Human-Centered Design in the Jungle

Since 2015, Liberia has been rebuilding the country’s health system, which was devastated by a civil war that ended in 2003 and again by the Ebola epidemic that ended in 2015. But improvements in the remote clinics are a ways off. Partners In Health staff and local nurses led an HCD program to improve health care in 19 of the facilities.

For two months beginning in April 2016, the team recorded baseline data — on how often nurses washed their hands during births, for example. Then they gathered county health officials, clinic staff, and locals who had been patients for a breakneck HCD session.

Members of the group interviewed each other and shared their experiences. Challenges were presented and agreed on. Participants spent hours ideating potential solutions to a variety of challenges. For example, one reason why only 37% of clinicians wash their hands correctly seems to be simply heedlessness.

Between May and December 2016 the improvements included a wall calendar with portraits celebrating the best handwashers of each month. The number of clinicians who correctly washed their hands increased from 37% to 72% .

Source: Partners in Health

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019

Sex Work Is Real Work: HCD in Kenya

This case study covers a project in Kenya to understand the latent motivators, decision-making pathways, and behavioral norms that can be optimized for HIV prevention among female sex workers (FSWs).

To gain these insights, the team designed a research strategy not only at the individual level (using aspirational messaging to encourage adoption and retention) but also designing at the broader peer group and community level (stimulating long-term social norm change). Human-centered design is predominantly a qualitative process, which seeks emotional understanding of the users for whom it is creating value and drives an action-oriented, creative process from this strong emotive foundation.

The team engaged FSWs very early in the process, and even trained some of them to conduct research in an environment that was familiar to them and their peers. Complementarily, behavioral economics supported a more data-driven approach to understanding the psychology behind human attitudes.

In the process, the researchers gained qualitative insights by exploring the contexts in which FSWs expose themselves to risk and make decisions. This research phase informed the creation of a quantitative tool used for segmenting the target population into clusters based on self-reported sexual behaviors, decision factors and objective-subjective risk levels. Following which, they defined the identified personas in the quantitative data to make population level inferences and provide clues on ideal intervention strategies.

Source: ThinkPlace Kenya

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019

SBC Innovations in Family Planning

USAID’s Transform/PHARE project generates innovative and evidence-based social and behavior change (SBC) strategies addressing the barriers to modern contraceptive use, transforming attitudes about reproductive health, and promoting family planning in West Africa.

This infographic illustrates results and impact of programs in Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Benin, and Burkina Faso.

Source: USAID

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019

Saath-Saath Bulletins

FHI 360 implements the Saath-Saath (Nepali for together) Project in 33 of 75 districts in Nepal. The project supports the Government of Nepal in its efforts to reduce the transmission and impact of HIV and improve reproductive health among female sex workers and their clients, transgender sex workers, migrant workers and their spouses and people living with HIV.

Over its life of five years, USAID-funded Saath-Saath Project mobilized 48 formal partners and collaborated with the Government of Nepal to implement extremely focused and well aligned interventions.

These bulletins describe the progress of the project and results as it progressed over five years. For more information, go to https://www.fhi360.org/projects/saath-saath-project.

Source: FHI360

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019

Partnering with Private Providers in South Africa to Offer Medical Male Circumcision Services: A Case Study

This is a case study about how a private medical practice successfully partnered with the Center for HIV and AIDS Prevention Studies (CHAPS) in South Africa to provide free medical male circumcision (MMC).

Dr. Maphisa & Partners provides high quality, yet affordable, healthcare in Johannesburg and surrounding townships. CHAPS – one of the largest NGOs focused on MMC as HIV prevention in Africa – approached the practice’s founder Dr. Shephard Maphisa in 2012 to ask him to provide MMC free of charge. His clinic already provided MMC but not at a very high volume.

Maphisa had some initial concerns that the free service might not be well received by his existing private clinic patients. But after receiving support and training from CHAPS, he launched in December 2012 and found it actually created new patients for his clinic. Family members of young men undergoing MMC came back to access Dr. Maphisa & Partners other services. And the clinic has gone from performing 500 circumcisions annually to nearly 12,000 in the past two years.

This partnership and similar ones initiated by CHAPS illustrate how the private sector can play a key role in scaling up MMC in South Africa to help prevent HIV.

Source: PEPFAR, FHI360

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019

The Monday Campaigns

The Monday Campaigns is a non-profit public health initiative associated with Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Syracuse universities that dedicates the first day of every week to health. Every Monday, individuals and the private sector join together to commit to the healthy behaviors that can help end chronic preventable diseases.

The group helps private sector and public sector organizations incorporate the Monday concept into their own health promotion programs by providing free research, creative materials, case studies and ready-to-scale programs. It supports individuals through consumer websites and social media with weekly recipes, tips and resources that can help them live healthier week after week.

The Monday movement has grown to include an array of schools and universities, businesses, communities, nonprofit and government organizations, and media outlets. Some utilize the campaign’s free resources while others create their own programs. Organizations contact the group if they want to incorporate the Monday concept into their own programs and/or collaborate with The Monday Campaigns and their partners to develop and disseminate evidence-based models.

The campaign also includes Workplace Wellness, which guides companies to create wellness programs for their employees.

Here is a list of the various Monday campaigns

Source: Monday Campaigns

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019

Malaria Learning Briefs

These are 4 learning briefs that document key results, challenges and lessons learned in implementing a five-year community involvement intervention to prevent and control malaria through a combination of interventions. These interventions include, in addition to universal coverage bed net distributions, training of community health workers, health committee volunteers and teachers, as well as partnerships with local radio stations to disseminate messages on malaria prevention and control practices. This mix of interventions improved knowledge and practices for malaria prevention, treatment seeking and community management.

The project aimed to support the efforts of the Mozambican government to reduce malaria throughout the country through scale-up of prevention and control efforts with community involvement. The learning briefs cover a range of topics

The briefs are as follows:

Malaria Prevention and Control in Mozambique: scaling up for universal access with community involvement (2011-2017): This project overview provides a summary of the Malaria Prevention and Control Project in Mozambique, its objectives, strategies, and key achievements. This project sought to contribute to a reduction in the number of malaria cases in the country through a range of interventions including working with community groups, training primary school teachers, and distributing long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs).

Mobilising communities for malaria prevention and control in Mozambique: This learning brief shares Malaria Consortium’s experience in partnering with existing community structures and building the capacity of community-based volunteers to deliver key messages around malaria, to increase uptake of prevention and treatment services within communities in Mozambique. It describes the intervention, and highlights a number of important lessons and challenges, as well as the necessary next steps to maximize the impact and sustainability of this approach.

Integrating malaria education into primary school activities: This Learning Brief shares Malaria Consortium’s experience in integrating edutainment-based malaria sessions into primary school classroom activities, to provide children with a basic knowledge around malaria transmission, symptoms, prevention, and care-seeking, as part of the Malaria Prevention and Control project in Mozambique. It highlights a number of important lessons and challenges, and the necessary next steps to maximize the impact and sustainability of this approach.

Nets bring good health: a qualitative inquiry: This brief shares Malaria Consortium’s key findings from a qualitative inquiry into mosquito net use and care practices in two Northern provinces of Mozambique, Niassa and Nampula. It explores the experiences and drivers of mosquito net use, non-use or misuse, and local perceptions regarding recommended malaria prevention and control practices.

Source: Malaria Consortium

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019