Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase
315991
Working Together to Improve Child Health in Rwanda
Monday, November 17, 2014
: 9:15 AM - 9:30 AM
Three CORE members, Concern Worldwide, International Rescue Committee (IRC) and World Relief, worked together in 6 districts in Rwanda to implement community case management (CCM) to reduce child mortality. Concern led the collaboration of the Kabeho Mwana (Life for a Child) Project which covered 18% of Rwanda’s population. Kabeho Mwana was one of 16 USAID Child Survival Expanded Impact Projects funded from 2006-2011.CCM focused on treatment of malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea through community health workers (CHWs) and health promotion/disease prevention through a modified Care Groups approach (a cascade of health messaging designed to reach all pregnant women and mothers of young children). The program was most successful in improving treatment of malaria and pneumonia, contributing to national gains shown in the Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey (RDHS) between 2006 and 2011. While treatment for diarrhea with ORS and zinc improved somewhat, the health messages about providing fluids and continuing feeding during diarrhea episodes were very successful doubling these practices to reach more than 2/3 of the population. Other behaviors with significant change were uptake of Vitamin A, point-of-use water treatment and hand washing. CHWs became the first line of treatment for malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea. The Kabeho Mwana project was successfully implemented by making a genuine effort to find synergies between three partners and is a model of CORE Group collaboration.
Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Provision of health care to the public
Learning Objectives:
Describe the elements of Community Case Management (CCM) in child health.
Explain the Care Group methodology in health promotion.
Discuss the role of organizational collaboration in reaching total population coverage.
Keyword(s): Health Promotion and Education, Child Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because:
I was a leading participant in the conception and implementation of the program described. More generally, I have been involved in community case management work since 1988. I have worked extensively on the measurement and evaluation of community case management work in a dozen countries in Africa and Asia. I completed a pediatric residency and practiced as a pediatrician in the setting described.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
