Video Edutainment: Impact on Maternal and Infant Outcomes in Toro, Nigeria (IMCHA)
Faced with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, Nigeria has identified maternal and child health as a priority issue. This project will help address the problem through research that assesses the reception, cost, and impact of home visits. It will also examine how video "edutainment" (educational entertainment) and other tools can influence maternal and infant outcomes.
Women at risk
Women at highest risk in Nigeria are those who are least able to attend health facilities to receive conventional antenatal care during pregnancy. Typically, they are socially isolated, overworked, impoverished, subjected to gender violence, and poorly educated.
Community action and education have a central role to play in ensuring that mothers and their infants have access to health care.
Pilot project for better outcomes
This project will test and implement universal home visits that address these gaps across pilot sites in Nigeria as a strategy to improve maternal and child health. The methodology involves a large-scale cluster randomized controlled trial to measure the impact of strategies for implementing home visits and video education tools (video edutainment) within the country's health services.
The project team will engage government officials to maximize opportunities to integrate home visits into health services for pregnant women and their spouses in randomly selected wards of the Toro Local Government Authority. The goal is to scale up these approaches at the national level.
The project will offer a better understanding of how home visits and video education during pregnancy can influence health outcomes. It will generate evidence to support large-scale trials to improve survival rates for pregnant women and new mothers in Nigeria.
Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa
This project is part of the Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa program, a seven-year $36 million initiative funded by Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD), Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Project ID
108039
Project Status
Completed
End Date
Duration
54 months
IDRC Officer
Sana Naffa
Total Funding
CA$ 939,064.00
Location
Nigeria
Programs
Global Health
Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa
Institution Country
Canada
Project Leader
Dr Anne Cockcroft
Institution
The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning/McGill University
Institution Website
Institution Country
Nigeria
Project Leader
Yagana Gidado
Institution
The Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria
Outputs
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Nigerian trial shows how universal home visits can help reduce maternal risks Article
This study tested the impact of universal home visits carried out by trained female and male “home visitors” in Bauchi State in northern Nigeria. Through follow-up questionnaires, findings show that this focused type of home visits produced clear benefits. The style of home visit was highly successful in transferring knowledge to all participants; home visitors provided pregnant women and their spouses with information about the risk factors and what could be done to avoid them, allowing them to reduce the risks themselves. The visitors shared information either through conversations or short video clips, in the style of locally popular soap operas. The programme is being upscaled. Author(s): Cockcroft, Anne, Andersson, Neil Language: English |
“Kunika women are always sick” : views from community focus groups on short birth interval (kunika) in Bauchi state, northern Nigeria Article
The word kunika in the Hausa language describes a woman becoming pregnant before weaning her last child (pregnant while breast feeding). In support of culturally safe child spacing in Bauchi State, North East Nigeria, the study explores local perspectives about kunika and its consequences. Family size in this area is large, and polygamy is common. Some 57% of women in Bauchi have no education, compared with 36% nationally. Use of contraception is minimal. In the Bauchi context men continue to dominate decision-making about reproductive health (and ill-health) and sexual activity. Author(s): Ansari, Umaira, Pimentel, Juan, Omer, Khalid, Gidado, Yagana, Baba, Muhd Chadi Language: English |
Impact of home visits to pregnant women and their spouses on gender norms and dynamics in Bauchi state, Nigeria : narratives from visited men and women Article
A trial program involving universal home visits to pregnant women and their spouses, with the intention to increase male involvement in pregnancy and childbirth, showed improvements in actionable risk factors and in maternal morbidity rates. This analysis report indicates that the visits improved men’s support for antenatal care, immunization, and seeking help for danger signs; increased spousal communication; led to changes in perceptions about gender violence and promoted non-violent gender relationships. However, the men’s stories described a continuing paternalistic, male-dominant position in decision-making. Author(s): Mudi, Hadiza, Dutse, Umar, Belaid, Loubna, Ansari, Umaira, Omer, Khalid Language: English |
The impact of universal home visits with pregnant women and their spouses on maternal outcomes: a cluster randomised controlled trial in Bauchi State, Nigeria Article
In Bauchi State (Nigeria) maternal morbidity is associated with domestic violence, heavy work in pregnancy, ignorance of danger signs, and lack of spousal communication. This cluster randomized controlled trial tested the impact of universal home visits where risk factors were discussed with pregnant women and their spouses, to precipitate household actions that protect pregnant women. Universal home visits which share evidence and provoke discussion between pregnant women and their husbands can reduce maternal morbidity without an increased load on facilities for antenatal and delivery care. Author(s): Cockcroft, Anne, Omer, Khalid, Gidado, Yagana, Chadi Baba, Muhammad, Aziz, Amar, Ansari, Umaira, Ibrahim Gamawa, Adamu, Yarima, Yahaya, Andersson, Neil Language: English |
Impact of universal home visits on maternal and infant outcomes in Bauchi state, Nigeria : protocol of a cluster randomized controlled trial Article
Maternal mortality in Nigeria is one of the highest in the world. This research proposal focuses on programme impact on maternal survival. The controlled trial allows comparison of maternal outcomes between wards randomly allocated to receive home visits early, with those that receive visits after a delay. All women of child bearing age who become pregnant during the study period will be visited, as well as their husbands. The research team and local partners will create video clips (“edutainment”) of four areas associated with maternal morbidity: domestic violence, heavy work during pregnancy, communication with partner, and knowledge of danger signs. Author(s): Cockcroft, Anne, Omer, Khalid, Gidado, Yagana, Gamawa, Adamu Ibrahim, Andersson, Neil Language: English |