Community perception regarding childhood vaccinations and its implications for effectiveness: a qualitative study in rural Burkina Faso

Background: Vaccination has contributed to major reductions in global morbidity and mortality, but there remain significant coverage gaps. Better knowledge on the interplay between population and health systems regarding provision of vaccination information and regarding health staff organization during the immunization sessions appears to be important for improvements of vaccination effectiveness. Methods: The study was conducted in the Nouna Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) area, rural Burkina Faso, from March to April 2014. We employed a combination of in-depth interviews (n = 29) and focus group discussions (n = 4) including children’s mothers, health workers, godmothers, community health workers and traditional healers. A thematic analysis was performed. All material was transcribed, translated and analyzed using the software ATLAS.ti4.2. Results: There was better social mobilization in the rural areas as compared to the urban area. Most mothers know the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) target diseases, and the importance to immunize their children. However, the great majority of informants reported that mothers don’t know the vaccination schedule. There is awareness that some children are incompletely vaccinated. Mentioned reasons for that were migration, mothers being busy with their work, the practice of not opening vaccine vials unless a critical number of children are present, poor interaction between women and health workers during immunization sessions, potential adverse events associated with vaccination, geographic inaccessibility during rainy season, and lack of information. Conclusions: Well organized vaccination programs are a key factor to improve child health and there is a clear need to consider community perceptions on program performance. In Burkina Faso, a number of factors have been identified which need attention by the EPI managers for further improvement of program effectiveness

Analyse de la prise en charge du nouveau-né dans le cadre de la stratégie nationale de subvention des accouchements et des soins obstétricaux et néonatals d’urgence au Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Pédiatrique Charles de Gaulle, Ouagadougou (Burkina Fa

Introduction: il s'agit d'analyser la prise en charge du nouveau-né dans le cadre de la stratégie na-tionale de subvention des accouchements etdes soins obstétricaux et néonatals d'urgence mis en place par le  gouvernement du Burkina Faso en 2006. Méthodes: nous avons menée une étude à visée descriptive et analytique comportant un volet  ré-trospectif du 01 janvier 2006 au 31 décembre 2010 portant sur les paramètres épidémiologiques, cliniques des nouveau-nés hospitalisés et un volet prospectif du 3 octobre 2011 au 29 février 2012 par une entrevue des accompagnateurs des nouveau-nés et des prestataires des services de santé. Résultats: les hospitalisations ont augmenté de 43,65% entre 2006à 2010 Le taux de mortalité néo-natale hospitalière qui était de 11,04% a connu une réduction moyenne annuelle de 3,95%. L'entrevue a porté sur 110 accompagnateurs et 76 prestataires. La majorité des prestataires (97,44%) et des ac-compagnateurs (88,18%) étaient informés de la  stratégie mais n'avait pas une connaissance exacte de sa définition. Les prestataires (94,74%) ont signalé des ruptures de médicaments,   consommables médicaux et des pannes d' appareils de laboratoire et  d'imagerie. Parmi les accompagnateurs (89%) disaient être satisfaits desservices offerts et (72,89%) trouvaient les coûts abordables mais   évoquaient les difficultés du transport. Conclusion : La subvention a amélioré la prise en charge du nou-veau-né mais son optimisation  nécessiterait une meilleur information et implication de tous les acteurs

The impact of user fee removal policies on household out-of-pocket spending: evidence against the inverse equity hypothesis from a population based study in Burkina Faso. Eur J Health Econ. doi

Abstract Background User fee removal policies have been extensively evaluated in relation to their impact on access to care, but rarely, and mostly poorly, in relation to their impact on household out-of-pocket (OOP) spending. This paucity of evidence is surprising given that reduction in household economic burden is an explicit aim for such policies. Our study assessed the equity impact on household OOP spending for facility-based delivery of the user fee reduction policy implemented in Burkina Faso since 2007 (i.e. subsidised price set at 900 Communauté Financière Africaine francs (CFA) for all, but free for the poorest). Taking into account the challengeslinked to implementing exemption policies, we aimed to test the hypothesis that the user fee reductionpolicy had favoured the least poor more than the poor. Methods We used data from six consecutive rounds (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011) of a household survey conducted in the Nouna Health District. Primary outcomes are the proportion of households being fully exempted (the poorest 20 % according to the policy) and the actual level of household OOP spending on facility-based delivery. The estimation of the effects relied on a Heckman selection model. This allowed us to estimate changes in OOP spending across socio-economic strata given changes in service utilisation produced by the policy

The Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) in Nouna, Burkina Faso, 1993–2007

The Nouna Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) is located in rural Burkina Faso and has existed since 1992. Currently, it has about 78,000 inhabitants. It is a member of the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH), a global network of members who conducts longitudinal health and demographic evaluation of populations in low- and middle-income countries. The health facilities consist of one hospital and 13 basic health centres (locally known as CSPS). The Nouna HDSS has been used as a sampling frame for numerous studies in the fields of clinical research, epidemiology, health economics, and health systems research. In this paper we review some of the main findings, and we describe the effects that almost 20 years of health research activities have shown in the population in general and in terms of the perception, economic implications, and other indicators. Longitudinal data analyses show that childhood, as well as overall mortality, has significantly decreased over the observation period 1993–2007. The under-five mortality rate dropped from about 40 per 1,000 person-years in the mid-1990s to below 30 per 1,000 in 2007. Further efforts are needed to meet goal four of the Millennium Development Goals, which is to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015

The impact of user fee removal policies on household out-of-pocket spending: evidence against the inverse equity hypothesis from a population based study in Burkina Faso. Eur J Health Econ. doi

Abstract Background User fee removal policies have been extensively evaluated in relation to their impact on access to care, but rarely, and mostly poorly, in relation to their impact on household out-of-pocket (OOP) spending. This paucity of evidence is surprising given that reduction in household economic burden is an explicit aim for such policies. Our study assessed the equity impact on household OOP spending for facility-based delivery of the user fee reduction policy implemented in Burkina Faso since 2007 (i.e. subsidised price set at 900 Communauté Financière Africaine francs (CFA) for all, but free for the poorest). Taking into account the challengeslinked to implementing exemption policies, we aimed to test the hypothesis that the user fee reductionpolicy had favoured the least poor more than the poor. Methods We used data from six consecutive rounds (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011) of a household survey conducted in the Nouna Health District. Primary outcomes are the proportion of households being fully exempted (the poorest 20 % according to the policy) and the actual level of household OOP spending on facility-based delivery. The estimation of the effects relied on a Heckman selection model. This allowed us to estimate changes in OOP spending across socio-economic strata given changes in service utilisation produced by the policy

Malaria mortality in Africa and Asia: evidence from INDEPTH health and demographic surveillance system sites.

BACKGROUND: Malaria continues to be a major cause of infectious disease mortality in tropical regions. However, deaths from malaria are most often not individually documented, and as a result overall understanding of malaria epidemiology is inadequate. INDEPTH Network members maintain population surveillance in Health and Demographic Surveillance System sites across Africa and Asia, in which individual deaths are followed up with verbal autopsies. OBJECTIVE: To present patterns of malaria mortality determined by verbal autopsy from INDEPTH sites across Africa and Asia, comparing these findings with other relevant information on malaria in the same regions. DESIGN: From a database covering 111,910 deaths over 12,204,043 person-years in 22 sites, in which verbal autopsy data were handled according to the WHO 2012 standard and processed using the InterVA-4 model, over 6,000 deaths were attributed to malaria. The overall period covered was 1992-2012, but two-thirds of the observations related to 2006-2012. These deaths were analysed by site, time period, age group and sex to investigate epidemiological differences in malaria mortality. RESULTS: Rates of malaria mortality varied by 1:10,000 across the sites, with generally low rates in Asia (one site recording no malaria deaths over 0.5 million person-years) and some of the highest rates in West Africa (Nouna, Burkina Faso: 2.47 per 1,000 person-years). Childhood malaria mortality rates were strongly correlated with Malaria Atlas Project estimates of Plasmodium falciparum parasite rates for the same locations. Adult malaria mortality rates, while lower than corresponding childhood rates, were strongly correlated with childhood rates at the site level. CONCLUSIONS: The wide variations observed in malaria mortality, which were nevertheless consistent with various other estimates, suggest that population-based registration of deaths using verbal autopsy is a useful approach to understanding the details of malaria epidemiology

Malaria mortality in Africa and Asia: evidence from INDEPTH health and demographic surveillance system sites

This paper is part of the Special Issue: INDEPTH Network Cause-Specific Mortality. A Corrigendum has been published for this paper. Please see http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/ gha/article/view/27833Malaria continues to be a major cause of infectious disease mortality in tropical regions. However, deaths from malaria are most often not individually documented, and as a result overall understanding of malaria epidemiology is inadequate. INDEPTH Network members maintain population surveillance in Health and Demographic Surveillance System sites across Africa and Asia, in which individual deaths are followed up with verbal autopsies.To present patterns of malaria mortality determined by verbal autopsy from INDEPTH sites across Africa and Asia, comparing these findings with other relevant information on malaria in the same regions.From a database covering 111,910 deaths over 12,204,043 person-years in 22 sites, in which verbal autopsy data were handled according to the WHO 2012 standard and processed using the InterVA-4 model, over 6,000 deaths were attributed to malaria. The overall period covered was 1992-2012, but two-thirds of the observations related to 2006-2012. These deaths were analysed by site, time period, age group and sex to investigate epidemiological differences in malaria mortality.Rates of malaria mortality varied by 1:10,000 across the sites, with generally low rates in Asia (one site recording no malaria deaths over 0.5 million person-years) and some of the highest rates in West Africa (Nouna, Burkina Faso: 2.47 per 1,000 person-years). Childhood malaria mortality rates were strongly correlated with Malaria Atlas Project estimates of Plasmodium falciparum parasite rates for the same locations. Adult malaria mortality rates, while lower than corresponding childhood rates, were strongly correlated with childhood rates at the site level.The wide variations observed in malaria mortality, which were nevertheless consistent with various other estimates, suggest that population-based registration of deaths using verbal autopsy is a useful approach to understanding the details of malaria epidemiology.P. Kim Streatfield ... Yohannes A. Melaku ... et. al

Motivation and incentives of rural maternal and neonatal health care providers: a comparison of qualitative findings from Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania.

In Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania strong efforts are being made to improve the quality of maternal and neonatal health (MNH) care. However, progress is impeded by challenges, especially in the area of human resources. All three countries are striving not only to scale up the number of available health staff, but also to improve performance by raising skill levels and enhancing provider motivation. In-depth interviews were used to explore MNH provider views about motivation and incentives at primary care level in rural Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania. Interviews were held with 25 MNH providers, 8 facility and district managers, and 2 policy-makers in each country. Across the three countries some differences were found in the reasons why people became health workers. Commitment to remaining a health worker was generally high. The readiness to remain at a rural facility was far less, although in all settings there were some providers that were willing to stay. In Burkina Faso it appeared to be particularly difficult to recruit female MNH providers to rural areas. There were indications that MNH providers in all the settings sometimes failed to treat their patients well. This was shown to be interlinked with differences in how the term 'motivation' was understood, and in the views held about remuneration and the status of rural health work. Job satisfaction was shown to be quite high, and was particularly linked to community appreciation. With some important exceptions, there was a strong level of agreement regarding the financial and non-financial incentives that were suggested by these providers, but there were clear country preferences as to whether incentives should be for individuals or teams. Understandings of the terms and concepts pertaining to motivation differed between the three countries. The findings from Burkina Faso underline the importance of gender-sensitive health workforce planning. The training that all levels of MNH providers receive in professional ethics, and the way this is reinforced in practice require closer attention. The differences in the findings across the three settings underscore the importance of in-depth country-level research to tailor the development of incentives schemes

Spatial malaria epidemiology in Bangladeshi highlands

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