Digital Medic Quarterly Update

July 2023

Welcome to our July Quarterly Update! We are thrilled to share our latest open-access health education resource, "Caring for Sick Children in the Community."


Designed for community health workers (CHWs), this course aims to build their skills in identifying signs of common childhood illnesses, caring for sick children at home, and referring families to health facilities when needed. We developed this course with collaborators at Lwala Community Alliance, One to One Africa, Philani Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition Trust, and an advisory group of CHWs.

 

You'll learn more about the course below, as well as other recent updates from our team. Thank you for being a part of the Digital Medic community and as always, please do not hesitate to reach out with questions or ideas for collaboration.


With best wishes,

The Digital Medic Team

[email protected]


 

Content Releases

1
Caring for Sick Children in the Community: A Training for CHWs

Children between two months and five years of age die mainly from common childhood illnesses that can often be treated or prevented. Trained community health workers (CHWs) can help identify the early signs of these conditions and take action to prevent serious illness progression.

We are developing an open-access training course to build CHWs’ skills in caring for sick children in their communities with collaborators at Lwala Community Alliance, One to One Africa, Philani Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition Trust, and an advisory group of CHWs.

 

The videos and exercises equip CHWs to:

  • Identify the signs and symptoms of common childhood illnesses, determine whether they are mild, moderate, or severe, and take action accordingly
  • Advise caregivers on how to treat and monitor a child with mild symptoms at home
  • Decide on the best next steps for moderate illness
  • Recognize when to refer a child to a health facility and how to support a family through this process
  • Work with families toward achieving the shared goal of keeping their children healthy.

The course introduction and first modules on "Your role in caring for sick children" and "Cough" are available now through the Digital Medic website, mobile app, and YouTube channel. The remaining modules will be released over the coming months.


Explore the introduction and first modules now

2
New Content Translations

Localization is key to effectively reaching communities with health education. Most recently, we have completed translations of two content series:


  • Preventing Childhood Stunting: Videos available in Afrikaans, English, Sepedi, Setswana, Sotho, Swati, Xhosa, and Zulu
Our collaboration with the Grow Great Campaign in South Africa, which aims to support healthy development in children, has resulted in an animated video series covering topics from nutrition during pregnancy to first foods for babies. We are proud to share that the videos have been fully translated into several South African languages.
View the maternal and child health video series
  • Supporting Vaccination Toolkit for Community Health Workers: Videos, audio files, and infographics available in English, Sepedi, Xhosa, Spanish, and French
In 2022, we released an open-access digital toolkit to equip CHWs with the knowledge and strategies to increase vaccine acceptance in their communities. The multimedia materials in this vaccine education toolkit are available in four new languages, enabling broader accessibility and dissemination.

Access the Supporting Vaccination Toolkit
 

Research Insights

Better Breastfeeding Counseling: Where Do We Start?

 

In May, the Digital Medic evaluation team attended the AlignMNH International Maternal Newborn Health Conference (IMNHC) in Cape Town. During a session about breastfeeding counseling as a public health intervention, Research Analyst Nophiwe Job presented our research on the use of story-based videos for breastfeeding education in South Africa’s Western Cape.
 
We created an educational video series for counselors to use in health facilities and conducted a qualitative study evaluating its usefulness over a three-year period. The series included short videos about infant feeding and nutrition in English, isiXhosa, and Afrikaans. At three months and 36 months post-intervention, we conducted focus groups to understand how the videos impacted the breastfeeding counselors’ work.
 
We found that the intervention was well-adopted into the counselors’ routines and helped increase engagement among new mothers. Further studies can help uncover patient perceptions and longer-term impact.
See our presentation
Browse all ongoing studies
 

Additional Highlights

  • Collaborator Visits: Members of our team recently traveled to East Africa to meet with collaborators about upcoming CHW training initiatives. In Uganda, we met with Nama Wellness Community Centre to plan for a nationwide rollout of our CHW advocacy course. The team then visited Kenya, where we are collaborating with Lwala Community Alliance to support training on vaccine education and common childhood illnesses. We are proud and grateful to collaborate with both of these impactful community-focused organizations.
  • What We’re Reading: Should literacy and education be prioritized as CHW selection criteria? A study conducted in Kenya by Lwala Community Alliance and the Kenyan Ministry of Health found that training and experience outperformed formal education as predictors of CHW performance. Read the published paper via Frontiers in Public Health.
  • Common Health Condition Videos in Spanish: To date, we have published 28 videos in our series of Spanish-language videos focusing on the most searched-for health conditions in Spanish on YouTube. Browse the playlist.
Visit our blog for more updates
 

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