Share a new Portuguese translation of Pathfinder’s technical brief: Multisectoral Responses to Gender-based Violence in Mozambique:  http://www.pathfinder.org/publications-tools/resposta-multissectorial-violencia-em-mocambique.html

This technical brief explores Pathfinder’s experience pioneering a multisectoral approach to primary and secondary prevention of GBV across two projects in Mozambique: (1) the “Enhancing Reproductive Rights to  Reduce Violence against Women in Gaza Province” project (2010–2013), funded by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women; and (2) the “Enhancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women and Youth in Mozambique: Integrating Comprehensive GBV Services and Support and Safe Abortion Care in Inhambane and Gaza Provinces” project (2011–2013), funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy.

The projects’ multisectoral approach included: a robust primary prevention component that engaged community organizations, activists, judges, and youth in reflection and dialogue to transform gender norms; a secondary prevention component that built on nascent national efforts to establish a multisectoral response to GBV (including establishment of the country’s first one-stop center for GBV survivors); and a strong advocacy component. The technical brief highlights implementation experience, lessons learned, and next steps for Pathfinder’s GBV programming in Mozambique.

Please contact TechnicalCommunications@pathfinder.org with any questions.

Apologies for cross-posting!

Best,

Sarah

Sarah Mehta, MPH

Technical Advisor for Program Documentation

SMehta@pathfinder.org | Skype: pathfinder.sarah.mehta

Tel: +1.617.972.1320

Abstract

The atmosphere at the Agip Recitall Hall, Muson Centre was electric as Nigeria’s hip-hop icon 2face Idibia launched the new National Malaria theme song titled “Play Your Part”. The occasion was the – launch of Newman Street Season 2. The song featuring Sani Danja and Eve B – was part of – activities to support the National Malaria Eradication Programme’s commemoration of the World Malaria Day 2015 tagged “Invest in the future, defeat malaria- Your Action Counts.” …more

New Ebola animation for community health workers in Guinea

http://medicalaidfilms.org/ebola/

We are pleased to announce the release today of a new animated film about Ebola created especially for health worker use for community education on Ebola in Guinea.  Since the Ebola crisis began in December 2013, it has seen over 26,000 reported cases and 11,000 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, including more than 500 health workers*.  Although the peak of the outbreak has passed, new cases are still reported every week in Guinea and Sierra Leone, and there remains an urgent need for education to address stigma and rebuild trust in health workers and services.

Medical Aid Films has collaborated with the Earth Institute at Columbia University to create an animation for use by community workers, also known as “contact tracers”, to help educate communities about  ‘contact tracingâ’.  This vital work is done to find everyone who has come into direct contact with a sick Ebola patient to help stop further transmission of the disease.

Our animation follows the story of a contact tracer, Mariam, as she goes about her work ­ visiting those who have come into contact with a ssick Ebola patient, finding those who are showing symptoms, and arranging appropriate care for those who need it.  The film will be used by the Government of Guinea and UNFPA in Guinea; and it is freely available in English and French for anyone to download and use, in both standard and mobile formats.

Through this film, we aim to support health workers in their vital role as contact tracers by providing a tool to help disseminate valuable education about transmission of Ebola, combatting myths, and reducing stigmatisation of health workers to build the understanding and trust that is needed to halt the spread of Ebola.

To access the English version, please visit: https://vimeo.com/127482748

To access the French version, please visit: https://vimeo.com/127484181

* http://apps.who.int/ebola/en/current-situation/ebola-situation-report-6-may-2015

Notes:

Review team: Alhoussaine Bah (Earth Institute), Dr Natalie Greenwold (Medical Aid Films), Ali Herbert (Samaritan’s Purse), Dr Lilian Kiapi (International Rescue Committee), Anne Liu (Earth Institute), Dr Nathalie MacDermott (Samaritan’s Purse), Cindil Redick (Earth Institute), Dr Jilian Sacks (Earth Institute), Elizabeth Zehe (Earth Institute).

The Earth Institute brings together the people and tools needed to address some of the world’s most difficult problems, from climate change and environmental degradation, to poverty, disease and the sustainable use of resources.

Medical Aid Films aims to save the lives of vulnerable women and children in developing countries by providing innovative training and education through film. All content is free to view and download from our website. For further information please contact Josie@medicalaidfilms.org

HIFA profile: Josie Gallo is Content Co-ordinator for Medical Aid Films in the United Kingdom. Professional interests: Media for development.       josie AT medicalaidfilms.org

__________

To send a message to the HIFA forum, simply send an email to: HIFA2015@dgroups.org

Evidence Review: what does good health information look like? Paul Treadgold and Carol Grant

http://www.pifonline.org.uk/what-does-good-health-information-look-like-an-evidence-review/

‘This research report summarises the best evidence available – from both research and practice – on what approaches areare most effective in ensuring the accuracy, readability, relevance and impact of consumer health information.

The growing recognition of information as the lifeblood of quality health services is reflected in legislation, the NHS Constitution and the NHS Patient Experience Framework.

However, despite the right to information, and clear evidence of the benefits, problems relating to poor communications and inadequate information have been one of the most common causes of complaints and patient dissatisfaction in the health service.

The biggest issue is not necessarily one of quantity – quality is paramount. How accessible, timely, readable, reeliable and useful is the information provided? What does high quality health information really look like?

We found a mixture of evidence (based on primary research and systematic reviews) and good practice guidelines and quality checklists developed by official bodies and special interest groups. In particular, we have highlighted the Information Standard, the DISCERN criteria for assessing the quality of publications about treatment choices, and criteria from the Picker Institute’s revisions to the checklist produced by IPDAS – the International Patient Decision Aid Standards Collaboration.

In some areas, for example on communicating risk, there is quite an extensive evidence base. In others, for example on revealing uncertainty or avoiding bias, there is more of an ethical (and legal) base for best practice’

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Let’s build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare knowledge – Join HIFA: www.hifa2015.org  

‘The World Bank estimates that the two year socioeconomic effect of the current Ebola epidemic could reach $32.6 billion. If only a fraction of this amount had been spent on health system preparedness … many of the more than 10,000 deaths reported might have been prevented [and] the benefits of a well prepared health system would extend to many other diseases, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.’

CITATION: Ebola and ethics: autopsy of a failure

BMJ 2015; 350 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h2105 (Published 23 April 2015)

Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h2105

http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h2105

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Let’s build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare knowledge – Join HIFA: www.hifa2015.org  

News: Sexuality education programming set to reach millions of young people across eastern and southern Africa

UNAIDS

8 May 2015

LUSAKA – Young people in eastern and southern Africa, like many of their peers around the world, often receive conflicting and inaccurate information about sex. This can lead to badly informed decisions about how, when or with whom to have sex and how to protect themselves against HIV.

With support from UNAIDS, UNESCO and SAfAIDS a major regional series of radio and TV programmes has been launched to address this gap. It is designed to deliver comprehensive sexuality education to young people and give them a forum to discuss issues around sex and sexuality, in a region where HIV prevalence is high. Across Africa, AIDS-related illness is still the leading cause of death among adolescents, and adolescent girls and young women are especially vulnerable to new HIV infections.

According to Charity Banda, HIV/AIDS Coordinator at Zambia’s Ministry of Education, this move is very important. “By facing puberty without being prepared, young people are left confused and unsupported. This ultimately makes them vulnerable to high-risk behaviours that increase their chances of contracting HIV. That’s why this new initiative is so timely.”

The series was first launched in Zambia on 21 February 2015 and is set to be broadcast in five other countries later this year: Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Sudan and United Republic of Tanzania. The Zambian series has 26 TV episodes,  13 radio episodes and includes a 15 minute live talk show every Saturday called The Sexuality Talk Challenge.  

It is being aired on the largest television and radio network in the country, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, which reaches more than 4 million people every day on TV alone. The programmes are being translated into several local languages.  

Guests on the show include young people, youth-led organizations, teachers, government officials, policy-makers and civil society representatives. Topics discussed on air have touched on: love, sex and healthy relationships; self-esteem and understanding yourself and your rights as an adolescent; peer pressure; and challenging misconceptions. One episode has also been dedicated to improving communication between young people and the significant adults in their lives.   

“Evidence has shown that teenagers who have discussed issues with their parents or guardians are more likely to make safer, smarter decisions about sex and their sexuality,” said Patricia Machawira, UNESCO’s Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Advisor on HIV and Education. “This includes waiting longer to begin having sex, having fewer sexual partners, using contraception and having the confidence to say “no” to doing anything they are not comfortable with,” she added.

The series’ frank and open discussions have already been sparking debate. The partners hope that by the time the programme finishes its run in Zambia at the end of June such discussions will have helped break down barriers to communication, with access to accurate information empowering young people to make informed choices for a better, healthier future.

As Medhin Tsehaiu, UNAIDS Country Director for Zambia, sums up, “Information is power and young people need to be equipped with the right information and skill to make right decisions.”

Online at: http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2015/april/20150428_sexed

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Best wishes, Neil

Let’s build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare knowledge – Join HIFA: www.hifa2015.org  

The Safe Delivery App is an innovative mobile health tool developed by Maternity Foundation in partnership with the University of Copenhagen and the University of Southern Denmark. Through simple animated clinical instruction films, the app can teach birth attendants in hard-to-reach areas how to manage complicated deliveries. The app is based on global clinical guidelines and has the potential to overcome the outreach barriers of conventional training programs, ensuring that more women have access to skilled care when giving birth.

You can find more information about the App, and links to download it at: http://maternity.dk/en/content/mhealth

The Safe Delivery App does not need any Internet connection once it is downloaded. Hence, health workers can use it offline. Some projects have preinstalled the app on phones before giving them to health workers, to ensure that the apps where on the phones, and because many of the health workers were located in rural areas with no connectivity at all.

The app is available for iPhones and Androids. There is no version for Windows phones. It has been used on cheap smart phones, and works well (e.g. Huawei Ascend Y330 smartphone model in Tanzania). However, it’s important that the phone has enough memory, recommended at least 4GB.

Finally the app is based on international clinical guidelines from WHO and ALSO, among others. When implementing in a new country and setting, the developers have adapted it to the national guidelines. Maternity Foundation plans to support partners in the roll-out, including supporting implementation, conducting research with academic partners, consolidating learning, disseminating results and best practices. The app automatically tracks user patterns, behavior and knowledge levels via GPRS. Knowledge levels are measured based on tests automatically generated via the app to each user. Hence, it is possible to analyze who is using the app, how much, where, how and with what effect. All of which we off course would be shared with those implementing the app in new settings.

Links for downloading the app are:

Google play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dk.maternity.safedeliveryapp

App store: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id985603707

For more information, please contact:

Lotte Fast Carlsen

Fundraising, mHealth & Strategy   

MATERNITY FOUNDATION

Sortedam Dossering 81

DK-2100 Copenhagen

Tel. + 45 28934823

E-mail: lfast@maternity.dk

skype: lotte.fast

www.maternity.dk

sms LIV til 1245 og støt os med 100 kr

K4Health is pleased to announce the launch of How to Hold a Successful Share Fair (https://www.k4health.org/resources/how-hold-successful-share-fair), a reference tool for anyone who works in public health or international development and wants to bring together a group of people to discuss ideas, address challenges, and share best practices. The simple handbook guides users through the ins and outs of holding a share fair and includes customizable planning tools and concrete examples.

A share fair is a participatory event—usually focused on a single topic or field—that promotes learning from participants’ experiences to improve their work. As a knowledge management method, share fairs have the great ability to draw out experiential knowledge in creative and interesting ways to improve processes and solve challenges.

If you use How to Hold a Successful Share Fair (https://www.k4health.org/resources/how-hold-successful-share-fair)  in your work, please tell us how and let us know what you think: www.k4health.org/about/contact.

Thank you,

Rebecca

Rebecca A. Shore, MPH

Online Communications Manager, Knowledge for Health (K4Health)

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

111 Market Place, Suite 310

Baltimore, Maryland 21202

Phone: 410-223-1611 | Skype: Ras_K4Health

Email: Rebecca.Shore@jhu.edu

@Rebecca_Shore

For the 222 million women who have an unmet need for modern contraception, increasing access to high-quality family planning services is essential.

As countries work to scale up the number of health workers, it also makes sense to focus on the existing workforce. In-service training can improve the quality of family planning services by updating health workers’ knowledge, but it is often expensive and requires providers to leave their posts during the training.

CapacityPlus developed and deployed an innovative mLearning system to deliver refresher training to family planning providers. The system, which uses a combination of interactive voice response technology and SMS text messaging, was piloted among 20 midwives, nurses, nursing assistants, and health agents in Thiès Region, Senegal.

A new publication, Use of an Interactive Voice Response System to Deliver Refresher Training in Senegal: Findings from Pilot Implementation and Assessment, shows how the mLearning system delivered training via simple mobile phones and was found to be feasible, well-liked by participants, and associated with sustained gains in knowledge.

Read the new report (http://www.capacityplus.org/files/resources/ivr-system-refresher-training-senegal.pdf) and a related article (http://www.capacityplus.org/new-publication-spotlight-interactive-voice-response-system-refresher-training-senegal).

Carol Bales | Communications Officer

IntraHealth International | Because Health Workers Save Lives.

6340 Quadrangle Drive, Suite 200 | Chapel Hill, NC 27517

t. +1 (919) 313-9174 | m. +1 (919) 360-4031

cbales@capacityplus.org

The SA National Health Insurance (NHI) plan is fast becoming the stuff of legend and folklore. Like the overused notions of transformation, equity, triple challenges, national democratic revolution, reconciliation, Rainbow Nation, national imperatives and ubuntu, the NHI has become part of meaningless government-speak….more

Salt intake that is often deemed high may actually have benefits, scientists say. “We humans eat more salt than is necessary. But we all do it. So the question is: why?” asks Paul Breslin, a professor of nutritional sciences who researches sodium appetite at New Jersey’s Rutgers University. In the past, people thought that salt boosted health – so much so that the Latin word for “health” – “salus” – was derived from “sal” (salt). In medieval times, salt was prescribed to treat a multitude of conditions, including toothaches, stomach aches and “heaviness of mind.”….more

Eating healthy is becoming an expensive luxury in emerging market countries, where vegetable prices have spiked while high fat, sugary junk foods have become cheaper, economists said on Monday….more

Long tea breaks and an overwhelming number of patients flocking to the Chiawelo Healthcare Centre in Soweto contribute to the clinic’s inefficiency. These are some of the reasons Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu heard on Tuesday morning while on a surprise walk-about at the Soweto clinic. Many of the patients she spoke to complained of waiting for more than an hour while nursing staff were on a tea break…..more and more and more

The health minister wants young people to come up with a catchy title for an mobile app aimed at providing information‚ tools and support for them …. more

When it comes to video messaging services, there are a lot of options to choose from, most notably Skype, Facetime and ooVoo. But there is also the Google Hangouts service. The Google platform offers all the same features as other popular services; plus a few users can’t get anywhere else. So why is “Skype” used as a verb synonymous with “video-calling,” but no one ever talks about “Hanging out?”….more

‘CHWs value feedback and feeling connected to the health system and their community, are motivated by status and community standing, and want to be provided with the necessary tools to perform.’ The authors of this new paper in Human Resources for Health journal describe six key guiding principles:

1. CHWs are motivated by their status and standing in the community and a sense of the value they add

2. CHWs value technical feedback and supportive encouragement from both supervisors and community members

3. Feeling connected to both the health system and the community they serve motivates and validates CHWs in their role

4. Adequate resources—especially drugs—must be in place for CHWs to be motivated and perform

5. Participatory activities in the community that are open to all, enjoyable, purposeful and focused on positive local health outcomes delivered through the CHWs are likely to sustain community interest and engagement and be motivating for CHWs (in Uganda)

6. Interventions supported by ICT that facilitate easy communication, provide contextspecific technical support and engender a sense of connectedness to the health system, supervisors and peers are feasible and acceptable to CHWs in Uganda and Mozambique and likely to increase CHW motivation

Below are the citation and abstract. The full text is freeely available here: http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/pdf/s12960-015-0020-8.pdf  

CITATION: Using theory and formative research to design interventions to improve community health worker motivation, retention and performance in Mozambique and Uganda.

Daniel Llywelyn Strachan, Karin Källander, Maureen Nakirunda, Sozinho Ndima, Abel Muiambo, Zelee Hill and the inSCALE study group

Corresponding author: Daniel L Strachan d.strachan@ucl.ac.uk

Human Resources for Health 2015, 13:25  doi:10.1186/s12960-015-0020-8

Published: 30 April 2015

ABSTRACT (provisional)

Background: Community health workers (CHWs) are increasingly being used in low-income countries to address human resources shortages, yet there remain few effective, evidence-based strategies for addressing the enduring programmatic constraints of worker motivation, retention and performance. This paper describes how two interventions were designed by the Innovations at Scale for Community Access and Lasting Effects (inSCALE) project to address these constraints in Uganda and Mozambique drawing on behavioural theory and formative research results.

Methods: A review of the work motivation and CHW motivation literature—incorporating influences on retention and performance—was conducted on articles sourced through electronic web searches. Formative research with a focus on the barriers and facilitators to CHW motivation, retention and performance was conducted with community health workers and key stakeholders in Uganda and Mozambique. An analytical induction approach to the thematic analysis of transcripts from 98 in-depth interviews and 26 focus group discussions was adopted across the country settings.

Results: From the theoretical review, it was determined that the interventions should promote CHWs as members of a collective by highlighting a sense of shared experience, focus on alignment between worker and programme goals, and emphasise the actions that lead to good performance. The Social Identity Approach was selected as the theory most likely to lead to the development of effective, scalable and sustainable interventions by addressing the identified gap in the literature of the influence of CHW working context. The formative research indicated that CHWs value feedback and feeling connected to the health system and their community, are motivated by status and community standing, and want to be provided with the necessary tools to perform. Two interventions based on these results were developed: a participatory, local community approach and an information communication technology (ICT) approach.

Conclusions: Drawing on contextual data and theory that is sensitive to context can potentially lead to the development of appropriate and effective interventions when aiming to improve the motivation, retention and performance of CHWs in Uganda and Mozambique and other comparable settings. Evaluation of the developed interventions is crucial to assess this potential.

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Best wishes, Neil

Let’s build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare knowledge – Join HIFA: www.hifa2015.org  

Misinformation by the tobacco industry has contributed to millions of deaths, and the industry remains strong and defiant. (A recent UK law to enforce plain packaging has been described as ‘bold’ by commentators, because of the anticipated legal challenges from the industry.) This study shows just how far the industry will go to maintain its grip.

“The industry has sought to distort and misinterpret the cultural beliefs of these communities and to reinterpret them to serve the industry’s interests,” said Kelley Lee of Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University, one of the authors of the study. “All to sell a product that kills half of its customers.”

http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h2281

ABSTRACT

‘Islamic countries are of key importance to transnational tobacco companies as growing markets with increasing smoking rates. We analyzed internal tobacco industry documents to assess the industry’s response to rising concerns about tobacco use within Islamic countries.

‘The tobacco industry perceived Islam as a significant threat to its expansion into these emerging markets. To counter these concerns, the industry framed antismoking views in Islamic countries as fundamentalist and fanatical and attempted to recruit Islamic consultants to portray smoking as acceptable. Tobacco industry lawyers also helped develop theological arguments in favor of smoking.

‘These findings are valuable to researchers and policymakers seeking to implement culturally appropriate measures in Islamic countries under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print April 16, 2015: e1–e7. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302494)’

Full text (restricted access): http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302494

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Best wishes, Neil

Let’s build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare knowledge – Join HIFA: www.hifa2015.org  

Please find below the abstract of a paper from 2013 that closely supports previous arguments on HIFA that there should be a high-quality, independent international formulary, similar to the British National Formulary and freely available to all prescribers and users of medicines, on the internet, on mobile phones and as a free PDF download. Universal basic information on commonly prescribed medicines, identified by their generic name, would save many lives and reduce suffering.

We have discussed this with both the British National Formulary and the World Health Organization. We pointed out: “If money is an issue, we think we can help you get financial support for this, because we are convinced that a major funder such as the Gates Foundation can be persuaded of the need for such a formulary”. But so far we are not getting through. In the meantime, the HIFA Working Group on Information for Prescribers and Users of Medicines is planning a literature review and survey to assess the availability and use of information for prescribers in low-income countries – the results will assist us with future advocacy efforts.

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CITATION: Int J Clin Pharm. 2013 Jun;35(3):386-92. doi: 10.1007/s11096-012-9744-x. Epub 2013 Mar 28.

Worldwide analysis of factors associated with medicines compendia publishing.

Arguello B, Fernandez-Llimos F.  [Full text is restricted access]

ABSTRACT

Background: Medicines compendia, also called formularies, are the most commonly used drug information source among health care professionals.

Objective: The aim was to identify the countries publishing medicines compendia and the socio-demographic factors associated to this fact. Additionally, we sought to determine the use of foreign compendia in countries lacking their own.

Setting: Global web-based survey.

Method: Healthcare practitioners and researchers from 193 countries worldwide were invited to complete a web-based survey. The questionnaire investigated the existence of a national compendium, or the use of foreign compendia in the absence of one. Demographic and socioeconomic variables were used to predict compendia publishing through a multivariate analysis.

Main outcome measure: Existence of national medicines compendia and foreign compendia used.

Results: Professionals from 132 countries completed the survey (response rate at a country level 68.4%, comprising 90.9% global population). Eighty-four countries (63.6%) reported publishing a medicines compendium. In the multivariate analysis, only two covariates had significant association with compendia publishing. Being a member of the Organisation for the Economic Cooperation and Development was the only variable positively associated with compendia publishing (OR = 37.5; 95% CI = 2.3:599.8). In contrast, the countries that listed French as an official language were less likely to publish a compendium (OR = 0.07; 95% CI = 0.007:0.585). Countries without national compendia reported using the British National Formulary most commonly, followed by the Dictionnaire Vidal.

Conclusion: Publication of medicines compendia is associated with socio-economic development. Countries lacking a national compendium, use foreign compendia from higher-income countries. Creating an international medicines compendium under the leadership of the World Health Organisation, rather than merely a ‘model’, would reduce the risks of using information sources not-adapted to the necessities of developing countries.

THREE KEY MESSAGES

1. Medicines compendia are the most commonly used drug information source for health care professionals

2. There is a need for adapting medicines compendia to meet country development levels and national health care system requirements

3. The WHO Model Formulary is not sufficient for developing countries.

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For more information on the HIFA Working Group on Information for Prescribers and Users of Medicines see:

http://www.hifa2015.org/prescribers-and-users-of-medicines/

Best wishes, Neil

Let’s build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare knowledge – Join HIFA: www.hifa2015.org  

So glad you raised the issue of Health Literacy at community level. Reading your message shows the poor knowledge of the people about health. Although our culture ‘Yoruba’ has rich heritage on health and health issues e.g. Ilera loro meaning health is wealth, however there is a breakdown of good community norms infiltrations of bad alternatives. So I believe it is a joint effort of all stakeholders; MoE, MoH, MoI, PHC Board, H/F, INGO, CSO, local NGOs, FBOs, community leaders and the community.

Our organization is privileged currently to implement a one-year project; Strengthening the Ward Health Committe (WHC) to raise voice of accountability at the PHC and LG level below is the background to the project;

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1039908406038390&id=176835959012310

I will encourage all stakeholders empower the community in raising standards of health, to achieve health for all.

Regards, Remi Akinmade

Founder/CEO, CHIEF, Lagos

www.chiefngo.org