NEED ASSESSMENT
The districts of Phine and Thapanthong are the target districts of the HEALTH Project. Our main criteria for selecting the districts of the HEALTH project are a low level of access to general health service, to maternal and primary health services, a need for improving the level of health education of the local population, areas where population are more at risk to be affected by the three diseases (HIV, TB , Malaria), an environmental influence considered as favorable to implement the project (district considered as a priority by the Provincial Department of Health and the Communicable Diseases Center and a good cooperation from the local authorities).
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SURVEY
IRD/ECC has coordinated and worked with the University of Health Sciences (UHS) for developing the data collection tools (questionnaires) including the data collection plan related to the epidemiological survey proposal.
From the end of January to early February 2022, the UHS team conducted data collection in three districts of Savannakhet province (Thapangthong District, Phin District and Atsaphone District). The focal points of the survey were three district hospitals, 15 health centers and 45 villages in the catchment area of the selected health centers (three villages per health center). The target population of the survey included health providers, pregnant women, mothers of child under-two-year, adolescent aged 15-18 years, and general adult of their household.
In March-April, UHS with the inputs of IRD/ECC have completed the data analysis, and the epidemiological report.
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
Based on the quantitative / epidemiological survey conducted in February 2022 with the objective to provide a baseline survey, the qualitative survey had the following overall goals:
- Provide a deeper investigation of some relevant issues identified by the epidemiological survey,
- Understand subjective experiences, beliefs, and concepts,
- Gain in-depth knowledge of a specific living context of the targeted communities,
- Explore under-researched problems and generate new ideas,
- Develop operational recommendations in designing intervention model including the Mobile Health Education Package (MHEP) to mothers, children, and adolescents in Phin and Thapanthong Districts that are consistent with the MoH strategy and policy.
The qualitative data has allowed the research team to complete the findings of the epidemiological survey and in particular regarding the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the communities. For example, the two teams have been able to collect a lot of data related to the traditional delivery in the village (forest, field), the traditional health practices and local health system which were not explained by the previous epidemiological study. Some key information related to the ways to disseminate the messages (video in Katang language, posters, etc) and deliver awareness campaign related to the three diseases have been collected and will allow the project to design an adapted strategy which fits with the population needs.
COOPERATIVE RESEARCH ENGINEERING
From 6 to 8 of July 2022, the HEALTH Project with its MoH partners (TB center, Malaria center, CHAS, MCH, DCDC, CIEH) worked together on the design of a Mobile Health Education Package (MHEP) based on the results of the Epidemiological survey. The main objectives were to:
- Review all the previous intervention program (contents) and communication materials (tools) from each center
- Identify topics and the tools to include in the Mobile Health Education Package (MHEP)
- Reflect and draft a design of the delivery/dissemination strategy based on the results of the epidemiological survey
[1] http://www.decide.la/files/en/atlas15/04%20Literacy%20and%20education.pdf
HEALTH Project 