Ghana Newborn Home Visits Neonatal Mortality Trial

Summary

Introduction: Just under four million infants die each year before reaching one month of age; neonatal deaths now account for 38% of the 10.8 million deaths among children younger than 5 years of age. Tackling neonatal mortality is essential if the millennium development goal to reduce by 2015 overall child mortality by two-thirds from its levels in 1990 is to be achieved. Postnatal care for mothers and neonates in developing countries, particularly when deliveries occur at home, is either not available or is of poor quality. Trained community workers are considered by many to be pivotal to newborn care in the community, as they can act as catalysts for community actions and also be providers of care.Reductions in neonatal mortality have been slower in Sub-Saharan Africa than in any other region, and no evaluations of the effectiveness and feasibility of home visits in reducing neonatal mortality have been conducted.

Trial aim: To link with the Ghana Health Service to develop a feasible and sustainable intervention to improve newborn care practices and careseeking during pregnancy and childbirth, and to identify and refer very low birth weight and/or sick babies, through routine home-visits by community health workers (CHWs), and by so doing reduce neonatal mortality.

Conditions

• Neonatal Mortality

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Home visits

Home visits by community based surveillance volunteers (2 during pregnancy \& 3 during 1st week of life) to promote facility delivery, careseeking during pregnancy and childbirth and essential newborn care practices and to identify \& refer sick babies

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana

  collaborator OTHER

• Institute of Child Health

  collaborator OTHER

• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Betty R Kirkwood · London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

• Zelee E Hill · Institute of Child Health, London

• Alexander Manu · Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC)

• Charlotte Tawiah · KHRC

• Seth Owusu-Agyei · KHRC

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

1 Day

Max Age

12 Months

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2009-01-31

Primary Completion

2010-03-31

Completion

2010-04-30

Countries

• Ghana

Study Locations