South Asia

This paper tests the effectiveness of two service delivery models designed to promote recommended behaviors, including prompt treatment seeking for febrile illness, in Odisha India. The tested modules include supportive supervision of community health workers and community mobilization promoting appropriate health seeking. [from abstract]

Low birth weight (LBW) is a major risk factor for neonatal death. However, most neonates in low-income countries are not weighed at birth. This results in many LBW infants being overlooked. Female community health volunteers (FCHVs) in Nepal are non-health professionals who are living in local communities and have already worked in a field of reproductive and child health under the government of Nepal for more than 20 years. The effectiveness of involving FCHVs to detect LBW infants and to initiate prompt action for their care was studied in rural areas of Nepal. [from abstract]Amano S

In countries that have historically suffered from limited resources and entrenched medical systems – including Egypt, Afghanistan, and Tanzania – or ganizational learning approaches have enabled frontline health managers and their teams to achieve measurable improvements in critical areas such as family planning, HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, children’s health, and maternal mortality. [from introduction]

Our study highlights the importance of supply-side barriers to health services utilization. To meet the Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality, policymakers should make additional investment in improving the availability of infrastructure. [from abstract]

The aim of this report is to review and discuss approaches, opportunities and challenges in the aggregation, presentation and dissemination of data collected in a mobile phone-based nutrition surveillance system. [from introduction]

We analyzed the Indian public health education scenario using the institutional and instructional reforms
framework advanced by the Lancet Commission report on Education of Health Professionals. [from abstract]

Using longitudinal data on more than 2,500 rural Bangladeshi women in 128 villages, this study links women’s contraceptive adoption and experience of unwanted pregnancy between 2006 and 2009 to their unmet need status and their stated intention to use contraceptives in 2006. [from abstract]

This paper provides a snapshot of health and population trends in Pakistan, with a view toward demonstrating the changing paradigm of the urban-rural dynamic. A new health systems governance assessment approach toward urbanization and health issues is subsequently discussed, and the paper outlines a new framework of principles and their pertinence. [from abstract]

In this paper emphasis has been laid down to understand the rural healthcare system and the impact of NRHM in developing a positive and well-nourished country has been discussed. Various charts and tables were duly analyzed before arriving at a result. [from abstract]

This article describes the value of applying modern [Quality Improvement] methods to improve service quality and to facilitate the integration of health services in a resource-constrained setting. [from introduction]

To validate a new training module for skilled and semiskilled birth attendants authorized to provide care at birth—Helping Mothers Survive: Bleeding After Birth (HMS:BAB) [from abstract]

The objective was to study (a) the utilization of an emergency obstetric transportation service among women delivering in health facilities, (b) factors associated with usage, (c) the timeliness of the service. [adapted from abstract]

This study investigates patient views of physicians (Medical Officers) and NPCs in terms of patient satisfaction, perceived quality, and provider trust. [from abstract]

This evaluation assessed the success of a pilot program that trained [Female community health volunteers] in early pregnancy detection using urine pregnancy tests (UPTs), counseling, and referral to appropriate antenatal, safe abortion, or family planning services. [from abstract]

This study aims to evaluate the Developmental –Behavioural pediatrics (DBP) training experiences of pediatricians and pediatric trainees during their post graduate training in pediatrics. [from abstract]

Zonal Hospital, Mandi identified that they were not identifying women with high risk conditions during their antenatal care (ANC) clinic. By re-organizing the clinic, the hospital was able to increase the proportion of pregnant women identified as being at high-risk from 1.6% to 12.3% in a matter of weeks. [from abstract]

This study assessed occupational stress and job satisfaction among nurses working in tertiary care hospitals and
to find out correlation between occupational stress and job satisfaction among nurses. [adapted from abstract]

Theory of Change (ToC) approach workshops are a useful approach for developing ToCs as a basis for mental health care plans because they facilitate logical, evidence based and contextualised plans, while promoting stakeholder buy in.
Because of the existing hierarchies within some health systems, strategies such as limiting the types of participants
and stratifying the workshops can be used to ensure productive workshops.

In India, there is a constant tug of war in national policy on “Which health worker is needed in rural areas?” and “Who can, realistically, be got there?” In this article, we try to inform this debate by juxtaposing perspectives of three cadres involved in primary care in India—allopathic, ayurvedic and nursing—on rural service. We also identify key incentives for improved rural retention of these cadres. [adapted from abstract]

Sri Lankan rural doctors based in isolated peripheral hospitals routinely resuscitate critically ill patients but have difficulty accessing training. We tested a train-the-trainer model that could be utilised in isolated rural hospitals. [from abstract]

“Community Based Education in Health Professions: Global Perspectives” presents a collection of case studies from Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, India, Pakistan and South Africa describing different ways of planning, implementing and sustaining community-based education for health students. The case studies provide an account of what worked and what did not, the trials and errors, and the challenges and lessons learned. [adapted from introduction]

This study endeavored to identify the gap in knowledge regarding the diagnosis and management of tuberculosis between public and private doctors and the factors affecting these knowledge scores in urban Pakistan. [adapted from abstract]

The authors explore the different contexts of violence against polio vaccination workers and make policy proposals on how to respond to attacks on vaccination workers and to other factors that are impeding the final push for polio eradication. [adapted from author]

This article summarizes the key role that lady health workers play in polio eradication; outlines the problems faced by these workers such as the risk to their lives through shootings and bombings, the lack of a living wage and dearth of advancement opportunities; and offers suggestions to improve the situation.

This research aimed to assess how policies reducing demand-side barriers to access to health care have affected service delivery with a particular focus on human resources for health using case studies in five countries (Ghana, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe). In each the authors reviewed financing and HRH policies, considered the impact financing policy change had made on health service utilization rates, analysed the distribution of health staff and their actual and potential workloads, and compared remuneration terms in the public sectors. [from abstract]

This paper describes an evaluation of the effectiveness of an intervention in which lay counselors led collaborative stepped care for common mental disorders in public and private sector primary care settings, and the impact this intervention had on health and psychosocial outcomes. [adapted from abstract]

This study explores whether and how socio-cultural factors such as influence of gendered norms and extended family relationships impact lady health workers’ home-visit rates. [adapted from abstract]

This guideline emphasises measures that reduce the risk of transmitting tuberculosis (TB) to managers, health care workers, patients, visitors and other persons in the health care facilities and households. It focuses on the safety of health care workers and reduction of patient-to-patient transmission. [adapted from author]

The study assessed provider adherence to tuberculosis (TB) guidelines on national, regional/district, and facility-based levels in Bangladesh. [adapted from author]

This article documents the intervention package and evaluation design of a study conducted in a rural district of Bangladesh to evaluate the effects of an integrated, community-based maternal and neonatal health and postpartum family planning program on contraceptive use and birth-interval lengths.