How strong are Malawi's family planning programs for adolescent and adult women? Results of a national assessment of implementation strength conducted by Malawi's National Evaluation Platform.

Background: To assess the strength of implementation of family planning programs targeting youth (15-24) in Malawi with a specific focus on youth and the Youth-Friendly Health Services program.

Methods: We conducted 9781 mobile phone interviews with facility in-Charge Nurses and health workers (health facility workers, health surveillance assistants [HSAs] and community-based distribution agent [CBDAs]) who provide family planning (FP) services across the 28 districts. Responses were entered in tablet using Open Data Kit.

Testing the validity and feasibility of using a mobile phone-based method to assess the strength of implementation of family planning programs in Malawi.

Background: To effectively deliver on proposed objectives, it is vital that practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders are able to clearly understand how strongly their large-scale program is being implemented. This study sought to test the feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and validity of a phone-based method as an innovative and cost-efficient approach to assessing program implementation strength (through an Implementation Strength Assessment - ISA), alternative to the traditional in-person field methods.

Methods: We conducted 701 mobile phone and 356 in-person interviews with facility in-Charges and two types of community health workers who provide family planning services in the Dowa and Ntcheu districts in Malawi.

Youth accessing reproductive health services in Malawi: drivers, barriers, and suggestions from the perspectives of youth and parents.

Background: Malawi has made progress in increasing its overall modern contraceptive prevalence rate since 2000, resulting in a dramatic reduction in its total fertility rate. However, youth, 15-24 years, have not had the same successes. Teenage pregnancies are on the rise and little progress has been made in reducing unmet need for family planning among youth.

National Assessment of Data Quality and Associated Systems-Level Factors in Malawi.

Background: Routine health data can guide health systems improvements, but poor quality of these data hinders use. To address concerns about data quality in Malawi, the Ministry of Health and National Statistical Office conducted a data quality assessment (DQA) in July 2016 to identify systems-level factors that could be improved.

Methods: We used 2-stage stratified random sampling methods to select health centers and hospitals under Ministry of Health auspices, included those managed by faith-based entities, for this DQA.

Strengthening community health supply chain performance through an integrated approach: Using mHealth technology and multilevel teams in Malawi.

Background: In 2010, 7.6 million children under five died globally - largely due to preventable diseases. Majority of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.