“Love me, parents!”: impact evaluation of a national social and behavioral change communication campaign on maternal health outcomes in Tanzania

Abstract

BackgroundDespite marked improvements over the last few decades, maternal mortality in Tanzania remains among the world’s highest at 454 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Many factors contribute to this disparity, such as a lack of attendance at antenatal care (ANC) services and low rates of delivery at a health facility with a skilled provider. The Wazazi Nipendeni (Love me, parents) social and behavioral change communication campaign was launched in Tanzania in 2012 to improve a range of maternal health outcomes, including individual birth planning, timely ANC attendance, and giving birth in a healthcare facility.MethodsAn evaluation to determine the impact of the national Wazazi Nipendeni campaign was conducted in five purposively selected regions of Tanzania using exit interviews with pregnant and post-natal women attending ANC clinics. A total of 1708 women were interviewed regarding campaign exposure, ANC attendance, and individual birth planning.ResultsOver one third of interviewed women (35.1%) reported exposure to the campaign in the last month. The more sources from which women reported hearing the Wazazi Nipendeni message, the more they planned for the birth of their child (β = 0.08, p = .001). Greater numbers of types of exposure to the Wazazi Nipendeni message was associated with an increase in ANC visits (β = 0.05, p = .004). Intervention exposure did not significantly predict the timing of the first ANC visit or HIV testing in the adjusted model, however, findings showed that exposure did predict whether women delivered at a health care facility (or not) and whether they tested for HIV with a partner in the unadjusted models.ConclusionsThe Wazazi Nipendeni campaign shows promise that such a behavior change communication intervention could lead to better pregnancy and childbirth outcomes for women in low resource settings. For outcomes such as HIV testing, message exposure showed some promising effects, but demographic variables such as age and socioeconomic status appear to be important as well.

Early evaluation of the ‘STOP SEPSIS!’ WHO Global Maternal Sepsis Awareness Campaign implemented for healthcare providers in 46 low, middle and high-income countries

“…awareness campaign implementation was effective with regard to respondents' recognition of and exposure to the campaign; other campaign evaluations have used these measures to positively assess shortterm impact of campaigns. [24][25][26] Furthermore, consistent and repeat exposure to campaign messaging has shown to increase awareness 14 ; while exposure was only measured over the course of this evaluation period corresponding to the intended implementation period of the campaign, Open access the fact that most respondents stated the campaign raised awareness is a promising trend in the right direction.…”

How a woman's interpersonal relationships can delay care-seeking and access during the maternity period in rural Zambia: An intersection of the Social Ecological Model with the Three Delays Framework

“…Planning early in pregnancy for supplies and for escorting the woman to the facility could facilitate access to care. Interventions targeting better planning and savings for costs associated with delivery have been shown to facilitate access to safe delivery (Ekirapa-Kiracho et al, 2017; Kaufman et al, 2017; Mutebi et al, 2017; Shaikh et al, 2017) and may be appropriate in this context.…”

The effect of a locally tailored intervention on the uptake of preconception care in the Netherlands: a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial (APROPOS-II study)

“…women and men of reproductive age) since only 16% of the participants could actively recall the intervention. Previous health awareness campaigns in the field of maternity care, varying in size of the targeted region and extent of the intervention, showed recall rates varying between 12 and 55% [ 32 , 48 , 49 ]. One of the biggest challenges in developing a successful social marketing strategy for PCC is finding one single strategy that resonates with a large and diverse target population [ 50 ].…”