Individual interactions in a multi-country implementation-focused quality of care network for maternal, newborn and child health: A social network analysis.

The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (QCN) was established to build a cross-country platform for joint-learning around quality improvement implementation approaches to reduce mortality. This paper describes and explores the structure of the QCN in four countries and at global level. Using Social Network Analysis (SNA), this cross-sectional study maps the QCN networks at global level and in four countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda) and assesses the interactions among actors involved. A pre-tested closed-ended structured questionnaire was completed by 303 key actors in early 2022 following purposeful and snowballing sampling. Data were entered into an online survey tool, and exported into Microsoft Excel for data management and analysis. This study received ethical approval as part of a broader evaluation. The SNA identified 566 actors across the four countries and at global level. Bangladesh, Malawi and Uganda had multiple-hub networks signifying multiple clusters of actors reflecting facility or district networks, whereas the network in Ethiopia and at global level had more centralized networks. There were some common features across the country networks, such as low overall density of the network, engagement of actors at all levels of the system, membership of related committees identified as the primary role of actors, and interactions spanning all types (learning, action and information sharing). The most connected actors were facility level actors in all countries except Ethiopia, which had mostly national level actors. The results reveal the uniqueness and complexity of each network assessed in the evaluation. They also affirm the broader qualitative evaluation assessing the nature of these networks, including composition and leadership. Gaps in communication between members of the network and limited interactions of actors between countries and with global level actors signal opportunities to strengthen QCN.

Local Dynamics of Collaboration for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: A Social Network Analysis of Healthcare Providers and Their Managers in Gert Sibande District, South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Accountability for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) is a collaborative endeavour and documenting collaboration dynamics may be key to understanding variations in the performance of MNCH services. This study explored the dynamics of collaboration among frontline health professionals participating in two MNCH coordination structures in a rural South African district. It examined the role and position of actors, the nature of their relationships, and the overall structure of the collaborative network in two sub-districts. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey using a social network analysis (SNA) methodology of 42 district and sub district actors involved in MNCH coordination structures. Different domains of collaboration (eg, communication, professional support, innovation) were surveyed at key interfaces (district-sub-district, across service delivery levels, and within teams). RESULTS: The overall network structure reflected a predominantly hierarchical mode of clustering of organisational relationships around hospitals and their referring primary healthcare (PHC) facilities. Clusters were linked through (and dependent on) a combination of district MNCH programme and line managers, identified as central connectors or boundary spanners. Overall network density remained low suggesting potential for strengthening collaborative relationships. Within cluster collaborative patterns (inter-professional and across levels) varied, highlighting the significance of small units in district functioning. CONCLUSION: SNA provides a mechanism to uncover the nature of relationships and key actors in collaborative dynamics which could point to system strengths and weaknesses. It offers insights on the level of fragmentation within and across small units, and the need to strengthen cohesion and improve collaborative relationships, and ultimately, the delivery of health services.

Practice of death surveillance and response for maternal, newborn and child health: a framework and application to a South African health district.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the functioning of maternal, perinatal, neonatal and child death surveillance and response (DSR) mechanisms at a health district level. DESIGN: A framework of elements covering analysis of causes of death, and processes of review and response was developed and applied to the smallest unit of coordination (subdistrict) to evaluate DSR functioning. The evaluation design was a descriptive qualitative case study, based on observations of DSR practices and interviews. SETTING: Rural South African health district (subdistricts and district office). PARTICIPANTS: A purposive sample of 45 front-line health managers and providers involved with maternal, perinatal, neonatal and child DSR. The DSR mechanisms reviewed included a system of real-time death reporting (24 hours) and review (48 hours), a nationally mandated confidential enquiry into maternal death and regular facility and subdistrict mortality audit and response processes. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Functioning of maternal, perinatal, neonatal and child DSR. RESULTS: While DSR mechanisms were integrated into the organisational routines of the district, their functioning varied across subdistricts and between forms of DSR. Some forms of DSR, notably those involving maternal deaths, with external reporting and accounting, were more likely to trigger reactive fault-finding and sanctioning than other forms, which were more proactive in supporting evidence-based actions to prevent future deaths. These actions occurred at provider and system level, and to a limited extent, in communities. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides an empirical example of the everyday practice of DSR mechanisms at a district level. It assesses such practice based on a framework of elements and enabling organisational processes that may be of value in similar settings elsewhere.

Perceptions and experiences of frontline health managers and providers on accountability in a South African health district.

OBJECTIVE: Public primary health care and district health systems play important roles in expanding healthcare access and promoting equity. This study explored and described accountability for this mandate as perceived and experienced by frontline health managers and providers involved in delivering maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services in a rural South African health district. METHODS: This was a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 58 frontline public sector health managers and providers in the district office and two sub-districts, examining the meanings of accountability and related lived experiences. A thematic analysis approach grounded in descriptive phenomenology was used to identify the main themes and organise the findings. RESULTS: Accountability was described by respondents as both an organisational mechanism of answerability and responsibility and an intrinsic professional virtue. Accountability relationships were understood to be multidirectional - upwards and downwards in hierarchies, outwards to patients and communities, and inwards to the 'self'. The practice of accountability was seen as constrained by organisational environments where impunity and unfair punishment existed alongside each other, where political connections limited the ability to sanction and by climates of fear and blame. Accountability was seen as enabled by open management styles, teamwork, good relationships between primary health care, hospital services and communities, investment in knowledge and skills development and responsive support systems. The interplay of these constraints and enablers varied across the facilities and sub-districts studied. CONCLUSIONS: Providers and managers have well-established ideas about, and a language of, accountability. The lived reality of accountability by frontline managers and providers varies and is shaped by micro-configurations of enablers and constraints in local accountability ecosystems. A 'just culture', teamwork and collaboration between primary health care and hospitals and community participation were seen as promoting accountability, enabling collective responsibility, a culture of learning rather than blame, and ultimately, access to and quality of care.

The crowded space of local accountability for maternal, newborn and child health: a case study of the South African health system.

Global and national accountability for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) is increasingly invoked as central to addressing preventable mortality and morbidity. Strategies of accountability for MNCH include policy and budget tracking, maternal and perinatal death surveillance, performance targets and various forms of social accountability. However, little is known about how the growing number of accountability strategies for MNCH is received by frontline actors, and how they are integrated into the overall functioning of local health systems. We conducted a case study of mechanisms of local accountability for MNCH in South Africa, involving a document review of national policies, programme reports, and other literature directly or indirectly related to MNCH, and in-depth research in one district. The latter included observations of accountability practices (e.g. through routine meetings) and in-depth interviews with 37 purposely selected health managers and frontline health workers involved in MNCH. Data collection and analysis were guided by a framework that defined accountability as answerability and action (both individual and collective), addressing performance, financial and public accountability, and involving both formal and informal processes. Nineteen individual accountability mechanisms were identified, 10 directly and 9 indirectly related to MNCH, most of which addressed performance accountability. Frontline managers and providers at local level are targeted by a web of multiple, formal accountability mechanisms, which are sometimes synergistic but often duplicative, together giving rise to local contexts of 'accountability overloads'. These result in a tendency towards bureaucratic compliance, demotivation, reduced efficiency and effectiveness, and limited space for innovation. The functioning of formal accountability mechanisms is shaped by local cultures and relationships, creating an accountability ecosystem involving multiple actors and roles. There is a need to streamline formal accountability mechanisms and consider the kinds of actions that build positive cultures of local accountability.