Strategies developed and implemented by women's groups to improve mother and infant health and reduce mortality in rural Malawi

International Health

Volumn 4, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 176-184

  Rosato, M ^a,b   Malamba, F ^c   Kunyenge, B ^c   Phiri, T ^c   Mwansambo, C ^d   Kazembe, P ^e   Costello, A ^a   Lewycka, S ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG   (South Africa)

^c MaiMwana Project   (Malawi)

^d KAMUZU CENTRAL HOSPITAL   (Malawi)

^e Baylor Abbott Clinical Centre of Excellence   (Malawi)

Author keywords

Child mortality; Community empowerment; Community mobilization; Malawi; Maternal mortality; Women's groups

Indexed keywords

ADULT; AMBULANCE; ARTICLE; BED NET; BICYCLE; COMMUNITY; DATA ANALYSIS; FEMALE; HEALTH EDUCATION; HEALTH PROGRAM; HEALTH SURVEY; HUMAN; INFANT MORTALITY; INTERVIEW; MALAWI; MALE; MATERNAL CARE; MATERNAL MORTALITY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS; RURAL AREA; STAFF TRAINING; TILLAGE; WETLAND;

EID: 84865565211     PISSN: 18763413     EISSN: 18763405     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.inhe.2012.03.007     Document Type: Article

References (22)

1. National Statistics Office Malawi, OCR Macro. Malawi Demographic and Health Survey 2010. Calverton, Maryland; NSO and OCR Macro: 2011.
2. United Nations. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009. United Nations; 2009.
3. Jones G., Steketee R.W., Black R.E., Bhutta Z.A., Morris S.S. Bellagio Child Survival Study Group. Lancet 2003, 362:65-71.
4. Manandhar D.S., Osrin D., Shrestha B.P., et al. Effect of a participatory intervention with women's groups on birth outcomes in Nepal: cluster-randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2004, 364:970-979.
5. Tripathy P., Nair N., Barnett S., et al. Effect of a participatory intervention with women's groups on birth outcomes and maternal depression in Jharkhand and Orissa, India: a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2010, 375:1182-1192.
6. Rosato M., Mwansambo C.W., Kazembe P.N., et al. Women's groups' perceptions of maternal health problems in rural Malawi. Lancet 2006, 368:1180-1188.
7. Rosato M., Lewycka S., Mwansambo C., Kazembe P., Costello A. Women's groups' perceptions of neonatal and infant health problems in rural Malawi. Malawi Med J 2009, 21:168-173.
8. The World Bank. World development report 2010. Development and climate change. Washington: The World Bank; 2010.
9. National Statistics Office Malawi. 2008 Population and housing census. Malawi: National Statistics Office; 2008.
10. Rosato M., Mwansambo C., Lewycka S., et al. MaiMwana women's groups: a community mobilisation intervention to improve mother and child health and reduce mortality in rural Malawi. Malawi Med J 2010, 22:112-119.
11. Lewycka S., Mwansambo C., Kazembe P., et al. A cluster randomised controlled trial of the community effectiveness of two interventions in rural Malawi to improve health care and to reduce maternal, newborn and infant mortality. Trials 2010, 11:88.
12. Lofl J, Lofl L. Analyzing social settings: a guide to qualitative observation and analysis. Wadsworth; 1995.
13. WHO Recommended interventions for improving maternal and newborn health 2009, World Health Organization, Geneva.
14. Morrison J., Tamang S., Mesko N., et al. Women's health groups to improve perinatal care in rural Nepal. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2005, 5:6.
15. National Statistics Office Malawi, OCR Macro. Malawi demographic and health survey 2004. Calverton, Maryland: NSO and OCR Macro; 2005.
16. Nepal Ministry of Health. Nepal demographic and health survey 2001. Kathmandu, Family Health Division, Ministry of Health and Calverton: New Era and ORC Macro; 2002.
17. Rosato M., Laverack G., Howard-Grabman L., et al. Community participation: lessons for maternal and child health. Lancet 2008, 327:962-971.
18. Laverack G. An identification and interpretation of the organizational aspects of community empowerment. Community Dev J 2001, 36:40-52.
19. Laverack G. Public health: power and professional practice 2005, Pallgrave-Macmillan, London.
20. Laverack G. Improving health outcomes through community empowerment: a review of the literature. J Health Popul Nutr 2006, 24:113-120.
21. Rosato M, Otanez M. Umodzi [DVD]. London: UCL, Centre for International Health and Development; 2010. 1 DVD: 14 min., sound, colour, HD. From the 138th American Public Health Association Annual Meeting; 2010 November 6-10; Denver, CO, USA. Available from: (accessed 25 March 2012). http://vimeo.com/12427420.
22. Rosato M. Chimvano cha mabvu [slide]. London: UCL, Centre for International Health and Development; 2010. 35 slides: sound, colour. Available from: (accessed 25 March 2012). http://vimeo.com/18396454.