Cluster Randomised Trial to Evaluate the Impact of Routine Home Visits to Provide a Package of Essential Newborn Care Interventions in the Third Trimester of Pregnancy and the 1st Week of Life on Neonatal Mortality in Rural Ghana

Study area: The NEWHINTS trial will be conducted in 6 contiguous districts with an area of 12,000km in the central Brong Ahafo Region of rural Ghana. The area is predominantly rural and has a total population of approximately 600,000 persons, with more than 100,000 women of reproductive age. The study area is multi-ethnic and education levels are low. It is served by 4 district hospitals, and a small number of additional government health centres and private facilities. More than 15,000 babies are born within the area each year; the neonatal mortality rate is about 30 per 1000 live births. Over 50% of births occur at home and these home deliveries account for a large proportion of all neonatal deaths. A potential cadre of CHWs, who are currently working in the region and whose capacity could be expanded to include home visits, are Community Based Surveillance Volunteers (CBSVs); CBSVs currently assist the DHMTs with the registration of births, disease detection and community mobilization.

Intervention: The intervention is being developed by a collaborative group from Kintampo Health Research Centre, the District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) of the 6 districts and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It will comprise of:

1. Training CBSVs to identify pregnant women in the community and to conduct 2 home visits during pregnancy and 3 in the first week of life of the infant on days 1, 3 and 7:

• to promote birth preparedness and prompt careseeking during pregnancy and childbirth
• to promote essential perinatal and neonatal care practices
• to identify and refer very low birth weight or sick babies
• to give advice on special treatment for low birth weight babies
• to teach neonatal danger signs and encourage prompt careseeking
• to promote key child survival interventions for infancy (breastfeeding, bednets, immunisations) CBSVs will provide support through dialogue and problem-solving. Other family members key in decision-making concerning childbirth and newborn care will be invited to take part in the discussions.

2. Developing a sustainable supervisory and remuneration structure for the CBSVs;
3. Various intervention support activities inc

• Sensitisation of health facility staff to intervention messages and approach#
• Sensitisation of traditional birth attendants (TBAs)
• Meetings with village leaders to introduce intervention aims and activities
• Community durbars