Community Health Care and COVID-19 Pandemic
| Researchers: |
Andrea Guariso, Martina Björkman Nyqvist, Cristina Clerici, and Jakob Svensson |
| Partners: | Living Goods, BRAC, IPA. |
| Location: | Uganda |
| Sample: | 4,000 households and 600 Community Health Workers |
| Timeline: | May – December 2020 |
| Theme: | Health |
In this study (registered in the AEA RCT registry 5874) we plan to do three things. First, by collecting novel data using phone surveys we will document both the extent of (self-reported) incidence of COVID-19 and the extent to which respondents adjust their health seeking behavior in response to the pandemic. This will allow us to estimate a more comprehensive measure of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in rural Africa that embraces morbidity and mortality from all conditions. Second, by exploiting the unique framework provided by an ongoing RCT, we will test whether an innovative Community Health Worker program is effective in reducing this shift away from effective preventive and curative treatments, and possible misconceptions about COVID-19, cushioning the overall impact of the current pandemic. Finally, we will implement a field experiment, focusing on households in the treatment group of the larger trial, where will test how different phone messages regarding COVID-19 and the importance of preventive and curative care more generally influence households health behavior and outcomes. The messages will have different behavioral framings and we will be able to look at both demand (households) and supply (health workers) constraints.
Evaluation of the Living Goods/BRAC Community Health Worker Model in Uganda - Phase II
| Researchers: | Martina Björkman Nyqvist, Andrea Guariso, Jakob Svensson |
| Partners: | Living Goods, BRAC Uganda, Innovations for Poverty Action, CIFF (funding agency) |
| Location: | Uganda |
| Sample: | 12,500 households from 500 villages |
| Timeline: | 2015–2020 |
| Theme: | Health |
Between 2011 and 2014 we performed the first large-scale evaluation of a novel approach to health care delivery in Uganda. The evaluation was based on a randomized controlled trial, across 214 villages. In each treatment village, a female door-to-door sales agent was locally recruited and incentivized to sell subsidized medicines and other health products to households, making a small profit on each sale. Our results showed significant reductions in under-5, infant, and neonatal mortality. Following up on these remarkable results and taking advantage of a large expansion of the program, this new project will i) evaluate the impact of the program when it is brought to scale; ii) assess the level and type of activities of Community Health Promoters and how they relate and interact with other health workers operating in the study villages; iii) collect information on the price and quality of antimalarial drugs and antibiotics for pneumonia sold by drug stores operating in the study villages, to measure the extent of counterfeit and substandard drugs in the local markets. The evaluation is based on a large scale randomized controlled trial, covering 12,500 households located across 500 different villages. The trial has been registered with the Pan African Clinical Trials Registry: (PACTR201609001398349) and with the AEA RCT Registry (AEARCTR-0002392).
Information Delivery, Nutrition and HIV Treatment: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment on Women Living with HIV in Uganda
| Researchers: | Patrick Lubega, Frances Nakakawa, Gaia Narciso and Carol Newman |
| Partners: | Irish Aid and Higher Education Research and Institution. This project is part of NOURISH, Nutrition and Treatment Outcome: Development of a Ugandan-Irish HIV/Nutrition Research Cluster. |
| Location: | Uganda |
| Sample: | Over 3,000 Women in 24 HIV clinics in rural areas |
| Timeline: | 2012-2016 |
| Theme: | Health |
This project tests the impact of two separate interventions that aim to inform women on the importance of nutrition and how to fulfil their nutritional needs in a sustainable way: 1) a standard nutritional information campaign involving the distribution of posters and flyers; and 2) cookery demonstrations on how to produce locally sourced home-made nutritious food. The project provides evidence that the provision of basic information improves the nutritional intake and health of women but has limited impact on other welfare outcomes. In contrast, participation in the cookery campaigns has significant effects on incomes and female empowerment, with knock-on effects for children’s school attendance. The results shed light on the extent to which the means through which information is communicated matters for impact. They also allow understanding better the underlying behavioral changes that lead to improved outcomes for women and their children.