Community Health Workers

Evidence of Effective SBCC Approaches to Promote Breastfeeding Practices (section 3.2 of ‘Evidence of Effective Approaches to Social and Behavior Change Communication for Preventing and Reducing Stunting and Anemia: Report from a Systematic Literature Review’ SPRING 2014)

July 31, 2016

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends three primary breastfeeding practices: initiation of breastfeeding within one hour after birth (also referred to as immediate breastfeeding), exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) through six months of age, and continued breastfeeding until 24 months of age (Dyson et al., 2005; WHO, 2008). Evidence associated with the recommendation for immediate breastfeeding is limited and likely operates through the effect of exclusive breastfeeding (Bhutta et al., 2013). The Lancet, therefore, includes only EBF and continued breastfeeding in the modeling of optimal breastfeeding practices cited above.

Despite the promise of optimal breastfeeding practices, rates for the three WHO recommended breastfeeding practices remain low, and negligible progress has been made to increase these rates over the past two decades (UNICEF, 2013). According to an analysis of data from 78 low and middle income countries, rates of immediate breastfeeding range from a mean of 36% in Eastern Europe to a mean of 58% in Latin America, and the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in children one to five months of age is just 30% (Black et al, 2013). According to the UNICEF global database of national surveys from 2007-2011, the current rate of breastfeeding at one year is 76%, while the rate of breastfeeding at age two years is 58%.

This section reviews the effectiveness of social and behavior change communication (SBCC) approaches on improving breastfeeding practices.

Click here for full section.

Addressing AMA and HP Pregnancies – A Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancy (HTSP) Implementation Kit (HC3 2016)

May 14, 2016

Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancy (HTSP) is an under-utilized approach to family planning (FP) and maternal and child health (MCH) education, counseling and services to help families have planned pregnancies at the healthiest times of their lives for the best outcomes for mother and child. Although many FP and MCH programs promote birth spacing, HTSP elevates the role of spacing between pregnancies, rather than births, and stresses the impact on maternal, neonatal and child health.

HTSP activities and research to date have focused on the first two approaches in this list: delaying pregnancies until after age 18 and spacing pregnancies at least 24 months after the preceding birth. However, a recent HC3 desk review revealed that little to no work has focused on social and behavior change communication (SBCC) around the last two themes: pregnancies in women aged 35 and older (of advanced maternal age, or AMA) and women having five or more (high-parity, or HP) births.

HC3 conducted qualitative research around the drivers and determinants of AMA and HP pregnancies in Togo and Niger, and pretested approaches to address them using SBCC. HC3 then developed this implementation kit (I-Kit) to help program managers emphasize and include AMA and HP pregnancy risk information in their existing FP and MCH programs.

The HTSP I-Kit is designed to help program managers address the risks of pregnancies among women aged 35 and older (of advanced maternal age, or AMA) and women having five or more births (high-parity, or HP) in their family planning or maternal and child health programs.

The I-Kit is divided into two parts:

Sections to help review the local data, apply SBCC approaches to design a strategy, integrate AMA and HP into FP and MCH programs, develop an action plan, adapt SBCC communication materials, and prepare a monitoring and evaluation plan.
Adaptable SBCC communication materials, including: counseling guides for providers/CHWs; a provider poster; client brochures; guides for working with community-based groups, researchers and journalists; and infographics.

Click here for full details and access to kit.

ICTs for Health in Africa (World Bank report 2014)

April 26, 2016

Countries in Africa spend significant amounts of their GDP on delivering health services through systems that are often inefficient, costly and lacking in transparency. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform the delivery of health services across the continent in ways that not only increase efficiency but also improve accountability (World Bank, 2004). ICTs present a large, unexploited potential for transforming governance and transparency in the health sector in Africa to achieve ‘more health for money spent’ and thereby improve the efficiency of health spending, both domestic- and donor-financed. ICTs present a large, unexploited potential for transforming governance and transparency in the health sector in Africa to achieve ‘more health for money spent’ and thereby improve the efficiency of health spending, both domestic, and donor-financed.

Amakomaya [Mother’s Love]: mHealth project (Nepal, 2011 onwards)

April 21, 2016

Amakomaya, translated as Mother’s Love in Nepali, was initiated by a dedicated team of local ICT experts and health professionals when they received a USD4,000 grant from the Internet Society in 2011. Committed to tackle the challenges that Nepali women face during pregnancy and childbirth; and equipped with the skills to leverage opportunities, including those that the Internet and mobile communications offer, the team is making a series of breakthroughs, particularly in women’s health education, changing community practices that marginalize women, and the digitization
of health records.

The full details of the case study can be found in the following pdf: CaseStudy-Amakomaya_Nepal

(Source: Christine Apikul)

Exploring the role of communication in community health in Sierra Leone (BBC Media Action report 2016)

April 18, 2016

BBC Media Action has worked in Sierra Leone since 2007, using multiple platforms including radio, mobile, social media and interpersonal communication to address three key themes: governance and rights, health, and resilience and humanitarian response.

Community access to health information is particularly valuable in countries with low numbers of health professionals, such as Sierra Leone. To understand more about the role media and communication can play in Sierra Leone, and the ways it can support efforts to rebuild the health system, BBC Media Action carried out a programme of research in Sierra Leone in late 2015.

Using data from a national survey and from a qualitative study in four communities, this report looks at the potential role that communication could play in community health. The report shows there is strong interest from Sierra Leoneans in receiving more health information, but that many people tend to be passive recipients of this information rather than actively seeking it out – unless they face an emergency or particular health crisis. The implications for mass communication are discussed.

Click here for full report.