Maternal health across Papua New Guinea (PNG) is of extreme public health concern. In response, the National Department of Health explicitly prioritized improving maternal, neonatal and child health services, envisaging increased collaboration between the formal health system and community-based initiatives as one method for achieving this. This study examined the patterns of formal and non-for...

When assessing the health benefits of increased education in less developed countries, many researchers have been concerned about the omission of important determinants of an individual's education from the models. The study presented here shows that one should also be concerned about the limitations of the individual-level perspective. According to a multilevel discrete-time hazard model estim...

BACKGROUND The Tanzania National Voucher Scheme (TNVS) uses the public health system and the commercial sector to deliver subsidised insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to pregnant women. The system began operation in October 2004 and by May 2006 was operating in all districts in the country. Evaluating complex public health interventions which operate at national level requires a multidisciplinary...

After introductory comments and some words of caution regarding certain modern trends in medical education, I shall set down, as I see them, the items of prime importance in the education and character of those who aspire to high endeavor in medicine. Scripture tells us that the Lord spoke out of the whirlwind to his servant, Job, saying: "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without kno...

Johnson & Johnson Indonesia, PT (J&J) and the Indonesian Midwives Association (Ikatan Bidan Indonesia or IBI) have partnered since 2006 to improve the quality of services provided by privatesector midwives in Indonesia through the Bidan Delima (BD) program. IBI is a nationwide association of midwives that includes both government and privatesector midwives. The BD program is designed to standar...

BACKGROUND Acquiring proficiency in motivational interviewing (MI) may be more difficult than generally believed, and training research suggests that the standard one-time workshop format may be insufficient. Although nurses represent one of the professions that have received most training in MI, training in this group has rarely been systematically evaluated using objective behavioral measures...

AIMS To evaluate the acceptability and effectiveness of cultural competence and antiracism training to professionals providing services to ill or disabled children. METHODS Immediate post-training and retrospective questionnaire survey of trainees. Main outcome measures were acceptability; perceived relevance to practice; previous training in this area; perceived impact on professionals' conf...

BACKGROUND Urban Social Health Activists (USHAs) are the grass root health care workers of urban areas. There are 290 USHAs distributed in various Urban Health Centers (UHCs) of Rajkot city. OBJECTIVES To compare the (i) effectiveness of the training received by the USHAs on their knowledge and counseling skills (ii) knowledge and counseling skills of USHAs on the awareness and utilization of...