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- Byass, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing the repeatability of verbal autopsy for determining cause of death : two case studies among women of reproductive age in Burkina Faso and Indonesia
- 2009
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Ingår i: Population Health Metrics. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 1478-7954. ; 7:1, s. 6-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Verbal autopsy (VA) is an established tool for assessing cause-specific mortality patterns in communities where deaths are not routinely medically certified, and is an important source of data on deaths among the poorer half of the world's population. However, the repeatability of the VA process has never been investigated, even though it is an important factor in its overall validity. This study analyses repeatability in terms of the overall VA process (from interview to cause-specific mortality fractions (CSMF)), as well as specifically for interview material and individual causes of death, using data from Burkina Faso and Indonesia.METHODS: Two series of repeated VA interviews relating to women of reproductive age in Burkina Faso (n = 91) and Indonesia (n = 116) were analysed for repeatability in terms of interview material, individual causes of death and CSMFs. All the VA data were interpreted using the InterVA-M model, which provides 100% intrinsic repeatability for interpretation, and thus eliminated the need to consider variations or repeatability in physician coding.RESULTS: The repeatability of the overall VA process from interview to CSMFs was good in both countries. Repeatability was moderate in the interview material, and lower in terms of individual causes of death. Burkinabé data were less repeatable than Indonesian, and repeatability also declined with longer recall periods between the death and interview, particularly after two years.CONCLUSION: While these analyses do not address the validity of the VA process in absolute terms, repeatability is a prerequisite for intrinsic validity. This study thus adds new understanding to the quest for reliable cause of death assessment in communities lacking routine medical certification of deaths, and confirms the status of VA as an important and reliable tool at the community level, but perhaps less so at the individual level.
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| 3. |
- D'Ambruoso, Lucia, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing quality of care provided by Indonesian village midwives with a confidential enquiry
- 2009
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Ingår i: Midwifery. - : Elsevier BV. - 0266-6138 .- 1532-3099. ; 25:5, s. 528-539
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: to conduct a confidential enquiry to assess the quality of care provided by Indonesian village midwives and to identify opportunities for improvement. METHODS: local health-care practitioners assessed village-based care in obstetric emergencies in 13 cases of maternal death and near-miss from rural villages in West Java. The study focused on clinical quality of care, but also investigated the influence of the health system and social factors. The reviews were based on transcripts of interviews with health-care providers, family and community members involved in the cases. Both favourable and adverse factors were identified in order to recognise positive contributions, where they occurred. At the end of a series of case reviews, recommendations for practice were generated and disseminated. FINDINGS: in the cases reviewed, midwives facilitated referral effectively, reducing delays in reaching health facilities. Midwives' emergency diagnostic skills were accurate but they were less capable in the clinical management of complications. Coverage was poor; in some locations, midwives were responsible for up to five villages. Village midwives were also perceived as unacceptable to women and their families. Families and communities did not prepare for emergencies with finances or transport, partly due to a poorly understood health insurance system. The enquiry had learning effects for those involved. KEY CONCLUSIONS: village midwives should: receive appropriate support for the management of obstetric emergencies; engage with communities to promote birth preparedness; and work in partnership with formal and informal providers in the community. The enquiry was a diagnostic tool to identify opportunities for improving care. Practitioners had a unique insight into factors that contribute to quality care and how feasible interventions might be made.
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| 4. |
- D'Ambruoso, Lucia, et al.
(författare)
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Can the right to health inform public health planning in developing countries? : A case study for maternal healthcare from Indonesia
- 2008
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Ingår i: Global Health Action. - : CoAction Publishing. - 1654-9716 .- 1654-9880. ; 1, s. 10-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Maternal mortality remains unacceptably high in developing countries despite international advocacy, development targets, and simple, affordable and effective interventions. Human rights are powerful advocacy tools, which have become prominent in health and development. In recent years, regard for maternal mortality as a human rights issue as well as one that pertains to health, has emerged.Objective: We study a case of maternal death using a theoretical framework derived from the right to health to examine access to and quality of maternal healthcare. Our objective was to explore the potential of rights-based frameworks to inform public health planning from a human rights perspective.Design: Information was elicited as part of a verbal autopsy survey investigating maternal deaths in rural settings in Indonesia. The deceased's relatives were interviewed to collect information on medical signs, symptoms and the social, cultural and health systems circumstances surrounding the death.Results: In this case, a prolonged, severe fever and a complicated series of referrals culminated in the death of a 19-year-old primagravida at 7 months gestation. The cause of death was acute infection. The woman encountered a range of barriers to access; behavioural, socio-cultural, geographic and economic. Several serious health system failures were also apparent.. The theoretical framework derived from the right to health identified that none of the essential elements of the right were upheld.Conclusion: The rights-based approach could identify how and where to improve services. However, there are fundamental and inherent conflicts between the public health tradition (collective and preventative) and the right to health (individualistic and curative). As a result, and in practice, the right to health is likely to be ineffective for public health planning from a human rights perspective. Collective rights such as the right to development may provide a more suitable means to achieve equity and social justice in health planning.
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| 6. |
- D'Ambruoso, Lucia, et al.
(författare)
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Please understand when I cry out in pain : women's accounts of maternity services during labour and delivery in Ghana
- 2005
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Ingår i: BMC Public Health. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2458. ; 5:140, s. 1-11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: This study was undertaken to investigate women's accounts of interactions with health care providers during labour and delivery and to assess the implications for acceptability and utilisation of maternity services in Ghana. METHODS: Twenty-one individual in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions were conducted with women of reproductive age who had delivered in the past five years in the Greater Accra Region. The study investigated women's perceptions and experiences of care in terms of factors that influenced place of delivery, satisfaction with services, expectations of care and whether they would recommend services. RESULTS: One component of care which appeared to be of great importance to women was staff attitudes. This factor had considerable influence on acceptability and utilisation of services. Otherwise, a successful labour outcome and non-medical factors such as cost, perceived quality of care and proximity of services were important. Our findings indicate that women expect humane, professional and courteous treatment from health professionals and a reasonable standard of physical environment. Women will consciously change their place of delivery and recommendations to others if they experience degrading and unacceptable behaviour. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that inter-personal aspects of care are key to women's expectations, which in turn govern satisfaction. Service improvements which address this aspect of care are likely to have an impact on health seeking behaviour and utilisation. Our findings suggest that user-views are important and warrant further investigation. The views of providers should also be investigated to identify channels by which service improvements, taking into account women's views, could be operationalised. We also recommend that interventions to improve delivery care should not only be directed to the health professional, but also to general health system improvements.
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| 7. |
- Hussein, Julia, et al.
(författare)
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Confidential inquiries into maternal deaths : modifications and adaptations in Ghana and Indonesia
- 2009
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Ingår i: International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. - : Wiley. - 0020-7292 .- 1879-3479. ; 106:1, s. 80-84
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: Factors contributing to the limited use of confidential inquiries into maternal deaths include the negative focus and demotivating effect of such inquiries, perceptions of unavailability of sufficient documentation of events, and lack of time and resources. To ascertain whether these problems can be overcome, variations to confidential inquiries into maternal deaths were introduced in Ghana and Indonesia. METHODS: Clinical review panels were set up as part of the usual process of confidential inquiries, and modifications to the confidential inquiries were introduced. In Ghana, the traditional confidential inquiry process focusing on health facility care was modified to introduce the assessment of positive factors. In addition to the assessment of positive factors, adaptations in Indonesia consisted of including cases of obstetric complications, as well as deaths, and the use of interview testimonials as data sources. Information about resource and time needs for conducting confidential inquiries was collected. RESULTS: The introduction of positive aspects to the process provided a balanced and more motivating setting for the inquiry. The data obtained from case notes in district hospitals and interview testimonials provided sufficient information to assess why maternal deaths and severe complications occurred. The costs of conducting the inquiries ranged from US $4000 to US $11000 (per study), and the estimated time required for a panel member to review each case was more than 3 hours. CONCLUSION: This study introduced practical ways to encourage the implementation of maternal death reviews, inquiries, and audits that are context specific and, therefore, acceptable to local practitioners.
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| 9. |
- Madi, Banyana Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
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Setting priorities for safe motherhood programme evaluation : a participatory process in three developing countries.
- 2007
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Ingår i: Health Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-8510 .- 1872-6054. ; 83:1, s. 94-104
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A participatory approach to priority setting in programme evaluation may help improve the allocation and more efficient use of scarce resources especially in low-income countries. Research agendas that are the result of collaboration between researchers, programme managers, policy makers and other stakeholders have the potential to ensure rigorous studies are conducted on matters of local priority, based on local, expert knowledge. This paper describes a process involving key stakeholders to elicit and prioritise evaluation needs for safe motherhood in three developing countries. A series of reiterative consultations with safe motherhood stakeholders from each country was conducted over a period of 36 months. In each country, the consultation process consisted of a series of participatory workshops; firstly, stakeholder's views on evaluation were elicited with parallel descriptive work on the contexts. Secondly, priorities for evaluation were identified from stakeholders; thirdly, the evaluation-priorities were refined; and finally, the evaluation research questions, reflecting the identified priorities, were agreed and finalised. Three evaluation-questions were identified in each country, and one selected, on which a full scale evaluation was undertaken. While there is a great deal written about the importance of transparent and participatory priority setting in evaluation; few examples of how such processes could be implemented exist, particularly for maternal health programmes. Our experience demonstrates that the investment in a participatory priority-setting effort is high but the process undertaken resulted in both globally and contextually-relevant priorities for evaluation. This experience provides useful lessons for public health practitioners committed to bridging the research-policy interface.
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