Implementing a group-based multi-component early child development intervention through the government health system in rural Bangladesh: A feasibility study

Abstract

Children in low- and middle-income countries face an increased risk of impaired cognitive development due to contaminated environments, poor nutrition, and inadequate responsive stimulation from caregivers. Implementing multi-component, community-level interventions may reduce these risks; however, there is little evidence supporting implementation of these interventions at scale. We assessed the feasibility of implementing a group-based intervention that included responsive stimulation, maternal and child nutrition, water and sanitation, and childhood lead exposure prevention through the government health system in Chatmohar, Bangladesh. After implementation, we conducted 17 in-depth interviews with frontline health service providers and 12 key informant interviews with their supervisors and managers to explore the facilitators and difficulties implementing such a complex programme within the health system. Factors facilitating implementation included: high quality training and skill level of providers, support from community members, family, and supervisors, positive relationships between providers and participants, and provision of children's toys and books free of cost. Difficulties included increased workload of the providers, complicated group-based yet stage-specific delivery where providers had to manage a large group of mother-child dyads representing many different child age-groups at once, and logistics difficulties in providing toys and books through a centralised health system process. Key informants made suggestions to ensure effective government-level scale-up including engaging relevant NGOs as partners, identifying feasible ways to make toys available, and offering providers meaningful even if non-monetary rewards. These findings can be used to shape the design and delivery of multi-component child development interventions to be delivered through the health system.

Keywords: WASH; government health system; lead exposure prevention; maternal and child nutrition; multi-component group-based intervention; responsive stimulation.