the Facility Based Maternal Death Abstraction Form. Data were entered, cleaned then analysed using SPSS version 25. Bivariate logistic regression was fitted. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was used to determine the statistical significance. Results The incidence of primary postpartum haemorrhage was nearly 9.0% (95% CI: 6.91, 10.73). Of these, there was 7% maternal mortality. Unique to women in Ethiopia health facility referrals of women in labour (AOR: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.19, 3.80), birth attended by final year medical students (AOR: 3.59; 95% CI: 1.89, 6.84), women who were discharged as early as six hours following birth (AOR: 3.50; 95% CI: 1.24, 9.91) were associated with primary postpartum haemorrhage (p &lt; 0.05). Conclusions The reported incidence of primary postpartum haemorrhage was relatively low, however, the associated deaths of women found was comparatively high. Key messages The increased maternal mortality appears to be directly related to the three delays model.

Three Delays Model applied to prevention of unsafe abortion in Ghana: a qualitative study

BackgroundUnsafe abortion is an important public health problem in Ghana, making significant contributions to the morbidity and mortality of reproductive-aged women. Although mostly used in explaining mortality associated with perinatal care, recent calls for research on induced abortion in Africa suggest that the Three Delays Model could be used to enhance understanding of women’s experiences and access to induced abortion care.MethodsWe conducted 47 face-to-face interviews with women who had experienced unsafe abortions, with formal abortion providers (abortion providers in hospitals) and with informal and non-legal abortion providers (pharmacy workers and herb sellers). Study participants were recruited from selected hospitals, community pharmacies and markets within the Ashanti region of Ghana. We drew on phenomenology to analyse the data.FindingsThe first delay (in seeking care) occurred because of women’s poor knowledge of pregnancy, the influence of religion, and as a result of women underestimating the seriousness of abortion complications. Factors including cost, provider attitudes, stigma, and the proximity of pharmacies to women’s homes delayed their access to safe abortion and resulted in their experience of the second delay (in reaching a healthcare facility). The third delay (in receiving appropriate care) was a result of hospitals’ non-prioritisation of abortion complications and a shortage of equipment, resulting in long hospital waiting times before treatment.ConclusionThis study has shown the value of the Three Delays Model in illustrating women’s experiences of unsafe abortions and ways of preventing the first, second and third delays in their access to care.

Assessing trauma care systems in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and evidence synthesis mapping the Three Delays framework to injury health system assessments

BackgroundThe large burden of injuries falls disproportionately on low/middle-income countries (LMICs). Health system interventions improve outcomes in high-income countries. Assessing LMIC trauma systems supports their improvement. Evaluating systems using a Three Delays framework, considering barriers to seeking (Delay 1), reaching (Delay 2) and receiving care (Delay 3), has aided maternal health gains. Rapid assessments allow timely appraisal within resource and logistically constrained settings. We systematically reviewed existing literature on the assessment of LMIC trauma systems, applying the Three Delays framework and rapid assessment principles.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review and narrative synthesis of articles assessing LMIC trauma systems. We searched seven databases and grey literature for studies and reports published until October 2018. Inclusion criteria were an injury care focus and assessment of at least one defined system aspect. We mapped each study to the Three Delays framework and judged its suitability for rapid assessment.ResultsOf 14 677 articles identified, 111 studies and 8 documents were included. Sub-Saharan Africa was the most commonly included region (44.1%). Delay 3, either alone or in combination, was most commonly assessed (79.3%) followed by Delay 2 (46.8%) and Delay 1 (10.8%). Facility assessment was the most common method of assessment (36.0%). Only 2.7% of studies assessed all Three Delays. We judged 62.6% of study methodologies potentially suitable for rapid assessment.ConclusionsWhole health system injury research is needed as facility capacity assessments dominate. Future studies should consider novel or combined methods to study Delays 1 and 2, alongside care processes and outcomes.