Effect of Prompting the Supply of Zinc/LO-ORS Co-packs in the Private Sector Plus BCI on Childhood Diarrhea Treatment
Condition: Diarrhea, Infantile
MeSH terms: Diarrhea; Diarrhea, Infantile
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study assesses whether prompting the supply of zinc and LO-ORS co-packs in the private
      sector coupled with behavior change communication (BCC) has an effect on the treatment of
      uncomplicated childhood diarrhea. In addition the study will evaluate the acceptability,
      adoption, feasibility and coverage of the intervention model. One group of children and
      caregivers will receive the current standard of care and will be exposed to standard BCC and
      the second group will be exposed to the private sector component and to a modified BCC.
    

Detailed description: 
      Diarrhoea accounts for 7% of all under-five deaths in Kenya. Recent experiences in other
      countries show that the private health sector can be successfully harnessed to improve
      diarrhoea treatment coverage.

      This study assesses the effect of prompting the supply of zinc and low-osmolarity oral
      rehydration salts (LO-ORS) co-packs in the private sector coupled with increasing the demand
      for co-packs among caregivers on: 1) the treatment of uncomplicated childhood diarrhoea, 2)
      care-seeking in the private sector, and 3) availability of co-packs in the private sector.

      The target population will be children under five years of age and their caregivers in Vihiga
      County. The study will use a effectiveness-implementation hybrid design with two arms: 1)
      children and caregivers from areas that receive the current standard of care and will be
      exposed to standard BCC and 2) children and caregivers from areas where the private sector
      component will be implemented and that will be exposed to a modified BCC. Two of the five
      existing sub-counties in Vihiga will be selected by convenience to be assigned to one of the
      two study arms. The selection will take into account geographical distance between the two
      sub-counties (i.e. maximizing the distance between the two counties to minimize
      cross-pollination between the two study groups), rural vs urban population, and number of
      operational community units and CHV in each sub-county. All private sector retailers within
      each sub-county will be identified with assistance from wholesalers. Retailers will be
      invited to participate in the study via sensitization meetings.

      Baseline and endline assessments will be conducted at the household level to collect
      information on care-seeking practices, availability of the co-pack in the household,
      treatment of diarrhoea, and whether caregivers received information from shopkeepers on using
      the co-pack. Monitoring of process indicators will be conducted throughout the intervention
      period. The monitoring process will also be used to evaluate the adoption and feasibility of
      the implementation model. In addition, the endline survey will be used to evaluate the
      acceptability, adoption, and coverage of the implementation model.
    

Intervention name(s): Private sector component + modified BCC
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): Intervention group will be exposed to the private sector component + modified BCC and will receive current standard care
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Health Services Research