Maternal Health Services, Perinatal Care, Prenatal Care
Conditions
Brief summary
In 2015, the average Ethiopian woman had a 1 in 64 lifetime risk of death due to complications of childbirth and 87,414 newborns died before their 28th day of life. Demand for MNCH services, however, remains low in Ethiopia's rural communities most at risk with only 16% of women delivering in a health facility. The investigator's project responds to the challenge of creating demand for existing MNCH services in rural Ethiopia, which fell short of reaching Millennium Development Goal targets for reducing preventable maternal and neonatal deaths. This study addresses two strategic drivers to prevent maternal mortality identified by USAID including improving individual, household, and community behaviors and norms and increasing equity of access and use of services by the most vulnerable. The primary objective of the study is to determine the impact of a behavior change intervention that partners Ethiopian Orthodox priests with members of the Health Development Army (HDA) and trains them to conduct maternal health outreach to increase births attended by skilled health personnel among women who attend ≥1 ANC visits.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALFLAME
The FLAME intervention trains pairs of faith leaders and community health workers and deploys them to conduct behavior change outreach in their communities.
Sponsors
University of Gondar
University of Washington
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
Cluster randomized trial assigning facility catchment areas to intervention vs. standard of care
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Pregnant women * Willing to receive intervention counseling
Exclusion criteria
* None
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Facility delivery | Through study completion, an average of 18 months | The proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel among the women who attended ≥1 ANC visits |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Any ANC | Through study completion, an average of 18 months | Number of women who attended ≥1 ANC visits |
| Complete ANC | Through study completion, an average of 18 months | Number of women who attended ANC 4 |
Countries
Ethiopia
Outcome results
None listed