Development of a Community-Centred Model for Reclaiming Community Reproductive, Maternal, and Neonatal Health in the Context of the COVID-19 Era in Kenya

Access to reproductive, maternal, and neonatal health (RMNH) services is critical to achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Good health and well-being and related maternal SDGs, such as SDG 1 and 2, which seek to eliminate poverty and hunger, respectively. The outbreak of Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) presented a double tragedy to the lives of women, neonates, and children in Kenya. Transmission prevention measures imposed by the Ministry of Health coupled with fear of contracting COVID-19 and social stigma disrupted access to basic RMNH services, thereby endangering the lives of pregnant women, mothers in labor, and newborns and threatening the gains already made towards achievement of SDG 3.1 and 3.2 on prevention of maternal and newborn mortality, respectively. A customized community model to facilitate access to RMNH services was required to not only reclaim the gains made, but also achieve SDG goals 2.1 and 3.2.

Use of MHealth to Strengthen and Support Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) Service Delivery Uptake during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Lesotho 

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged different sectors to face disrupted health services and come up with innovative ways to deliver services to clients through electronic systems. mothers2mothers (m2m) introduced peer support via a phone app (PvP) to monitor, support, and improve clients' lives. m2m's frontline workers were able to connect with their clients via phone. They used mHealth tools to improve access, retention, follow-up, and monitoring of patients even in remote and industrial areas. This analysis investigates the usefulness of technology during the COVID-19 pandemic in reaching m2m clients in order to retain them in care and monitor them while they are still at their homes

Feasibility and Acceptability of Integrating Mobile Phone SMS into Antenatal, Maternity, Postnatal, and Preschool Consultations to Improve Mothers' Access to Health Information in the COVID-19 Context: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Lubumbashi 

Our objective was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of integrating SMS into antenatal, maternity, postnatal, and preschool consultations to improve mothers' access to health information in the context of COVID-19.

A Blended Learning Approach to Improve the Quality of Integrated HIV, TB, and Malaria Services during Antenatal and Postnatal Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): A Feasibility Study 

The blended learning (BL) approach to training health care professionals is increasingly adopted in many countries because of high costs and disruption to service delivery in the light of severe human resource shortage in low-resource settings. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the urgency to identify alternatives to traditional face-to-face (f2f) education approach. A four-day f2f antenatal care (ANC) and postnatal care (PNC) continuous professional development course (CPD) was repackaged into a three-part BL course: (1) self-directed learning (16 hours), (2) facilitated virtual sessions (2.5 hours over three days), and (3) two-day f2f sessions. This pilot study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of implementing a BL course for quality improvement of integrated HIV, TB, and malaria services during ANC and PNC