Verbal autopsy to assess causes of mortality among the economically productive age group in the tribal region of Melghat, central India.

Background & Objectives: Verbal autopsy (VA) is the systematic and retrospective inquiry (from relatives) about the symptoms of an illness prior to death. In tribal India, 67-75 per cent of deaths occur at home with an unknown cause of death (CoD). Hence, the aim of this study was to determine the CoD in the 16-60 yr age group utilizing VA. Methods: A prospective, community based longitudinal study was conducted in 32 tribal villages in the Melghat region of Maharashtra, between 2004 and 2020. Number of deaths and VAs in 16-60 yr age group were collected by village health workers (VHWs) and supervisors, verified by five different persons (internal-external) and cross-checked by three VA interpretation trained physicians. A modified version of WHO VA was used. Cause-specific mortality fractions were calculated. Results: Of the 1011 deaths recorded, mortality in males was significantly higher than females (P<0.001). A total of 763 VAs were conducted which revealed that tuberculosis was the leading CoD, followed by jaundice, heart diseases, diarrhoea, central nervous system infections and suicide. Suicides were significantly more common among males than in females (P=0.046). Significantly, more deaths occurred during the monsoon (P=0.002), especially diarrhoeal deaths (P=0.024). Interpretation & conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that, in Indian tribal areas, infectious diseases are the leading causes of morbidity and one of the major causes of deaths in economically productive age group. Intensified VHW-mediated interventions are required to reduce the premature deaths.

Effect of home-based childcare on childhood mortality in rural Maharashtra, India: a cluster randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Melghat, an impoverished rural area in Maharashtra state, India; has scarce hospital services and low health-seeking behaviour. At baseline (2004) the under-five mortality rate (U5MR) (number of deaths in children aged 0-5 years/1000 live births) was 147.21 and infant mortality rate (IMR) (number of deaths of infants aged under 1 year/1000 live births) was 106.6 per 1000 live births. We aimed at reducing mortality rates through home-based child care (HBCC) using village health workers (VHWs). METHODS: A cluster-randomised control trial was conducted in 34 randomly assigned clusters/villages of Melghat, Maharashtra state, between 2004 and 2009. Participants included all under-five children and their parents. Interventions delivered through VHWs were patient-public involvement, newborn care, disease management and behaviour change communications. Primary outcome indicators were U5MR and IMR. Secondary outcome indicators were neonatal mortality rate (NMR) (number of neonatal deaths aged 0-28 days/1000 live births) and perinatal mortality rate (PMR) (number of stillbirths and early neonatal deaths/1000 total births). Analysis was by intention-to-treat at the individual level. This trial was extended to a service phase (2010-2015) in both arms and a government replication phase (2016-2019) only for the intervention clusters/areas (IA). FINDINGS: There were 18 control areas/clusters (CA) allocated and analysed with 4426 individuals, and 16 of 18 allocated IA, analysed with 3230 individuals. The IMR and U5MR in IA were reduced from 106.60 and 147.21 to 32.75 and 50.38 (reduction by 69.28% and 65.78%, respectively) compared with increases in CA from 67.67 and 105.3 to 86.83 and 122.8, respectively, from baseline to end of intervention. NMR and PMR in IA showed reductions from 50.76 to 22.67 (by 55.34%) and from 75.06 to 24.94 (by 66.77%) respectively. These gains extended to villages in the service and replication phases. INTERPRETATION: This socio-culturally contextualised model for HBCC through VHWs backed up with institutional support is effective for significant reduction of U5MR, IMR and NMR in impoverished rural areas. This reduction was maintained in the study area during the service phase, indicating feasibility of implementation in large-scale public health programmes. Replicability of the model was demonstrated by a linear decline in all the mortality rates in 20 new villages during the government phase. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02473796.