Assessing and addressing barriers to IPTp uptake in Uganda: formative research and pilot intervention

Objectives

Formative research:

The project examines demand and supply side barriers to uptake of intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp). Based on formative research, the research team will develop, pilot and evaluate an intervention to address these barriers and contribute towards meeting IPTp coverage targets in Uganda.

The main objectives of the study are to:

• provide evidence and enhance understanding of the supply and demand side barriers to IPTp uptake in Uganda
• explore issues with regard to accuracy, reliability and quality of available IPTp coverage data
• inform the development of a pilot intervention which addresses the barriers to IPTp uptake identified through the formative research
• evaluate the pilot intervention and develop a set of recommendations with the aim of increasing the number of pregnant women receiving at least two doses of IPTp as part of the focused antenatal care package
• engage with malaria in pregnancy stakeholders to improve services and interventions that will help Uganda to meet the goal of 80 percent coverage of two doses of IPTp

Pilot intervention:

The project aims to increase the uptake of IPTp and reduce the burden of malaria in pregnancy in Uganda. Based on formative research, a pilot intervention has been developed to address one of the key barriers to IPTp uptake: health workers’ inadequate knowledge of the provision guidelines.

The pilot intervention aims to:

• increase health worker knowledge of revised MIP and IPTp service delivery guidelines
• increase uptake of IPTp by minimising missed opportunities for the provision of IPTp due to inaccurate health worker knowledge
• improve data recording practices at facility level in order to obtain comparable data across intervention and control facilities
• conduct robust evaluation research to assess the effectiveness of the pilot intervention.

If shown to be effective, sending text messages to health workers could be adopted as a complementary training approach across a widerange of health issues.