The ‘Health-2-Go’ programme’s impact on all-cause mortality and clinic utilisation for children 5 and under
A retrospective cohort analysis of an iCCM intervention in Ghana’s Barekese Subdistrict
Bibliographic Data
Introduction The ‘Health-2-Go’ programme, which incorporates the integrated community case management strategy, aims to enhance healthcare access in rural Ghana by deploying trained and equipped community-based agents to manage the diagnosis and treatment of basic illness for children aged 5 and under. This study evaluates the intervention’s impact on all-cause mortality and clinical healthcare utilisation among children 5 and under in the Barekese Subdistrict in the Atwima Nwabiagya North District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from 2530 children across nine communities exposed to Health-2-Go and six comparison communities with no Health-2-Go exposure. Child mortality data were collected via a verbally administered household census, and clinical healthcare utilisation data were extracted from clinic records. We used Cox proportional hazards regression models to estimate the impact of exposure to Health-2-Go on child mortality and negative binomial regression models to assess exposure to Health-2-Go on changes in 5 and under clinic visits resulting in a malaria diagnosis. Results Exposure to Health-2-Go was significantly associated with a 67.7% reduction in the hazard of death ( HR=0.323; p=0.015; 95% CI 0.130, 0.803 ). The programme’s impact on healthcare utilisation showed a significant 83% reduction in unnecessary clinic visits for uncomplicated malaria among children 5 and under ( IRR=0.17; p=0.027; 95% CI 0.04, 0.82 ). No significant association was found between programme exposure and the expected number of clinic visits for severe malaria among children 5 and under. Conclusions The Health-2-Go programme demonstrates substantial potential in reducing child mortality and improving healthcare access in low-resource and ‘hard-to-reach’ settings in rural Ghana. Further prospective research is recommended to confirm these findings and explore the long-term sustainability of the programme
Child mortality · Cohort · Community health · Environmental health · Family medicine · Hazard ratio · Health care · Health facility · Health services · Malaria · Population · Proportional hazards model · Public health · Retrospective cohort study · Child Nutrition and Water Access · Demography · Global Health and Surgery · Global Maternal and Child Health · Medicine · Nursing · Surgery
Global, regional, and national causes of under-5 mortality in 2000–15
A global assessment of civil registration and vital statistics systems
Identifying Key Challenges Facing Healthcare Systems In Africa And Potential Solutions
Strengthening primary health care in low- and middle-income countries
Patterns and trends in causes of child and adolescent mortality 2000–2016
Assessing the impact of integrated community case management (iCCM) programs on child mortality
Achievements and challenges of implementation in a mature iCCM programme
Prevalence of diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, and malaria over time (1995-2017)
Evidence of Impact
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