Browsing by Author "Nemser, Bennett"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Breaking the bttleneck: Understanding the intractable bottlenecks and data-informed decision-making to deliver life-saving commodities for women and children
    (University of the Western Cape, 2021) Nemser, Bennett; Jackson, Debra
    Access to life-saving commodities and related services for women and children is a fundamental component of universal health coverage. However, countries confront numerous intractable challenges, such as aligning regulatory practices, enhancing health workforce capacity, and effectively managing supply chains, to ensure essential reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) commodities and services reach all communities. To address these entrenched obstacles, the UN Commission on Life Saving Commodities for Women and Children (UNCoLSC) in 2012 outlined a series of recommendations to improve access to 13 low-cost and high-impact commodities. This thesis explores the improvements and remaining barriers to accessing life-saving commodities for women and children in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. In addition, this thesis showcases how effective data-informed decision-making can support prioritized RMNCH investments and equitycentered action.
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    Contextual factors associated with contraceptive utilization and unmet need among sexually active unmarried women in Kenya: A multilevel regression analysis
    (Public Library of Science, 2022) Nemser, Bennett; Addofoh, Nicholas
    Unmarried women who report less recent sexual intercourse (>30 days from survey enumeration) are largely excluded from global health monitoring and evaluation efforts. This study investigated level and contextual factors in modern contraceptive utilization and unmet need within this overlooked female subpopulation in Kenya from 2014 to 2019. This study analyzed data from the Performance Monitoring and Accountability (PMA) survey in Kenya, a nationally representative survey of female respondents, to understand the level and contextual factors for family planning utilization and unmet need within female subgroups including married, unmarried sexually active (defined as sexual intercourse within 30 days of survey enumeration), and unmarried with less recent sexual intercourse (defined as sexual intercourse 1–12 months prior to survey enumeration).
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    Effectiveness of sms technology on timely community health worker follow-up for childhood malnutrition: A retrospective cohort study in sub-Saharan Africa
    (U.S. Agency for International Development, 2018) Sarma, Shohinee; Nemser, Bennett; Cole-Lewis, Heather
    The Millennium Villages Project facilitated technology-based health interventions in rural under-resourced areas of subSaharan Africa. Our study examined whether data entry using SMS compared with paper forms by community health workers (CHWs) led to higher proportion of timely follow-up visits for malnutrition screening in under-5 children in Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda.: Children under 5 years were screened for malnutrition every 90 days by CHWs using mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) readings. CHWs used either SMS texts or paper forms to enter MUAC data. Reminder texts were sent at 15 days before follow-up was needed. Chi-square tests assessed proportion of timely follow-up visits within 90 days between SMS and paper groups. Logistic regression analysis was conducted in a step-wise multivariate model. Post-hoc power calculations were conducted to verify strength of associations.