UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Increasing access to care for sick newborns: evidence from the Ghana Newhints cluster-randomised controlled trial

Manu, A; Hill, Z; ten Asbroek, AHA; Soremekun, S; Weobong, B; Gyan, T; Tawiah-Agyemang, C; ... Kirkwood, BR; + view all (2016) Increasing access to care for sick newborns: evidence from the Ghana Newhints cluster-randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open , 6 (6) , Article e008107. 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008107. Green open access

[thumbnail of Increasing access to care for sick newborns: evidence from the Ghana Newhints cluster-randomised controlled trial.pdf]
Preview
Text
Increasing access to care for sick newborns: evidence from the Ghana Newhints cluster-randomised controlled trial.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of Newhints community-based surveillance volunteer (CBSV) assessments and referrals on access to care for sick newborns and on existing inequities in access. DESIGN: We evaluated a prospective cohort nested within the Newhints cluster-randomised controlled trial. SETTING: Community-based intervention involving more than 750 000, predominantly rural, population in seven contiguous districts in the Brong-Ahafo Region, Ghana. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were recently delivered women (from more than 120 000 women under surveillance) and their 16 168 liveborn babies. Qualitative in-depth interviews with referral narratives (IDIs) were conducted with 92 mothers, CBSVs and health facility front-desk and maternity/paediatrics ward staff. INTERVENTIONS: Newhints trained and effectively supervised 475 CBSVs (existing within the Ghana Health Service) in 49 of 98 supervisory zones (clusters) to assess and refer newborns with any of the 10-key-danger signs to health facilities within the first week after birth; promote independent care seeking for sick newborns and problem-solve around barriers between November 2008 and December 2009. PRIMARY OUTCOMES: The main evaluation outcomes were rates of compliance with referrals and independent care seeking for newborn illnesses. RESULTS: Of 4006 sampled, 2795 (69.8%) recently delivered women received CBSV assessment visits and 279 (10.0%) newborns were referred with danger signs. Compliance with referrals was unprecedentedly high (86.0%) with women in the poorest quintile (Q1) complying better than the least poor (Q5):87.5%(Q1) vs 69.7%(Q5); p=0.038. Three-quarters went to hospitals; 18% were admitted and 58% received outpatient treatment. Some (24%) mothers were turned away at facilities and follow-on IDIs showed that some of these untreated babies subsequently died. Independent care seeking for severe newborn illness increased from 55.4% in control to 77.3% in Newhints zones, especially among Q1 where care seeking almost doubled (95.0% vs 48.6%; RR=1.94 (1.32, 2.84); p=0.001). Rates were the highest among rural residents but urban residents complied quicker. CONCLUSIONS: Home visits are feasible and a potentially pro-poor approach to link sick newborns to facilities. Its effectiveness in improving survival hinges on matched improvement in facility quality of care. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT00623337.

Type: Article
Title: Increasing access to care for sick newborns: evidence from the Ghana Newhints cluster-randomised controlled trial
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008107
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008107
Language: English
Additional information: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial.
Keywords: Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Medicine, General & Internal, General & Internal Medicine, Epidemiology, Primary Care, Preventive Medicine, Community-health Workers, Neonatal-mortality, Developing-countries, Childhood Mortality, Rural Bangladesh, Sylhet District, Seeking, Intervention, Survival, Illness
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1503329
Downloads since deposit
144Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item