Liberia National Community Health Assistant (NCHA) Program and Under-five Mortality

Summary

Last Mile Health (LMH) has partnered with the Liberian Ministry of Health (MOH) to support the design and implementation of the National Community Health Assistant Program (NCHAP). In collaboration with MOH, LMH is planning to conduct an impact evaluation in Grand Bassa to assess the effect of the National Community Health Assistant Program (NCHAP) on health outcomes, as well as to learn lessons around program operations and implementation. Our central hypothesis is that Community Health Assistants (CHAs) within the NCHAP will reduce under 5 mortality, as a result of expanding access to and uptake of health care utilization in remote communities. We will use a mixed effects discrete survival model, taking advantage of the staggered program implementation in Grand Bassa districts over a period of 4 years to compare the incidence of under-5 child mortality between the pre- and post-CHW program implementation periods.

Conditions

• Malaria
• Diarrhea
• Acute Respiratory Infection
• Malnutrition, Child

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Liberia National Community Health Assistant Program

Through the National Community Health Assistant Program (NCHAP), members of remote communities select Community Health Assistants (CHAs). Once selected, CHAs are trained to deliver direct services which include; treatment of diarrhea, ARI, and malaria following Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) protocols, referrals for patients with clinical danger signs, family planning for women of childbearing age and birth preparedness and education for pregnant women. CHAs are also trained to deliver indirect services which include; health education, active surveillance, referral for mental health and other special conditions for all age groups. Since 2020 COVID-education has also been included in the CHAs work.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Heidelberg University

  collaborator OTHER

• Northwestern University

  collaborator OTHER

• Georgetown University

  collaborator OTHER

• Massachusetts General Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Last Mile Health

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Marion Subah · [email protected]

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

SEQUENTIAL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-05-01

Primary Completion

2022-08-01

Completion

2022-08-01

Countries

• Liberia

Study Locations