Community surveillance and response to maternal and child deaths in low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems do not produce comprehensive data on maternal and child deaths in most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with most births and deaths which occur outside the formal health system going unreported. Community-based death reporting, investigation and review processes are being used in these settings to augment official registration of maternal and child deaths and to identify death-specific factors and associated barriers to maternal and childcare. This study aims to review how community-based maternal and child death reporting, investigation and review processes are carried out in LMICs.

METHODS

We conducted a scoping review of the literature published in English from January 2013 to November 2020, searching PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Joanna Briggs, The Cochrane Library, EBM reviews, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. We used descriptive analysis to outline the scope, design, and distribution of literature included in the study and to present the content extracted from each article. The scoping review is reported following the PRISMA reporting guideline for systematic reviews.

RESULTS

Of 3162 screened articles, 43 articles that described community-based maternal and child death review processes across ten countries in Africa and Asia were included. A variety of approaches were used to report and investigate deaths in the community, including identification of deaths by community health workers (CHWs) and other community informants, reproductive age mortality surveys, verbal autopsy, and social autopsy. Community notification of deaths by CHWs complements registration of maternal and child deaths missed by routinely collected sources of information, including the CRVS systems which mostly capture deaths occurring in health facilities. However, the accuracy and completeness of data reported by CHWs are sub-optimal.

CONCLUSIONS

Community-based death reporting complements formal registration of maternal and child deaths in LMICs. While research shows that community-based maternal and child death reporting was feasible, the accuracy and completeness of data reported by CHWs are sub-optimal but amenable to targeted support and supervision. Studies to further improve the process of engaging communities in the review, as well as collection and investigation of deaths in LMICs, could empower communities to respond more effectively and have a greater impact on reducing maternal and child mortality.

Engaging community health workers in maternal and infant death identification in Khayelitsha, South Africa: a pilot study

Background

Engaging community health workers in a formalised death review process through verbal and social autopsy has been utilised in different settings to estimate the burden and causes of mortality, where civil registration and vital statistics systems are weak. This method has not been widely adopted. We piloted the use of trained community health workers (CHW) to investigate the extent of unreported maternal and infant deaths in Khayelitsha and explored requirements of such a programme and the role of CHWs in bridging gaps.

Methods

This was a mixed methods study, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods. Case identification and data collection were done by ten trained CHWs. Quantitative data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interview guides for key informant interviews, focus group discussions and informal conversations. Qualitative data were analysed thematically using a content analysis approach.

Results

Although more than half of the infant deaths occurred in hospitals (n = 11/17), about a quarter that occurred at home (n = 4/17) were unreported. Main causes of deaths as perceived by family members of the deceased were related to uncertainty about the quality of care in the facilities, socio-cultural and economic contexts where people lived and individual factors. Most unreported deaths were further attributed to weak facility-community links and socio-cultural practices. Fragmented death reporting systems were perceived to influence the quality of the data and this impacted on the number of unreported deaths. Only two maternal deaths were identified in this pilot study.

Conclusions

CHWs can conduct verbal and social autopsy for maternal and infant deaths to complement formal vital registration systems. Capacity development, stakeholder’s engagement, supervision, and support are essential for a community-linked death review system. Policymakers and implementers should establish a functional relationship between community-linked reporting systems and the existing system as a starting point. There is a need for more studies to confirm or build on our pilot findings.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12884-020-03419-4.

Effect of a Mentor Mother Programme on retention of mother-baby pairs in HIV care: A secondary analysis of programme data in Uganda

Background

Community healthcare workers (CHWs) play an important role in promoting HIV-care retention. Notwithstanding inconsistencies in the outcomes of CHW programmes, these programmes are known to have a positive effect on retention of mother-baby pairs in HIV-care in sub-Saharan Africa.

Aim

The aim of this analysis was to assess the effect of mothers2mothers (m2m) Ugandan Mentor Mother (MM) programme on the retention of mother-baby pairs in HIV-care.

Methods

We conducted a secondary analysis of data obtained from the m2m Uganda MM programme in nine East Central districts. The primary data was generated through a quasi-experimental study of women attending prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) clinics in Uganda between January 2011 and March 2014; where those who were enrolled at PMTCT sites with the MM intervention (n = 1161) were compared with those who received standard PMCTCT services without the MM intervention (n = 1143). Frequencies and descriptive statistics were calculated for categorical and continuous measures respectively. Risk factors for retention in care were determined by clustered generalised estimating equations and reported as adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).

Results

Retention in the PMTCT cascade was significantly higher for mother-baby pairs in the intervention arm compared to those in the control arm across all measured time points (96.7% vs 65.8% at 6 weeks after birth, p<0.001; 81.5% vs 42% at 6 weeks after cessation of breastfeeding, p<0.001; and 71.2% vs 20.6% at 18 months after birth, p<0.001). Relative to the control group, women in the intervention group were less likely to be lost to follow up following treatment initiation (AOR 0.05, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.15). There was no difference in the proportion of the retained mother-baby pairs who received prescribed PMTCT interventions at different time points but a significantly higher number of mother-baby pairs in the intervention arm were retained at different time points.

Conclusion

HIV positive mothers and their HIV exposed children in the mothers2mothers Ugandan Mentor Mother programme had higher retention in HIV care at every step along the PMTCT cascade. We therefore recommend adoption of this peer-to-peer model in sub-Saharan Africa to complement retention in care strategies and health system interventions especially among priority and key populations.