Table 2.
Descriptions of interventions
| Study ID | Interventions | Type of care | Intervention providers and training | Number of ANC visits | Number of PNC visits | Timing of PNC visits | Length of postpartum follow-up (in weeks) | Postpartum visit coverage (%) | Comparator type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bang 1999 [38] | Village women health workers were recruited and trained to provide health education to mothers and treat sick neonates | Home visit and community activities to promote optimal neonatal care practices and treatment of sick neonates | Women village health workers (5–10 grade) | 1 | 8 | days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, 28 & on any other day if the family called | 4 | 84 | Routine prenatal care, immunization, family planning, control of communicable diseases, and curative medical care were provided in the government facilities |
| Baqui 2016 [39] | Both home care and community care maternal and neonatal health service delivery strategies by Community Health Workers (CHWs); community mobilization and behavior-change communication to promote birth and newborn-care practice | Home visit and community activities to promote optimal neonatal care practices | CHWs trained for 5 days | 2 | 3 | days 1, 3 & 7 | 1 | 79 | Active facility-based comparator |
| Bashour 2008 [33] | Home visits to examine and counsel women | Home visit to promote optimal neonatal care practices | Midwives trained for 5 days | 0 | 5 | Women in group A received 4 home visits on days 1, 3, 7, & 30 women in group B received 1 home visit on day 3 | 4 | 100 | Usual hospital care without home visit in the postpartum period |
| Bhandari 2012 [44] | Postnatal home visits to promote breastfeeding, delaying bathing, keeping the baby warm, cord care, care-seeking for illness and treated sick newborns and older children | Home visit to promote optimal neonatal care practices and treatment of sick neonates | CHWs, nurses, and physicians trained for 11 days | 0 | 3 | days 1, 3, & 7 | 6 | 90 | Usual or routine facility-based care |
| Coutinho 2005 [37] | Home visits by women with secondary school education to promote and support exclusive breastfeeding | Promote optimal neonatal care practices | Health care providers, midwives and nursing assistants trained for 20 h | 0 | 10 | days 3, 7, 15, & 30 and every 2 weeks during the second month, and once a month during the 3–6 months | 24 | 83 | Women’s usual stay facility 24 h to 48 h after deliveries. Maternity staff would counsel and encourage mothers to initiate and maintain exclusive breastfeeding |
| Darmstadt 2010 [45] |
-Pregnancy surveillance to identify pregnancies by CHW -Antepartum home visits to promote birth and newborn care preparedness -Postpartum home visits to promote preventive care practices and to assess newborns for illness, and referred sick neonates |
Home visit to promote optimal neonatal care practices and treatment of sick neonates | CHWs trained for 36 days on pregnancy surveillance, negotiation skills, essential newborn care, neonatal illness surveillance and management of illness | 2 | 3 | days 1, 2, 5 & 8 | 1 | 69 | Usual health services provided by the government, non-governmental organizations and private providers |
| Kirkwood 2013 [29] | Community-based surveillance volunteers were trained to identify pregnant women and to make home visits during pregnancy and postpartum to promote essential newborn-care practices, weigh and assess babies for danger signs, and refer as necessary; community-wide meetings | Home visit and community activities to promote optimal neonatal care practices | community-based surveillance volunteers (CBSVs) (trained for 9 days) | 2 | 3 | days 1, 3, & 7 | 1 | 63 | Routine maternal and child health care (ANC, facility delivery, postpartum check-ups, infant welfare). |
| Kumar 2008 [28] | CHWs provided preventive & promotive package of interventions for essential newborn care (birth preparedness, clean delivery, and cord care, thermal care, breastfeeding promotion, and danger sign recognition); community-based intervention for behavior change management | Home visit and community activities to promote optimal neonatal care practices | CHWs | 2 | 2 | days 1 & 3 | 1 | 68 | Usual services (ANC, delivery, PNC, and vaccination services) |
| LeFevre 2013 [40] |
-CHWs provided an initial dose of antibiotic treatment to the infant with suspected severe neonatal illness and to promote the referral -Community mobilization and behavior-change communication to promote birth and newborn-care preparedness |
Home visit and community activities to promote optimal neonatal care practices and treatment of sick neonates | CHWs (secondary school education) trained for 5 days | 2 | 3 | days 1, 3 & 7 | 1 | 79 | Pre-existing level of care |
| Memon 2015 [41] | Promotion of ANC, nutrition, skilled delivery, and healthy newborn care practices; community mobilization and awareness creation | Home visit and community activities to promote optimal neonatal care practices | Lay health workers (LHW)/CHWs; LHW, local resident women with 8 grade of formal education were trained for 18 months | 2 | 1 | Monthly | 1 | 83 | Routine health services |
| Pitt 2016 [43] | Antepartum and postpartum home visits to promote essential newborn-care practices and assess babies for danger signs, and refer as necessary); facilitated community-wide meetings | Home visit and community activities to promote optimal neonatal care practices | Community volunteers | 2 | 3 | days 1, 3, & 7 | 1 | 63 | Routine maternal and child health care (ANC, facility delivery, postpartum check-ups, infant welfare) |
| Soofi 2017 [42] | Lady Health Workers (LHW) provided community mobilization and education package and recognition of possibly asphyxiated newborn infants at birth and bag and mask resuscitation as needed, and recognition and management of suspected neonatal infections. | Home visit and community activities to promote optimal neonatal care practices and treatment of sick neonates | LHW received an initial 3 days of training and monthly 1-day refresher sessions thereafter | 0 | 4 | attend deliveries and days 3, 7, 14, & 28 after birth | 4 | 30 |
-LHW program continued to function as usual. -They continued to have regular monthly debriefing and refresher training according to the standard national LHW program |
| Tyllerskr 2011 [36] | Trained peer counselors made antenatal and postpartum breastfeeding peer counseling visits | Home visit to promote optimal neonatal care practices | Peer counselors trained for 1 week | 1 | 4 |
-In Burkina Faso: home visits at weeks 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 20 -In Uganda and South Africa: home visits at weeks 1, 4, 7, and 10 |
6 | 100 |
-Standard health care only in Burkina Faso and Uganda -Home visit by peer counselors in South Africa, with the same schedule as in the intervention clusters, but assisted families in obtaining birth certificates and social welfare grants |
| Waiswa 2015 [47] | Villages volunteer CHWs were trained to identify pregnant women and make home visits to offer preventive and promotive care and counseling, with extra visits for sick and small newborns to assess and refer | Home visit to promote optimal neonatal care practices | CHWs trained for 5 days | 2 | 3 | first week after birth | 1 | 63 | Standard health services, in addition to the improved health facilities |