Scaling up newborn care in Afghanistan: opportunities and challenges for the health sector.

Newborn health in Afghanistan is receiving increased attention, but reduction in newborn deaths there has not kept pace with declines in maternal and child mortality. Using the continuum of care and health systems building block frameworks, this article identifies, organizes and provides a synthesis of the available evidence on and gaps in coverage of care and health systems, programmes, policies and practices related to newborn health in Afghanistan. Newborn mortality in Afghanistan is related to the nation's weak health system, itself associated with decades of conflict, low and uneven coverage of essential interventions, demand-side and cultural specificities, and compromised quality. A majority of deliveries still take place at home. Birth asphyxia, low birth weight, perinatal infections and poor post-natal care are responsible for many preventable newborn deaths. Though the situation has improved, there remain many opportunities to accelerate progress. Analyses conducted using the Lives Saved Tools suggest that an additional 10 405 newborn lives could be saved in Afghanistan in 5 years (2015-20), through reasonable increases in coverage of these high-impact interventions. A long-term vision and strong leadership are essential for the Ministry of Public Health to play an effective stewardship role in formulating related policy and strategy, setting standards and monitoring maternal and newborn services. Promotion of equitable access to health services, including health workforce planning, development and management, and the coordination of much-needed donor support are also imperative.

Improving immunization in Afghanistan: results from a cross-sectional community-based survey to assess routine immunization coverage.

BACKGROUND: Despite progress in recent years, Afghanistan is lagging behind in realizing the full potential of immunization. The country is still endemic for polio transmission and measles outbreaks continue to occur. In spite of significant reductions over the past decade, the mortality rate of children under 5 years of age continues to remain high at 91 per 1000 live births. METHODS: The study was a descriptive community-based cross sectional household survey. The survey aimed to estimate the levels of immunization coverage at national and province levels. Specific objectives are to: establish valid baseline information to monitor progress of the immunization program; identify reasons why children are not immunized; and make recommendations to enhance access and quality of immunization services in Afghanistan. The survey was carried out in all 34 provinces of the country, with a sample of 6125 mothers of children aged 12-23 months. RESULTS: Nationally, 51% of children participating in the survey received all doses of each antigen irrespective of the recommended date of immunization or recommended interval between doses. About 31% of children were found to be partially vaccinated. Reasons for partial vaccination included: place to vaccinate child too far (23%), not aware of the need of vaccination (17%), no faith in vaccination (16%), mother was too busy (15%), and fear of side effects (11%). CONCLUSION: The innovative mechanism of contracting out delivery of primary health care services in Afghanistan, including immunization, to non-governmental organizations is showing some positive results in quickly increasing coverage of essential interventions, including routine immunization. Much ground still needs to be covered with proper planning and management of resources in order to improve the immunization coverage in Afghanistan and increase survival and health status of its children.

Ending Preventable Child Deaths from Pneumonia and Diarrhoea in Afghanistan: An Analysis of Intervention Coverage Scenarios Using the Lives Saved Tool.

Background. Despite improvements in child health, Afghanistan still has a heavy burden of deaths due to preventable causes: 17% of under-5 deaths are due to pneumonia and 12% are due to diarrhoea. Objective. This article describes the situation of childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea in Afghanistan, including efforts to prevent, protect, and treat the two diseases. It estimates lives saved by scaling up interventions. Methods. A secondary analysis of data was conducted and future scenarios were modelled to estimate lives saved by scaling up a package of interventions. Results. The analysis reveals that 10,795 additional child deaths could be averted with a moderate scale-up of interventions, decreasing the under-five mortality rate in Afghanistan from 55 per 1,000 live births in 2015 to 40 per 1,000 in 2020. In an ambitious scale-up scenario, an additional 15,096 lives could be saved. There would be a 71% reduction in child deaths due to these two causes between 2016 and 2020 in the ambitious scenario compared to 47% reduction in the moderate scenario. Conclusion. Significant reductions in child mortality can be achieved through scale-up of essential interventions to prevent and treat pneumonia and diarrhoea. Strengthened primary health care functions and multisector collaboration on child health are suggested.

Quality of child healthcare at primary healthcare facilities: a national assessment of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses in Afghanistan.

OBJECTIVE: To assess quality of the national Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) program services provided for sick children at primary health facilities in Afghanistan. DESIGN: Mixed methods including cross-sectional study. SETTING: Thirteen (of thirty-four) provinces in Afghanistan. PARTICIPANTS: Observation of case management and re-examination of 177 sick children, exit interviews with caretakers and review of equipment/supplies at 44 health facilities. INTERVENTION: Introduction and scale up of Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses at primary health care facilities. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Care of sick children according to IMCI guidelines, health worker skills and essential health system elements. RESULTS: Thirty-two (71%) of the health workers were trained in IMCI and five (11%) received supervision in clinical case management during the past 6 months. On average, 5.4 out of 10 main assessment tasks were performed during cases observed, the index being higher in children seen by trained providers than untrained (6.3 vs 3.5, 95% CI 5.8-6.8 vs 2.9-4.1). In all, 74% of the 104 children who needed oral antibiotics received prescriptions, while 30% received complete and correct advice and 30% were overprescribed, and more so by untrained providers. Home care counseling was associated with provider training status (41.3% by trained and 24.5% by untrained). Essential oral and pre-referral injectable medicine and equipment/supplies were available in 66%, 23%, and 45% of health facilities, respectively. CONCLUSION: IMCI training improved assessment, rational use of antibiotics and counseling; further investment in IMCI in Afghanistan, continuing provider capacity building and supportive supervision for improved quality of care and counseling for sick children is needed, especially given high burden treatable childhood illness.

A landscape analysis of universal health coverage for mothers and children in South Asia.

The United Nations made universal health coverage (UHC) a key health goal in 2012 and it is one of the Sustainable Development Goals' targets. This analysis focuses on UHC for mothers and children in the 8 countries of South Asia. A high level overview of coverage of selected maternal, newborn and child health services, equity, quality of care and financial risk protection is presented. Common barriers countries face in achieving UHC are discussed and solutions explored. In countries of South Asia, except Bhutan and Maldives, between 42% and 67% of spending on health comes from out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) and government expenditure does not align with political aspirations. Even where reported coverage of services is good, quality of care is often low and the poorest fare worst. There are strong examples of ongoing successes in countries such as Bhutan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Related to this success are factors such as lower OOPE and higher spending on health. To make progress in achieving UHC, financial and non-financial barriers to accessing and receiving high-quality healthcare need to be reduced, the amount of investment in essential health services needs to be increased and allocation of resources must disproportionately benefit the poorest.

Effectiveness of Muskaan Ek Abhiyan (the smile campaign) for strengthening routine immunization in bihar, India.

BACKGROUND: In Bihar State, proportion of fully immunized children was only 19% ;in Coverage Evaluation Survey of 2005. In October 2007, a special campaign called Muskaan Ek Abhiyan (The Smile Campaign) was launched under National Rural Health Mission to give a fillip to the immunization program. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate improvement in the performance and coverage of the Routine Immunization Program consequent to the launch of Muskaan Ek Abhiyan INTERVENTION: The main strategies of the Muskaan campaign were reviewing and strengthening immunization micro-plans, enhanced inter-sectoral coordination between the Departments of Health, and Women and Child Development, increased involvement of women groups in awareness generation, enhanced political commitment and budgetary support, strengthening of monitoring and supervision mechanisms, and provision of performance based incentive to service providers. METHODS: Immunization Coverage Evaluation Surveys conducted in various states of India during 2005 and 2009 were used for evaluation of the effect of Muskaan campaign by measuring the increase in immunization coverage in Bihar in comparison to other Empowered Action Group (EAG) states using the difference-in-difference method. Interviews of the key stakeholders were also done to substantiate the findings. RESULTS: The proportion of fully immunized 12-23 month old children in Bihar has increased significantly from 19% ;in 2005 to 49% ;in 2009. The coverage of BCG also increased significantly from 52.8% to 82.3%, DPT-3 from 36.5 to 59.3%, OPV-3 from 27.1% ;to 61.6% ;and measles from 28.4 to 58.2%. In comparison to other states, the coverage of fully immunized children increased significantly from 16 to 26% ;in Bihar. CONCLUSIONS: There was a marked improvement in immunization coverage after the launch of the Campaign in Bihar. Therefore, best practices of the Campaign may be replicated in other areas where full immunization coverage is low.

Expanding and improving urban outreach immunization in Patna, India.

OBJECTIVES: We conducted a case study of an urban immunization outreach strategy to determine the feasibility of the intervention and to measure administrative immunization coverage outcomes. METHODS: A multipronged strategy for improving immunization coverage in Urban Patna, India, was implemented for 1 year (2009/2010). The strategy was designed to increase immunization sites, shift human resources, plan logistics, improve community mobilization, provide supervision, strengthen data flow and implement special vaccination drives. RESULTS: Over 1 year, the coverage of all primary vaccines of the Universal Immunization Program improved by over 100%. CONCLUSION: Coverage can be rapidly improved through outreach immunization in low socioeconomic areas if existing opportunities are carefully utilized.

Responding to measles outbreak: closing the immunity gap in children of Timor-Leste.

BACKGROUND: An outbreak of measles was reported in Timor-Leste during 2011. A concerted response at national level utilized this opportunity to improve measles immunization coverage rates. METHODS: Health Management Information System and Surveillance System data were utilized to describe the outbreak. Attack rates and case fatality rates (CFR) were calculated using standard methods. Evaluation surveys were used to access immunization coverage. Proceedings of weekly meetings of the National Committee for Control of Disease Outbreaks were reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 739 cases and 8 deaths were reported to the Surveillance Unit. Most (>82%) of the measles cases were reported from Dili and Ermera districts. The attack rate was 1.3 per 1000 population and CFR was 1.1%. The response was coordinated by the National Committee for Control of Disease Outbreaks, which included case management, active and passive surveillance, communication and measles immunization among six-month to 14-year old children. Immunization activity targeted 495 000 children, i.e. almost one-half of the Timor-Leste population and achieved high coverage (85%). CONCLUSIONS: The outbreak highlighted gaps in the immunity against measles. The National Committee for Control of Disease Outbreaks ensured a coordinated response which led to prevention of deaths from measles due to early case management with vitamin A supplementation, and high measles immunization coverage.

Measles vaccination response during Kosi floods, Bihar, India 2008.

The Kosi floods of Bihar in 2008 led to initial rapid displacement followed by rehabilitation of the affected population. Strategically planned phase-wise activity of supplementary as well as primary measles vaccination combined with a variety of other interventions proved to be successful in preventing outbreaks and deaths due to measles. While 70% supplementary measles vaccination coverage was achieved in relief camps, the coverage of primary measles doses in the latter phases was dependant on accessibility of villages and previous vaccination status of eligible beneficiaries. The integrated diseases surveillance system, which became operational during the floods, also complemented the vaccination efforts by providing daily figures of cases with fever and rash. The overall response was not only successful in terms of preventing measles mortality, but also provided vital lessons that may be useful for planning future vaccination responses in emergency settings.