Testing the Effectiveness of a Modified Community Model in Improving Child Health Outcomes in Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe

NCT03176914 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: MRCZ/A/2099
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 765
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study modified and contextualized a community mobilization approach in a bid to find a solution to reduce the high incidence and prevalence of child morbidity and mortality in Zimbabwe.The developed model will be tested for its effectiveness in reducing child morbidity and mortality at community level by comparing the effect of the intervention to that of the conventional community interventions.

Conditions

Pneumonia; Diarrhea; Malnutrition; Fever

Keywords

Community mobilisation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Reduction in child morbidity

  Incidence of childhood illnesses

  9- 12 months

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Early ANC uptake

  3 Months

• Institutional deliveries

  3 months

• Postnatal care uptake

  3 months

• Knowledge levels on child care

  3 months

Study Arms (2)

Intervention arm

EXPERIMENTAL

Eleven clusters (Villages) will be randomly selected. A cluster will comprises of 10-15 volunteers selected from a cohort 10-15 households. Educative sessions will be held in each cluster once every fortnight using a participatory methods by a trained Village Health Worker (VHW). A session will focus on one thematic area running for 1-2 hours. Trained volunteers will in turn replicate the session(s) in their cohorts and do home visits to monitor care practices and screen children for various ailment. Health information is collated from each cluster and consolidated by the VHW who reports monthly at the clinic.

Behavioral: prevention and management of childhood illnesses at community level

Conventional Intervention arm

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

In the conventional mobilization system, a Village Health Worker facilitates community health programs as the sole source of health education for the entire villages. She does home visits, child growth monitoring and the various components primary health care at village level inclusive of disease surveillance and community case management using the 'supermarket approach' , whereby 3 or more themes are covered in a space of 10- 30 minutes in functions like funerals, village gatherings and other opportune moments. The Village Health worker prepares village monthly reports on all the indicators on community health and submits to the local health centre.

Behavioral: conventional community interventions

Interventions

prevention and management of childhood illnesses at community level BEHAVIORAL

provision of critical health education and targeted promotion services to the participants in their locality

Intervention arm

conventional community interventions BEHAVIORAL

community health programs as the sole source of health education

Conventional Intervention arm

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 49 Years
• Sex: female
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Pregnant and lactating women staying in the study area with children below 4 years

You may not qualify if:

• Women of child bearing age who do not dwell permanently in the study area
• Women who are very ill and mentally challenged

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Zimbabwe: lead
• NORHED: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

College of Health Sciences

Harare, 00263, Zimbabwe

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Pneumonia; Diarrhea; Malnutrition; Fever

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Respiratory Tract Infections; Infections; Lung Diseases; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Signs and Symptoms, Digestive; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Body Temperature Changes

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: The data analysts will be provided with coded data that doesn't reflect which arm the data is from.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: The study will have an intervention arm under which the study intervention will be implemented and this will be compared with the outcomes in the conventional intervention arm. Each arm will have 11 clusters of an average size of 50.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 24, 2017
• First Posted: June 6, 2017
• Study Start: January 19, 2017
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2018
• Study Completion: December 31, 2018
• Last Updated: April 1, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-03

Locations

ZI (1)