Clinical trial NCT02045706: The Impact of Community Health Worker Training by US Health Volunteers on the Health of Rural Ugandans
Official title: A Randomized Prospective Trial to Measure Health-Related Behavioral Changes in Local Villagers Following The Implementation of a Village Health Team Program Facilitated by The Ugandan Ministry of Health and US Health Volunteers
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Keywords: Community Health Workers
Service
Volunteerism
Health Behaviors
Lead sponsor: Omni Med
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Washington University School of Medicine
name: Makerere University
name: Peace Corps
name: Uganda Chartered Health Net
name: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
First posted: 2014-01-27
Enrollment: 1419
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: There are many trials measuring the impact of service work on volunteers themselves, but few studies measuring the impact of service on the local people. The purpose of this trial is to determine whether US and Ugandan health volunteers can make a measurable impact on the health of rural Ugandan villagers.

Detailed description: The goal of this research is to measure a change in the behaviors of local villagers in the Mukono District (just east of Kampala, Uganda) following the implementation of the Ministry of Health's Village Health Team Program facilitated by US Health Volunteers. Our NGO (non-governmental organization), Omni Med, has partnered with the Ministry of Health in Kampala and Mukono to facilitate its Village Health Team (VHT) program. Our volunteers facilitate training of VHTs and then conduct follow up home visits with these VHTs. During the trainings and follow up visits we stress the health practices in the Ministry's training program that have been shown to make the biggest impact on local health such as: exclusive breast-feeding for 9 months, use of oral rehydration therapy (ORT), antibiotics for pneumonia, timely antimalarial use, use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs), clean water, improved sanitation, Vitamin A supplementation and vaccination, antenatal visits and tetanus immunization for pregnant women, etc. Our pre-trial assumption is that local villagers will use this knowledge to improve their own health; and that the VHTs are the ideal messengers to deliver this knowledge. While the Ministry has trained over 83,000 VHTs nationally, there are no objective studies measuring impact on host communities. This will be the first and could prove an important means to promote the program nationally and internationally.

The primary objective of this research is to measure the efficacy of the VHT program in Uganda. While this program has become a priority of the Ministry of Health, there is to date no clear randomized, prospective trial measuring its impact. This will thus fill a current gap using data obtained from 1190 households. A second objective is to demonstrate measurable results of a global service program. There is very little impact data despite huge interest in service from many in the world's wealthiest countries. A third objective is to provide an objective measure of efficacy to the United States Peace Corps, which despite 50 years of activities, has little data demonstrating its true value; several Peace Corps Volunteers are working in this program in Mukono.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria: Household with children under age five -

Exclusion Criteria: No children under age five in the household

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Primary outcomes:
measure: Questionnaire on health behaviors before and after implementation of a community health worker program
timeFrame: One year
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Newton
country: United States
facility: Omni Med
state: Massachusetts
city: Kampala
country: Uganda
facility: Uganda Chartered Health Net
Study officials:
affiliation: Omni Med
name: Edward J O'Neil Jr, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: