Behavior-centered programming in order to increase access to mnch services

Title: Behavior-centered Programming in order to Increase Access to MNCH Services

Background: Services may be inaccessible to their intended users for multiple and complex reasons: in Madagascar inaccessibility is often due to remote locations and seasonally navigable roads, the non-availability of services and products, and especially the predominance of traditional practices concerning the management and treatment of diseases. The cultural dimension often prevents the adoption of health benefitting behaviors and constitutes barriers that reduce access to MNCH services. MAHEFA's approach to revealing barriers and enablers for health-promoting behavior via a variety of research methods aims to develop locally appropriate programmatic responses to help communities adopt sustainable behaviors.

Methods: The first step is a situational analysis. Next, unanswered questions are addressed through formative research, such as a barrier analysis, ethnographic studies, and trials of improved practices (TIPs).

Results: Combined research methods provide information about the main challenges that mothers have to face to access to better health care and to adopt and maintain beneficial behaviors. They also help define key enablers. These studies show how people behave within the community according to their “culture and customs”, and lastly, offer us the opportunity to identify the small doable and important actions they can agree upon.

Conclusions: Results, organized by behavior in strategy matrices, clarify the most effective steps to address barriers in order to adopt an improved behavior concerning their health.

Learning Areas: The presentation will show how the information collected within different intervention zones was used during the design phase.