Behavior Change Interventions for Maternal and Neonatal Health

The overall goal of the BCI component is to facilitate behavioral and normative change at all levels to increase access to, demand for, and use of skilled care. Communication and social mobilization strategies are essential to achieving this goal. Communication strategies have been successfully used to guide behavioral and normative change by identifying critical audiences and appropriate channels to reach each of them. These strategies promote messages that position healthy behaviors as a desirable individual and social norm, and they encourage acting upon intentions. Social mobilization strategies, on the other hand, have been successfully used to involve all segments of society in dialogue about issues of concern and action to promote changes from the policy to the individual level. The BCI technical component complements the MNH Program's service delivery and policy components by facilitating behavioral and normative change at all levels. It promotes interventions that increase knowledge of life-saving practices and skills among women, families, providers, communities, and policymakers. This includes fostering multisectoral coalitions that move people to action based on that knowledge, building capacity for individual and collective action, enhancing trust between clients and providers, communities and facilities, and raising expectations of quality care among all. One of the key elements of preparedness is identifying and seeking a skilled provider to be by the pregnant woman's side, to help with the normal birth and to be ready in the event of complications. This includes having communal transportation schemes and/or emergency schemes, advocating for skilled providers, 24-hour services, improved roads and communications systems, and collaboration among the health center, the village, and the district hospital for efficient referral. Birth preparedness and complication readiness (BP/CR) is a strategy to reduce delays in receiving skilled care by anticipating the factors that most commonly cause each delay. These factors often include perceptions of illness severity, widespread fatalism, availability of transport, cost considerations, gender inequalities, accessibility and quality of services, and availability of staff and supplies. The BP/CR matrix is a programming tool that leads to preparedness and readiness among all concerned, including policymakers, facility managers, providers, communities, families, and individual women.