Presentation given by Daniel G. Datiko at the 1st International Conference on CHWs, February 21 - 23, 2017, Africana Hotel, Kampala, Uganda

1. Community engagement for maternal health: lessons learned from
southern Ethiopia
Symposium on Community Health Workers
The REACHOUT project is funded by
the European Union
Daniel G. Datiko
Hotel Africana, Kampala, Uganda
21 February 2017

2. Background
 Maternal Health is priority health problem
 MMR - 353 per 105 live births
 Barriers to seeking care include
 Socio-economic barriers
 Low health service coverage
 Opportunity cost
 Low community awareness
 Weak community based structures and
engagement

3. Background
 Ethiopia launched HEP
 Maternal health services
 Primary Health Care Unit
 HEWs
 HDAs
 Pregnant women forum
 Improve access to care

4. Objective
Explore the role of community engagement in
maternal health service delivery
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5. Methods
 Conducted in southern Ethiopia
 Shebedino district
 Population of 261,271 living in 32 villages
 Health facilities
 9 health centres
 32 health posts
 65 HEWs
 Context analysis led to focused community engagement action
 Mixed method: quantitative and qualitative
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6. Results
 HDAs engagement
 HDA engagement increased from 11% to 45%
 Identification and referral of pregnant women
increased from 43% to 85%.
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“Generally there is improvement in community
engagement in HDA meetings’’ (HEW interview)
"In this year HDA members attend the meeting every two weeks ….which
was not really good in previous time’’ (community interview, woman)

7. Results
 PWF and HEWs engagement
 PWF attendance increased from 48 to > 95%
 ANC follow up increased to 77%
 Institutional delivery increased to 83%
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“there is increased and visible participation of women in
pregnant women forums’’ (HEW interview)
" …but now women know that they should visit
four times ….’’ (community interview, woman)

8. Conclusion
 HDA reached HHs and linked pregnant women to care
 PWF improved awareness and service utilization
 HEWs linked the community with health system
 Ethiopian community based initiative
 Improved community engagement
 Contributed to improved maternal health
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9. Acknowledgment
 EU for funding REACH OUT project
 Regional Health Bureau
 Health workers in the community
 REACH ETHIOPIA
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