TY - JOUR
T1 - "Love me, parents!"
T2 - Impact evaluation of a national social and behavioral change communication campaign on maternal health outcomes in Tanzania
AU - Kaufman, Michelle R.
AU - Harman, Jennifer J.
AU - Smelyanskaya, Marina
AU - Orkis, Jennifer
AU - Ainslie, Robert
N1 - Funding Information:
The Wazazi Nipendeni campaign was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Funding from USAID was provided to the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs in Tanzania, which supported all authors involved in this study and manuscript preparation. The contents of this manuscript are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. Neither USAID nor the Tanzania Ministry of Health and Social Welfare were involved in the evaluation study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation of the data, or manuscript development. They were, however, partners in the design of the Wazazi Nipendeni campaign.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2017/9/15
Y1 - 2017/9/15
N2 - Background: Despite marked improvements over the last few decades, maternal mortality in Tanzania remains among the world's highest at 454 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Many factors contribute to this disparity, such as a lack of attendance at antenatal care (ANC) services and low rates of delivery at a health facility with a skilled provider. The Wazazi Nipendeni (Love me, parents) social and behavioral change communication campaign was launched in Tanzania in 2012 to improve a range of maternal health outcomes, including individual birth planning, timely ANC attendance, and giving birth in a healthcare facility. Methods: An evaluation to determine the impact of the national Wazazi Nipendeni campaign was conducted in five purposively selected regions of Tanzania using exit interviews with pregnant and post-natal women attending ANC clinics. A total of 1708 women were interviewed regarding campaign exposure, ANC attendance, and individual birth planning. Results: Over one third of interviewed women (35.1%) reported exposure to the campaign in the last month. The more sources from which women reported hearing the Wazazi Nipendeni message, the more they planned for the birth of their child (β = 0.08, p = .001). Greater numbers of types of exposure to the Wazazi Nipendeni message was associated with an increase in ANC visits (β = 0.05, p = .004). Intervention exposure did not significantly predict the timing of the first ANC visit or HIV testing in the adjusted model, however, findings showed that exposure did predict whether women delivered at a health care facility (or not) and whether they tested for HIV with a partner in the unadjusted models. Conclusions: The Wazazi Nipendeni campaign shows promise that such a behavior change communication intervention could lead to better pregnancy and childbirth outcomes for women in low resource settings. For outcomes such as HIV testing, message exposure showed some promising effects, but demographic variables such as age and socioeconomic status appear to be important as well.
AB - Background: Despite marked improvements over the last few decades, maternal mortality in Tanzania remains among the world's highest at 454 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Many factors contribute to this disparity, such as a lack of attendance at antenatal care (ANC) services and low rates of delivery at a health facility with a skilled provider. The Wazazi Nipendeni (Love me, parents) social and behavioral change communication campaign was launched in Tanzania in 2012 to improve a range of maternal health outcomes, including individual birth planning, timely ANC attendance, and giving birth in a healthcare facility. Methods: An evaluation to determine the impact of the national Wazazi Nipendeni campaign was conducted in five purposively selected regions of Tanzania using exit interviews with pregnant and post-natal women attending ANC clinics. A total of 1708 women were interviewed regarding campaign exposure, ANC attendance, and individual birth planning. Results: Over one third of interviewed women (35.1%) reported exposure to the campaign in the last month. The more sources from which women reported hearing the Wazazi Nipendeni message, the more they planned for the birth of their child (β = 0.08, p = .001). Greater numbers of types of exposure to the Wazazi Nipendeni message was associated with an increase in ANC visits (β = 0.05, p = .004). Intervention exposure did not significantly predict the timing of the first ANC visit or HIV testing in the adjusted model, however, findings showed that exposure did predict whether women delivered at a health care facility (or not) and whether they tested for HIV with a partner in the unadjusted models. Conclusions: The Wazazi Nipendeni campaign shows promise that such a behavior change communication intervention could lead to better pregnancy and childbirth outcomes for women in low resource settings. For outcomes such as HIV testing, message exposure showed some promising effects, but demographic variables such as age and socioeconomic status appear to be important as well.
KW - Antenatal care
KW - Birth planning
KW - Low-income setting
KW - Maternal health
KW - Social and behavioral change communication
KW - Tanzania
KW - Women's health
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U2 - 10.1186/s12884-017-1470-x
DO - 10.1186/s12884-017-1470-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 28915850
AN - SCOPUS:85029443068
SN - 1471-2393
VL - 17
JO - BMC pregnancy and childbirth
JF - BMC pregnancy and childbirth
IS - 1
M1 - 305
ER -