Ben Bellow
Biographic Data
| ID | 2472904 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ben Bellow |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ben |
| FAMILY NAME | Bellow |
| SIGNATURE | BEN BELLOW |
| AFFILIATIONS | British Council |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9205-6623 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 23 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Development and validation of a multi-dimensional scale to assess community health worker motivation
BACKGROUND: Ensuring that Community Health Workers (CHWs) are motivated is critical to their performance, retention and well-being - and ultimately to the effectiveness of community health systems worldwide. While CHW motivation is as multi-dimensional construct, there is no multi-dimensional measure available to guide programming. In this study, we developed and validated a pragmatic, multi-dimensional measure of CHW motivation. METHODS: Scale v…
Measuring quality of care at the community level using the contraceptive method information index plus and client reported experience metrics in Bangladesh
BACKGROUND: Low rates of contraceptive continuation in Bangladesh are a symptom of poor quality family planning (FP) counseling. Improving family planning counseling by the country's community health care workers (CHWs) could improve contraceptive continuation. This study explores client experiences of care from CHWs, as measured by the method information index plus (MII+) and communication quality metric. METHODS: Conducted in a peri-urban sub-d…
Advancing community health measurement, policy, and practice
U niversal access to high quality care is at the core of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) movement and is foundational for achieving several of the Sustainable Development Goals. Notions of universality in health require a focus on community health, which has received significant recognition and redoubled effort since the 40 th anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care (PHC) with the Declaration of Astana in 2018 [1-3]. Th…
The Validity of Women's Reports of Family Planning Service Quality in Cambodia and Kenya
Population‐based indicators of the coverage of key elements of high‐quality family planning services are tracked via household surveys with female respondents, yet little work has been done to establish their validity. We take advantage of existing data sets from Cambodia and Kenya to compare women's responses at exit interviews following a health facility visit against the observations of a trained third‐party observer during the visit. The resu…
Validating women’s reports of antenatal and postnatal care received in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Kenya
Background Global indicators for monitoring progress in maternal and newborn health have tended to rely on contact coverage indicators rather than the content of services received. As part of the effort to improve measurement of progress in maternal and newborn health, this study examines how accurately women can report on information and health interventions received during an antenatal or postnatal health consultation at health facilities in Ba…
Looking at the bigger picture
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 u…
Initiation and continuity of maternal healthcare
This study explores the relationship between two health financing initiatives on women's progression through the maternal health continuum in Kenya: a subsidized reproductive health voucher programme (2006-16) and the introduction of free maternity services in all government facilities (2013). Using cross-sectional survey data, we ran three multivariable logistic regression models examining the effects of the voucher programme, free maternity pol…
Evaluating Quality of Contraceptive Counseling
The Method Information Index (MII) is calculated from contraceptive users’ responses to questions regarding counseling content—whether they were informed about methods other than the one they received, told about method‐specific side effects, and advised what to do if they experienced side effects. The MII is increasingly reported in national surveys and used to track program performance, but little is known about its properties. Using additional…
Assessing the community-level impact of a decade of user fee policy shifts on health facility deliveries in Kenya, 2003-2014
The findings of this paper provide empirical evidence that poorly implemented user fee removal policies benefit more well-off than poor women and in cases where there are significant immediate effects on uptake of facility delivery, this trend is not sustained over time
Making free public healthcare attractive
The findings suggest that HEF encompassing health centre and hospital services and complemented by additional interventions are better than stand-alone HEF in attracting sick HEFB to public health facilities and lowering out-of-pocket expenses associated with healthcare seeking
Stroke-attributable death among older persons during the great recession
Defining disrespect and abuse of women in childbirth
PerspectivesIn the field of maternal and newborn health, there have been calls to prioritize the intra-partum period and promote facility delivery to meet maternal and newborn mortality reduction goals. This aim is based on a decade of epide-miological work identifying causes of death, systematically reviewing effective interventions, and modelling the impact of intervention coverage on mortality.
Determinants of health insurance ownership among women in Kenya
As the Kenyan government transforms the NHIF into a universal health program, it is important to implement a program that will increase equity and access to health care services among the poor and vulnerable groups
Safe motherhood voucher programme coverage of health facility deliveries among poor women in South-western Uganda
There has been increased interest in and experimentation with demand-side mechanisms such as the use of vouchers that place purchasing power in the hands of targeted consumers to improve the uptake of healthcare services in low-income settings. A key measure of the success of such interventions is the extent to which the programmes have succeeded in reaching the target populations. This article estimates the coverage of facility deliveries by a m…
Assessing the population-level impact of vouchers on access to health facility delivery for women in Kenya
Redeeming qualities
BACKGROUND: One approach to delivering healthcare in developing countries is through voucher programs, where vouchers are distributed to a specific population for free or subsidized health care. Recent evaluations suggest that vouchers have the potential to extend coverage of priority health services to the poor in developing countries. In Cambodia, a reproductive health voucher program was implemented in January 2011. This study aims to explore …
Self reported risk reduction behavior associated with HIV counseling and testing
Home-based human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) in Uganda is being promoted to increase coverage, in addition to main stay approach of service provision through health facilities. The aim of this study was to compare self reported risk reduction behavior among clients receiving facility and home-based HIV VCT within a rural context. Pre-post intervention client surveys were conducted in November 2007 (baseline…
Community experiences and perceptions of reproductive health vouchers in Kenya
The findings of this paper showed that the voucher program in Kenya is viewed by the community members as a feasible system for increasing service utilization, improving quality of care, and reducing financial barriers to accessing reproductive health services. However, the techniques of program execution such as proper information and availability of the distributors as well as local attitudes influence whether vouchers are purchased and used
Community-level impact of the reproductive health vouchers programme on service utilization in Kenya
This paper examines community-level association between exposure to the reproductive health vouchers programme in Kenya and utilization of services. The data are from a household survey conducted among 2527 women (15-49 years) from voucher and comparable non-voucher sites. Analysis entails cross-tabulations with Chi-square tests and significant tests of proportions as well as estimation of multi-level logit models to predict service utilization b…
Increase in facility-based deliveries associated with a maternal health voucher programme in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya
OBJECTIVE: To measure whether there was an association between the introduction of an output-based voucher programme and the odds of a facility-based delivery in two Nairobi informal settlements. DATA SOURCES: Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) and two cross-sectional household surveys in Korogocho and Viwandani informal settlements in 2004-05 and 2006-08. METHODS: Odds of facility-based delivery were estimated befo…
Exploring the effectiveness of the output-based aid voucher program to increase uptake of gender-based violence recovery services in Kenya
The above findings suggest that there is a need to build the capacity of health care providers and police officers, strengthen the community strategy component of the OBA program to promote the GBVR services voucher, and conduct widespread community education programs aimed at prevention, ensuring survivors know how and where to access services and addressing stigma and cultural barriers
Alcohol Consumption as a Barrier to Prior HIV Testing in a Population-Based Study in Rural Uganda
Evaluation of the impact of the voucher and accreditation approach on improving reproductive behaviors and status in Cambodia
A quasi-experimental study will investigate the impact of the voucher approach on improving reproductive health behaviors, reproductive health status and reducing inequities at the population level and assess effects on access, equity and quality of care at the facility level. If the voucher scheme in Cambodia is found effective, it may help other countries adopt this approach for improving utilization and access to reproductive health and family…
Evaluation of the impact of the voucher and accreditation approach on improving reproductive behaviors and RH status
This is a quasi-experimental study which will investigate the impact of the voucher approach on improving maternal health behaviors and status and reducing inequities at the population level. We expect a significant increase in the utilization of maternal health care services by the accredited health facilities in the experimental areas compared to the control areas as a direct result of the interventions. If the voucher scheme in Bangladesh is f…
Evaluation of the impact of the voucher and accreditation approach on improving reproductive health behaviors and status in Kenya
A quasi-experimental study will investigate the impact of the voucher approach on improving reproductive health behaviors, reproductive health status and reducing inequities at the population level; and assessing the effect of vouchers on increasing access to, and quality of, and reducing inequities in the use of selected reproductive health services. The study comprises of four populations: facilities, providers, women of reproductive health age…
Increase in facility-based deliveries associated with a maternal health voucher programme in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya
OBJECTIVE: To measure whether there was an association between the introduction of an output-based voucher programme and the odds of a facility-based delivery in two Nairobi informal settlements. DATA SOURCES: Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) and two cross-sectional household surveys in Korogocho and Viwandani informal settlements in 2004-05 and 2006-08. METHODS: Odds of facility-based delivery were estimated befo…
Community-level impact of the reproductive health vouchers programme on service utilization in Kenya
This paper examines community-level association between exposure to the reproductive health vouchers programme in Kenya and utilization of services. The data are from a household survey conducted among 2527 women (15-49 years) from voucher and comparable non-voucher sites. Analysis entails cross-tabulations with Chi-square tests and significant tests of proportions as well as estimation of multi-level logit models to predict service utilization b…
The Validity of Women's Reports of Family Planning Service Quality in Cambodia and Kenya
Population‐based indicators of the coverage of key elements of high‐quality family planning services are tracked via household surveys with female respondents, yet little work has been done to establish their validity. We take advantage of existing data sets from Cambodia and Kenya to compare women's responses at exit interviews following a health facility visit against the observations of a trained third‐party observer during the visit. The resu…
Evaluating Quality of Contraceptive Counseling
The Method Information Index (MII) is calculated from contraceptive users’ responses to questions regarding counseling content—whether they were informed about methods other than the one they received, told about method‐specific side effects, and advised what to do if they experienced side effects. The MII is increasingly reported in national surveys and used to track program performance, but little is known about its properties. Using additional…
Safe motherhood voucher programme coverage of health facility deliveries among poor women in South-western Uganda
There has been increased interest in and experimentation with demand-side mechanisms such as the use of vouchers that place purchasing power in the hands of targeted consumers to improve the uptake of healthcare services in low-income settings. A key measure of the success of such interventions is the extent to which the programmes have succeeded in reaching the target populations. This article estimates the coverage of facility deliveries by a m…
Assessing the population-level impact of vouchers on access to health facility delivery for women in Kenya
Looking at the bigger picture
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 u…
Evaluation of the impact of the voucher and accreditation approach on improving reproductive behaviors and status in Cambodia
A quasi-experimental study will investigate the impact of the voucher approach on improving reproductive health behaviors, reproductive health status and reducing inequities at the population level and assess effects on access, equity and quality of care at the facility level. If the voucher scheme in Cambodia is found effective, it may help other countries adopt this approach for improving utilization and access to reproductive health and family…
Evaluation of the impact of the voucher and accreditation approach on improving reproductive behaviors and RH status
This is a quasi-experimental study which will investigate the impact of the voucher approach on improving maternal health behaviors and status and reducing inequities at the population level. We expect a significant increase in the utilization of maternal health care services by the accredited health facilities in the experimental areas compared to the control areas as a direct result of the interventions. If the voucher scheme in Bangladesh is f…
Evaluation of the impact of the voucher and accreditation approach on improving reproductive health behaviors and status in Kenya
A quasi-experimental study will investigate the impact of the voucher approach on improving reproductive health behaviors, reproductive health status and reducing inequities at the population level; and assessing the effect of vouchers on increasing access to, and quality of, and reducing inequities in the use of selected reproductive health services. The study comprises of four populations: facilities, providers, women of reproductive health age…
Exploring the effectiveness of the output-based aid voucher program to increase uptake of gender-based violence recovery services in Kenya
The above findings suggest that there is a need to build the capacity of health care providers and police officers, strengthen the community strategy component of the OBA program to promote the GBVR services voucher, and conduct widespread community education programs aimed at prevention, ensuring survivors know how and where to access services and addressing stigma and cultural barriers
Alcohol Consumption as a Barrier to Prior HIV Testing in a Population-Based Study in Rural Uganda
Redeeming qualities
BACKGROUND: One approach to delivering healthcare in developing countries is through voucher programs, where vouchers are distributed to a specific population for free or subsidized health care. Recent evaluations suggest that vouchers have the potential to extend coverage of priority health services to the poor in developing countries. In Cambodia, a reproductive health voucher program was implemented in January 2011. This study aims to explore …
Self reported risk reduction behavior associated with HIV counseling and testing
Home-based human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) in Uganda is being promoted to increase coverage, in addition to main stay approach of service provision through health facilities. The aim of this study was to compare self reported risk reduction behavior among clients receiving facility and home-based HIV VCT within a rural context. Pre-post intervention client surveys were conducted in November 2007 (baseline…
Community experiences and perceptions of reproductive health vouchers in Kenya
The findings of this paper showed that the voucher program in Kenya is viewed by the community members as a feasible system for increasing service utilization, improving quality of care, and reducing financial barriers to accessing reproductive health services. However, the techniques of program execution such as proper information and availability of the distributors as well as local attitudes influence whether vouchers are purchased and used
Community-level impact of the reproductive health vouchers programme on service utilization in Kenya
This paper examines community-level association between exposure to the reproductive health vouchers programme in Kenya and utilization of services. The data are from a household survey conducted among 2527 women (15-49 years) from voucher and comparable non-voucher sites. Analysis entails cross-tabulations with Chi-square tests and significant tests of proportions as well as estimation of multi-level logit models to predict service utilization b…
Increase in facility-based deliveries associated with a maternal health voucher programme in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya
OBJECTIVE: To measure whether there was an association between the introduction of an output-based voucher programme and the odds of a facility-based delivery in two Nairobi informal settlements. DATA SOURCES: Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) and two cross-sectional household surveys in Korogocho and Viwandani informal settlements in 2004-05 and 2006-08. METHODS: Odds of facility-based delivery were estimated befo…
Defining disrespect and abuse of women in childbirth
PerspectivesIn the field of maternal and newborn health, there have been calls to prioritize the intra-partum period and promote facility delivery to meet maternal and newborn mortality reduction goals. This aim is based on a decade of epide-miological work identifying causes of death, systematically reviewing effective interventions, and modelling the impact of intervention coverage on mortality.
Determinants of health insurance ownership among women in Kenya
As the Kenyan government transforms the NHIF into a universal health program, it is important to implement a program that will increase equity and access to health care services among the poor and vulnerable groups
Safe motherhood voucher programme coverage of health facility deliveries among poor women in South-western Uganda
There has been increased interest in and experimentation with demand-side mechanisms such as the use of vouchers that place purchasing power in the hands of targeted consumers to improve the uptake of healthcare services in low-income settings. A key measure of the success of such interventions is the extent to which the programmes have succeeded in reaching the target populations. This article estimates the coverage of facility deliveries by a m…
Assessing the population-level impact of vouchers on access to health facility delivery for women in Kenya
Stroke-attributable death among older persons during the great recession
Assessing the community-level impact of a decade of user fee policy shifts on health facility deliveries in Kenya, 2003-2014
The findings of this paper provide empirical evidence that poorly implemented user fee removal policies benefit more well-off than poor women and in cases where there are significant immediate effects on uptake of facility delivery, this trend is not sustained over time
Making free public healthcare attractive
The findings suggest that HEF encompassing health centre and hospital services and complemented by additional interventions are better than stand-alone HEF in attracting sick HEFB to public health facilities and lowering out-of-pocket expenses associated with healthcare seeking
Initiation and continuity of maternal healthcare
This study explores the relationship between two health financing initiatives on women's progression through the maternal health continuum in Kenya: a subsidized reproductive health voucher programme (2006-16) and the introduction of free maternity services in all government facilities (2013). Using cross-sectional survey data, we ran three multivariable logistic regression models examining the effects of the voucher programme, free maternity pol…
Evaluating Quality of Contraceptive Counseling
The Method Information Index (MII) is calculated from contraceptive users’ responses to questions regarding counseling content—whether they were informed about methods other than the one they received, told about method‐specific side effects, and advised what to do if they experienced side effects. The MII is increasingly reported in national surveys and used to track program performance, but little is known about its properties. Using additional…
Validating women’s reports of antenatal and postnatal care received in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Kenya
Background Global indicators for monitoring progress in maternal and newborn health have tended to rely on contact coverage indicators rather than the content of services received. As part of the effort to improve measurement of progress in maternal and newborn health, this study examines how accurately women can report on information and health interventions received during an antenatal or postnatal health consultation at health facilities in Ba…
Looking at the bigger picture
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 u…
Development and validation of a multi-dimensional scale to assess community health worker motivation
BACKGROUND: Ensuring that Community Health Workers (CHWs) are motivated is critical to their performance, retention and well-being - and ultimately to the effectiveness of community health systems worldwide. While CHW motivation is as multi-dimensional construct, there is no multi-dimensional measure available to guide programming. In this study, we developed and validated a pragmatic, multi-dimensional measure of CHW motivation. METHODS: Scale v…
Measuring quality of care at the community level using the contraceptive method information index plus and client reported experience metrics in Bangladesh
BACKGROUND: Low rates of contraceptive continuation in Bangladesh are a symptom of poor quality family planning (FP) counseling. Improving family planning counseling by the country's community health care workers (CHWs) could improve contraceptive continuation. This study explores client experiences of care from CHWs, as measured by the method information index plus (MII+) and communication quality metric. METHODS: Conducted in a peri-urban sub-d…
Advancing community health measurement, policy, and practice
U niversal access to high quality care is at the core of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) movement and is foundational for achieving several of the Sustainable Development Goals. Notions of universality in health require a focus on community health, which has received significant recognition and redoubled effort since the 40 th anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care (PHC) with the Declaration of Astana in 2018 [1-3]. Th…
The Validity of Women's Reports of Family Planning Service Quality in Cambodia and Kenya
Population‐based indicators of the coverage of key elements of high‐quality family planning services are tracked via household surveys with female respondents, yet little work has been done to establish their validity. We take advantage of existing data sets from Cambodia and Kenya to compare women's responses at exit interviews following a health facility visit against the observations of a trained third‐party observer during the visit. The resu…
Medicine (24 works) · Environmental health (21 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (19 works) · Nursing (18 works) · Business (16 works) · Population (16 works) · Economic growth (14 works) · Public health (13 works) · Economics (11 works) · Health care (11 works)