In January of 2021, the Strategic Analysis, Research, and Training Center (START) was engaged by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to complete a literature review of demand-side interventions to increase rates of care-seeking and healthy home behaviors related to post-natal care (PNC), with a particular emphasis on the well-being of small and sick newborns (SSN). For each demand-side intervention, the START team identified the effect of the work, the quantity of research evaluating its effectiveness, and the quality of the work. The START team summarized these conclusions in a heatmap. The team also applied a social-ecological framework to the landscape of demand-side interventions to identify potential gaps where interventions could either be implemented or could be further evaluated. Finally, the team mapped the demand-side interventions to a pathway of barriers to post-natal care-seeking behaviors.
The team identified several places where further implementation and evaluation of interventions aimed specifically at small and sick newborns in particular would be extremely valuable. The team recommend general PNC interventions (e.g., home visits, education and engagement facilitation for male partners and extended families, maternal education, etc.) that exist for healthy newborns be better calibrated for small and sick newborns.
