BMJ Open (Sep 2019)

Effect of continuum-of-care intervention package on improving contacts and quality of maternal and newborn healthcare in Ghana: a cluster randomised controlled trial

  • Clement Narh,
  • Cornelius Debpuur,
  • Abraham Hodgson,
  • Abraham Rexford Oduro,
  • John Williams,
  • Sumiyo Okawa,
  • Keiko Nanishi,
  • Akira Shibanuma,
  • Masamine Jimba,
  • Evelyn Ansah,
  • Seth Owusu-Agyei,
  • Hannah Leslie,
  • Kimiyo Kikuchi,
  • Francis Yeji,
  • Charlotte Tawiah,
  • Sheila Addei,
  • Gloria Quansah Asare,
  • Junko Yasuoka,
  • Yoshiharu Yoneyama,
  • Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira,
  • Vida Kukula,
  • Doris Sarpong,
  • Kwaku Poku-Asante,
  • Yeetey Enuameh,
  • Kwame Adjei,
  • Emmanuel Mahama,
  • Abraham Oduro,
  • Evelyn Sakeah,
  • Peter Wontuo,
  • Akiko Hagiwara,
  • Sakiko Shiratori,
  • Yusuke Kamiya

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025347
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 9

Abstract

Read online

Objective To evaluate the effect of a continuum-of-care intervention package on adequate contacts of women and newborn with healthcare providers and their reception of high-quality care.Design Cluster randomised controlled trial.Setting 32 subdistricts in 3 rural sites in Ghana.Participants The baseline survey involved 1480 women who delivered before the trial, and the follow-up survey involved 1490 women who received maternal and newborn care during the trial.Interventions The intervention package included training healthcare providers, using an educational and recording tool named ‘continuum-of-care card’, providing the first postnatal care (PNC) by retaining women and newborns at healthcare facility or home visit by healthcare providers.Outcome measures Adequate contacts were defined as at least four contacts during pregnancy, delivery with assistance of skilled healthcare providers at a healthcare facility and three timely contacts within 6 weeks postpartum. High-quality care was defined as receiving 6 care items for antenatal care (ANC), 3 for peripartum care (PPC) and 14 for PNC.Results The difference-in-difference method was used to assess the effects of the intervention on the study outcome. The percentage of adequate contacts with high-quality care in the intervention group in the follow-up survey and the adjusted difference-in-difference estimators were 12.6% and 2.2 (p=0.61) at ANC, 31.5% and 1.9 (p=0.73) at PPC and 33.7% and 12.3 (p=0.13) at PNC in the intention-to-treat design, whereas 13.0% and 2.8 (p=0.54) at ANC, 34.2% and 2.7 (p=0.66) at PPC and 38.1% and 18.1 (p=0.02) at PNC in the per-protocol design that assigned the study sample by possession of the continuum-of-care card.Conclusions The interventions improved contacts with healthcare providers and quality of care during PNC. However, having adequate contact did not guarantee high-quality care. Maternal and newborn care in Ghana needs to improve its continuity and quality.Trial registration number ISRCTN90618993.