Quality of nutritional status assessment and its relationship with the effect of rainfall on childhood stunting: a cross-sectional study in rural Burkina Faso.

OBJECTIVES: In Burkina Faso, one in every four children under 5 years is stunted. Climate change will exacerbate childhood stunting. Strengthening the health system, particularly the quality of nutrition care at primary health facilities, can minimise the adverse climate effect on stunting. Thus, we examined the quality of nutritional status assessment (QoNA) during curative childcare services in primary health facilities in rural Burkina Faso and its relationship with rainfall-induced childhood stunting. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using anthropometric, rainfall, and clinical observation data. METHODS: Our dependent variable was the height-for-age z-score (HAZ) of children under 2 years. Our focal climatic measure was mean rainfall deviation (MRD), calculated as the mean of the difference between 30-year monthly household-level rainfall means and the corresponding months for each child from conception to data collection. QoNA was based on the weight, height, general paleness and oedema assessment. We used a mixed-effect multilevel model and analysed heterogeneity by sex and socio-economic status. RESULTS: Among 5027 young (3-23 months) children (mean age 12 ± 6 months), 21% were stunted (HAZ ≤ -2). The mean MRD was 11 ± 4 mm, and the mean QoNA was 2.86 ± 0.99. The proportion of children in low, medium, and high QoNA areas was 10%, 54%, and 36%, respectively. HAZ showed a negative correlation with MRD. Higher QoNA lowered the negative effect of MRD on HAZ (ß = 0.017, P = 0.003, confidence interval = [0.006, 0.029]). Males and children from poor households benefited less from the moderating effect of QoNA. CONCLUSION: Improving the quality of nutrition assessments can supplement existing efforts to reduce the adverse effects of climate change on children's nutritional well-being.

Patterns of healthcare seeking among people reporting chronic conditions in rural sub-Saharan Africa: findings from a population-based study in Burkina Faso.

OBJECTIVE: Non-communicable diseases are rapidly becoming one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, little is known about patterns of healthcare seeking among people with chronic conditions in these settings. We aimed to explore determinants of healthcare seeking among people who reported at least one chronic condition in rural Burkina Faso. METHODS: Data were drawn from a cross-sectional population-based survey conducted across 24 districts on 52 562 individuals from March to June 2017. We used multinomial logistic regression to assess factors associated with seeking care at a formal provider (facility-based care) or at an informal provider (home and traditional treatment) compared to no care. RESULTS: 1124 individuals (2% of all respondents) reported at least one chronic condition. Among those, 22.8% reported formal care use, 10.6% informal care use, and 66.6% no care. The presence of other household members reporting a chronic condition (RRR = 0.57, 95%-CI [0.39, 0.82]) was negatively associated with seeking formal care. Wealthier households (RRR = 2.14, 95%-CI [1.26, 3.64]), perceived illness severity (RRR = 3.23, 95%-CI [2.22, 4.70]) and suffering from major chronic conditions (RRR = 1.54, 95%-CI [1.13, 2.11]) were positively associated with seeking formal care. CONCLUSION: Only a minority of individuals with chronic conditions sought formal care, with important differences due to socio-economic status. Policies and interventions aimed at increasing the availability and affordability of services for early detection and management in peripheral settings should be prioritised.

OBJECTIF: Les maladies non transmissibles deviennent rapidement l'une des principales causes de morbidité et de mortalité en Afrique subsaharienne. Pourtant, on en sait peu sur les profils de recherche de soins de santé chez les personnes atteintes de maladies chroniques dans ces milieux. Nous visions à explorer les déterminants de la recherche de soins de santé chez les personnes qui ont déclaré au moins une maladie chronique dans les régions rurales du Burkina Faso. MÉTHODES: Les données ont été tirées d'une enquête transversale de population menée dans 24 districts auprès de 52.562 personnes de mars à juin 2017. Nous avons utilisé une régression logistique multinomiale pour évaluer les facteurs associés à la recherche de soins chez un prestataire formels (soins en établissement) ou chez un prestataire informel (traitement à domicile et traditionnel) par rapport à l'absence de soins. RÉSULTATS: 1.124 personnes (2% de tous les répondants) ont déclaré au moins une maladie chronique. Parmi ceux-ci, 22,8% ont déclaré avoir recours à des soins formels, 10,6% à des soins informels et 66,6% à aucun soin. La présence d'autres membres du ménage déclarant une maladie chronique (RRR = 0,57, IC95%: 0,39, 0,82) était associée négativement à la recherche de soins formels. Les ménages plus riches (RRR = 2,14; IC95%: 1,26-3,64), la sévérité perçue de la maladie (RRR = 3,23 ; IC95%: 2,22-4,70) et souffrir de maladies chroniques majeures (RRR = 1,54 ; IC95%: 1,13-2,11) étaient positivement associés à la recherche de soins formels. CONCLUSION: Seule une minorité de personnes atteintes de maladies chroniques ont recherché des soins formels, avec des différences importantes en raison du statut socioéconomique. Les politiques et interventions visant à accroître la disponibilité et l'accessibilité des services de détection précoce et de prise en charge dans les régions périphériques doivent être prioritaires.

Factors associated with misreporting in performance-based financing in Burkina Faso: Implications for risk-based verification.

Performance-based financing (PBF) has been piloted in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as a strategy to improve access to and quality of health services. As a key component of PBF, quantity verification is carried out to ensure that reported data matches the actual number of services provided. However, cost concerns have led to a call for risk-based verification. Existing evidence suggests misreporting is associated with factors such as complexity of indicators, high service volume, and accepted error margin. In contrast, evidence on the association of key facility characteristics with misreporting in PBF is scarce. We contributed to filling this gap in knowledge by combining administrative data from a large-scale pilot PBF program in Burkina Faso with data from a health facility assessment in the context of an impact evaluation of the intervention. Our results showed the coexistence of both overreporting and underreporting and that misreporting varied by service indicator and health district. We also found that the number of clinical staff at the facility, the population size in the facility catchment area, and the distance between the facility and the district administration were associated with the probability of misreporting. We recommend further research of these factors in the move towards risk-based verification. In addition, given that our analysis identified relevant associations, but could not explain them, we recommend further qualitative inquiry into verification processes.

Effects of education and age on the experience of youth violence in a very low-resource setting: a fixed-effects analysis in rural Burkina Faso.

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to investigate the effects of education and age on the experience of youth violence in low-income and middle-income country settings. DESIGN: Using a standardised questionnaire, our study collected two waves of longitudinal data on sociodemographics, health practices, health outcomes and risk factors. The panel fixed-effects ordinary least squares regression models were used for the analysis. SETTINGS: The study was conducted in 59 villages and the town of Nouna with a population of about 100 000 individuals, 1 hospital and 13 primary health centres in Burkina Faso. PARTICIPANTS: We interviewed 1644 adolescents in 2017 and 1291 respondents in 2018 who participated in both rounds. OUTCOME AND EXPOSURE MEASURES: We examined the experience of physical attacks in the past 12 months and bullying in the past 30 days. Our exposures were completed years of age and educational attainment. RESULTS: A substantial minority of respondents experienced violence in both waves (24.1% bullying and 12.2% physical attack), with males experiencing more violence. Bullying was positively associated with more education (ß=0.12; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.22) and non-significantly with older age. Both effects were stronger in males than females, although the gender differences were not significant. Physical attacks fell with increasing age (ß=-0.18; 95% CI -0.31 to -0.05) and this association was again stronger in males than females; education and physical attacks were not substantively associated. CONCLUSIONS: Bullying and physical attacks are common for rural adolescent Burkinabe. The age patterns found suggest that, particularly for males, there is a need to target violence prevention at younger ages and bullying prevention at slightly older ones, particularly for those remaining in school. Nevertheless, a fuller understanding of the mechanisms behind our findings is needed to design effective interventions to protect youth in low-income settings from violence.

What Factors Explain Low Adoption of Digital Technologies for Health Financing in an Insurance Setting? Novel Evidence From a Quantitative Panel Study on IMIS in Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Digital information management systems for health financing are implemented on the assumption thatdigitalization, among other things, enables strategic purchasing. However, little is known about the extent to which thesesystems are adopted as planned to achieve desired results. This study assesses the levels of, and the factors associated withthe adoption of the Insurance Management Information System (IMIS) by healthcare providers in Tanzania. METHODS: Combining multiple data sources, we estimated IMIS adoption levels for 365 first-line health facilities in2017 by comparing IMIS claim data (verified claims) with the number of expected claims. We defined adoption as abinary outcome capturing underreporting (verified

Health-Seeking Behavior and Quality of Life of People Living With HIV: Novel Evidence From Ghana.

The health and economic burdens of HIV/AIDS in low-and-middle-income countries are enormous despite global and local efforts to prevent and mitigate its effect. This study seeks to assess cadres' (or people living with HIV [PLHIV]) health-seeking behavior and its effects on their quality of life (QoL). We collected cross-sectional data from 218 HIV community cadres and 255 noncadres in 11 out of the 16 political regions in Ghana based on a modified WHOQOL-HIV-Brief and EQ-5D questionnaires. We used descriptive statistics to describe the sample and calculate the QoL scores. We also used regression analysis (ordered logit and ordinary least squares) to analyze the factors associated with the QoL of our respondents. We found that women (77%) are still disproportionally affected by HIV. Similarly, the youth, less educated and informal sector employees continue to be affected most by HIV. Factors related to QoL of PLHIV include being a community cadre, health-seeking behavior, comorbidities, and employment type. We recommend that alternative health providers be educated on the basic science of HIV/AIDS to help them offer appropriate support to PLHIV who visit them for care. Additionally, PLHIV should be supported to engage in less energy demanding employment options.

The effects of Ghana's capitation policy on hospital Under-5 mortality in the Ashanti Region.

Objective: The study estimated the capitation policy's effect on the under-5 mortality (U5MR) rate in hospitals in Ashanti Region. Design: We used an interrupted time series design to estimate the impact from secondary data obtained from the DHIMS-2 database. Monthly under-5 deaths and the number of live births per month were extracted and entered into Stata 15.0 for analyses. The U5MR was calculated by dividing the number of live deaths by the number of live births for each of the 60 months of the study. Setting: Health facilities of the Ashanti Region with Data in the DHIMS 2. Intervention: the level and trend of U5MR for 31 months during the Capitation Policy implementation (January 2015 to July 2017) were compared with the level and trend 29 months after the withdrawal of the capitation policy (August 2017 to December 2019). Outcome measures: changes in trend or level of U5MR after the withdrawal of capitation. Main Results: During the capitation policy, monthly U5MR averaged 10.71 +/-2.71 per 1000 live births. It declined to 0.03 deaths per 1000 live births (p=0.65). After the policy withdrawal, the immediate (increase of 0.01 per 1000live births) and the trend (decline of 0.13 deaths per 1000 live births per month) were still not statistically significant. Conclusion: We conclude that the capitation policy did not appear to have influenced under-5 mortality in the Ashanti Region. The design of future healthcare payment models should target quality improvement to reduce under-5 mortalities. Funding: None declared.

The effect of the capitation policy withdrawal on maternal health service provision in Ashanti Region, Ghana: an interrupted time series analysis.

BACKGROUND: Payment methods are known to influence maternal care delivery in health systems. Ghana suspended a piloted capitation provider payment system after nearly five years of implementation. This study aimed to examine the effects of Ghana's capitation policy on maternal health care provision as part of lesson learning and bridging this critical literature gap. METHODS: We used secondary data in the District Health Information Management System-2 and an interrupted time series design to assess changes in level and trend in the provision of ANC4+ (visits of pregnant women making at least the fourth antenatal care attendance per month), HB36 (number of hemoglobin tests conducted for pregnant women who are at the 36th week of gestation) and vaginal delivery in capitated facilities-CHPS (Community-based Health Planning and Services) facilities and hospitals. RESULTS: The results show that the capitation policy withdrawal was associated with a statistically significant trend increase in the provision of ANC4+ in hospitals (coefficient 70.99 p < 0. 001) but no effect in CHPS facilities. Also, the policy withdrawal resulted in contrasting effects in hospitals and CHPS in the trend of provision of Hb36; a statistically significant decline was observed in CHPS (coefficient - 7.01, p < 0.05) while that of hospitals showed a statistically significant trend increase (coefficient 32.87, p < 0.001). Finally, the policy withdrawal did not affect trends of vaginal delivery rates in both CHPS and hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: The capitation policy in Ghana appeared to have had a differential effect on the provision of maternal services in both CHPS and hospitals; repressing maternal care provision in hospitals and promoting adherence to anemia testing at term for pregnant women in CHPS facilities. Policy makers and stakeholders should consider the possible detrimental effects on maternal care provision and quality in the design and implementation of per capita primary care systems as they can potentially impact the achievement of SDG 3.

Uptake challenges of intermittent preventive malaria therapy among pregnant women and their health care providers in the Upper West Region of Ghana: A mixed-methods study.

BACKGROUND: Malaria in pregnancy remains a major public health problem in endemic countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Existing interventions such as intermittent preventive therapy in pregnancy (IPTp) using sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) are effective against placental malaria. However, low uptake of this intervention is a challenge in SSA. This study assessed factors affecting IPTp-SP uptake among pregnant women as well as their health care providers, including health system-related factors. METHODS: From November 2018 until May 2019 a mixed-methods study was conducted in one urban and one rural district of the Upper West Region of Ghana. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to recruit 740 3rd trimester pregnant women and 74 health service providers from 37 antenatal care (ANC) facilities. Quantitative data was collected through a standard questionnaire from pregnant women and ANC service providers. Three focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted in each district with pregnant women who had defaulted on their IPTp doses to collect information about the challenges in accessing IPTp-SP. The primary outcome was the uptake of IPTp-SP during antenatal care visits. In addition, the health care provider and health system-related factors on the administration of SP were assessed, as well as details of folic acid (FA) supplementation. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Poisson regression. RESULTS: Responses from 697 pregnant women were analysed. Of these, 184 (26.4%) had taken the third dose of SP (SP3) in line with international guidelines. IPTp-SP uptake was low and significantly associated with the number of maternal ANC contacts and their gestational age at 1st ANC contact. Most pregnant women were regularly co-administered SP together with 5 mg of FA, in contrast to the international recommendations of 0.4 mg FA. The main challenges to IPTp-SP uptake were missed ANC contacts, knowledge deficiencies among pregnant women of the importance of IPTp, and frequent drug stock outs, which was confirmed both from the ANC providers as well as from the pregnant women. Further challenges reported were provider negligence/absenteeism, adverse drug reactions, and mobile residency of pregnant women. CONCLUSIONS: The uptake of IPTp-SP in the study area is still very low, which is partly explained by frequent drug stock outs at health facilities, staff absenteeism, knowledge deficiencies among pregnant women, and missed ANC contacts. The high dosing of co-administered FA is against international recommendations. These observations need to be addressed by the national public health authorities.

Do Targeted User Fee Exemptions Reach the Ultra-Poor and Increase their Healthcare Utilisation? A Panel Study from Burkina Faso.

Background: A component of the performance-based financing intervention implemented in Burkina Faso was to provide free access to healthcare via the distribution of user fee exemption cards to previously identified ultra-poor. This study examines the factors that led to the receipt of user fee exemption cards, and the effect of card possession on the utilisation of healthcare services. Methods: A panel data set of 1652 randomly selected ultra-poor individuals was used. Logistic regression was applied on the end line data to identify factors associated with the receipt of user fee exemption cards. Random-effects modelling was applied to the panel data to determine the effect of the card possession on healthcare service utilisation among those who reported an illness six months before the surveys. Results: Out of the ultra-poor surveyed in 2017, 75.51% received exemption cards. Basic literacy (p = 0.03), living within 5 km from a healthcare centre (p = 0.02) and being resident in Diébougou or Gourcy (p = 0.00) were positively associated with card possession. Card possession did not increase health service utilisation (ß = -0.07; 95% CI = -0.45; 0.32; p = 0.73). Conclusion: A better intervention design and implementation is required. Complementing demand-side strategies could guide the ultra-poor in overcoming all barriers to healthcare access.

Factors related to excessive out-of-pocket expenditures among the ultra-poor after discontinuity of PBF: a cross-sectional study in Burkina Faso.

BACKGROUND: Measuring progress towards financial risk protection for the poorest is essential within the framework of Universal Health Coverage. The study assessed the level of out-of-pocket expenditure and factors associated with excessive out-of-pocket expenditure among the ultra-poor who had been targeted and exempted within the context of the performance-based financing intervention in Burkina Faso. Ultra-poor were selected based on a community-based approach and provided with an exemption card allowing them to access healthcare services free of charge. METHODS: We performed a descriptive analysis of the level of out-of-pocket expenditure on formal healthcare services using data from a cross-sectional study conducted in Diébougou district. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to investigate the factors related to excessive out-of-pocket expenditure among the ultra-poor. The analysis was restricted to individuals who reported formal health service utilisation for an illness-episode within the last six months. Excessive spending was defined as having expenditure greater than or equal to two times the median out-of-pocket expenditure. RESULTS: Exemption card ownership was reported by 83.64% of the respondents. With an average of FCFA 23051.62 (USD 39.18), the ultra-poor had to supplement a significant amount of out-of-pocket expenditure to receive formal healthcare services at public health facilities which were supposed to be free. The probability of incurring excessive out-of-pocket expenditure was negatively associated with being female (ß = - 2.072, p = 0.00, ME = - 0.324; p = 0.000) and having an exemption card (ß = - 1.787, p = 0.025; ME = - 0.279, p = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: User fee exemptions are associated with reduced out-of-pocket expenditure for the ultra-poor. Our results demonstrate the importance of free care and better implementation of existing exemption policies. The ultra-poor's elevated risk due to multi-morbidities and severity of illness need to be considered when allocating resources to better address existing inequalities and improve financial risk protection.

What happens when performance-based financing meets free healthcare? Evidence from an interrupted time-series analysis.

In spite of the wide attention performance-based financing (PBF) has received over the past decade, no evidence is available on its impacts on quantity and mix of service provision nor on its interaction with parallel health financing interventions. Our study aimed to examine the PBF impact on quantity and mix of service provision in Burkina Faso, while accounting for the parallel introduction of a free healthcare policy. We used Health Management Information System data from 838 primary-level health facilities across 24 districts and relied on an interrupted time-series analysis with independent controls. We placed two interruptions, one to account for PBF and one to account for the free healthcare policy. In the period before the free healthcare policy, PBF produced significant but modest increases across a wide range of maternal and child services, but a significant decrease in child immunization coverage. In the period after the introduction of the free healthcare policy, PBF did not affect service provision in intervention compared with control facilities, possibly indicating a saturation effect. Our findings indicate that PBF can produce modest increases in service provision, without altering the overall service mix. Our findings, however, also indicate that the introduction of other health financing reforms can quickly crowd out the effects produced by PBF. Further qualitative research is required to understand what factors allow healthcare providers to increase the provision of some, but not all services and how they react to the joint implementation of PBF and free health care.

Looking at the bigger picture: effect of performance-based contracting of district health services on equity of access to maternal health services in Zambia.

Zambia has been using output-based approaches for over two decades to finance whole or part of the public health system. Between 1996 and 2006, performance-based contracting (PBC) was implemented countrywide with the Central Board of Health (CBoH) as the provider of health services. This study reviews the association between PBC and equity of access to maternal health services in Zambia between 1996 and 2006. A comprehensive document review was undertaken to evaluate the implementation process, followed by a trend analysis of health expenditure at district level, and a segmented regression analysis of data on antenatal care (ANC) and deliveries at health facilities that was obtained from five demographic and health survey datasets (1992, 1996, 2002, 2007 and 2014). The results show that PBC was anchored by high-level political support, an overarching policy and legal framework, and collective planning and implementation with all key stakeholders. Decentralization of health service provision was also an enabling factor. ANC coverage increased in both the lower and upper wealth quintiles during the PBC era, followed by a declining trend after the PBC era in both quintiles. Further, the percentage of women delivering at health facilities increased during the PBC era, particularly in rural areas and among the poor. The positive trend continued after the PBC era with similar patterns in both lower and upper wealth quintiles. Despite these gains, per capita health expenditure at district level declined during the PBC era, with the situation worsening after the PBC era. The study concludes that a nationwide PBC approach can contribute to improved equity of access to maternal health services and that PBC is a cost-efficient and sustainable policy reform. The study calls for policymakers to comprehensively evaluate the impact of health system reforms before terminating them.

Diphtheria outbreak in Yemen: the impact of conflict on a fragile health system.

BACKGROUND: War in Yemen started three years ago, and continues unabated with a steadily rising number of direct and indirect victims thus leaving the majority of Yemen's population in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The conflict adversely affects basic socioeconomic and health conditions across the country. METHODS: This study analyzed the recent ongoing diphtheria outbreak in Yemen and in particular, the health system's failure to ensure immunization coverage and respond to this outbreak. Data from the weekly bulletins of the national electronic Disease Early Warning System's (eDEWS) daily diphtheria reports and district immunization coverage were analyzed. The number of diphtheria cases and deaths, and immunization coverage (DPT) were reviewed by district including the degree to which a district was affected by conflict using a simple scoring system. A logistic regression and bivariate correlation were applied using the annual immunization coverage per district to determine if there was an association between diphtheria, immunization coverage and conflict. RESULTS: The study results confirm the association between the increasing cases of diphtheria, immunization coverage and ongoing conflict. A total of 1294 probable cases of diphtheria were reported from 177 districts with an overall case fatality rate of 5.6%. Approximately 65% of the patients were children under 15 years, and 46% of the cases had never been vaccinated against diphtheria. The risk of an outbreak increased by 11-fold if the district was experiencing ongoing conflict p < 0.05. In the presence of conflict (whether past or ongoing), the risk of an outbreak decreased by 0.98 if immunization coverage was high p > 0.05. CONCLUSION: The conflict is continuously devastating the health system in Yemen with serious consequences on morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the humanitarian response should focus on strengthening health services including routine immunization procedures to avoid further outbreaks of life-threatening infectious diseases, such as diphtheria.

The effects of Ghana's capitation policy on hospital Under-5 mortality in the Ashanti Region

Objective: The study estimated the capitation policy's effect on the under-5 mortality (U5MR) rate in hospitals in Ashanti Region. Design: We used an interrupted time series design to estimate the impact from secondary data obtained from the DHIMS-2 database. Monthly under-5 deaths and the number of live births per month were extracted and entered into Stata 15.0 for analyses. The U5MR was calculated by dividing the number of live deaths by the number of live births for each of the 60 months of the study. Setting: Health facilities of the Ashanti Region with Data in the DHIMS 2. Intervention: the level and trend of U5MR for 31 months during the Capitation Policy implementation (January 2015 to July 2017) were compared with the level and trend 29 months after the withdrawal of the capitation policy (August 2017 to December 2019). Outcome measures: changes in trend or level of U5MR after the withdrawal of capitation. Main Results: During the capitation policy, monthly U5MR averaged 10.71 +/-2.71 per 1000 live births. It declined to 0.03 deaths per 1000 live births (p=0.65). After the policy withdrawal, the immediate (increase of 0.01 per 1000live births) and the trend (decline of 0.13 deaths per 1000 live births per month) were still not statistically significant. Conclusion: We conclude that the capitation policy did not appear to have influenced under-5 mortality in the Ashanti Region. The design of future healthcare payment models should target quality improvement to reduce under-5 mortalities