Evaluating the Process and Extent of Institutionalization: A Case Study of a Rapid Response Unit for Health Policy in Burkina Faso.

Background: Good decision-making requires gathering and using sufficient information. Several knowledge translation platforms have been introduced in Burkina Faso to support evidence-informed decision-making. One of these is the rapid response service for health.

The factors affecting the institutionalisation of two policy units in Burkina Faso's health system: a case study.

Background: This paper is one of three linked studies that attempts to understand the process of institutionalisation of policy units within Burkina Faso's health system. It examines the relationships between the existence of an institutional framework, data production capacity and other resource availability in the institutionalisation of policy units in health systems. It therefore contributes to our understanding of the dynamics linking the key drivers and indicators of institutionalisation.

Analysis of the policymaking process in Burkina Faso's health sector: case studies of the creation of two health system support units.

Background: Burkina Faso has made a number of health system policy decisions to improve performance on health indicators and strengthen responsiveness to health-related challenges. These included the creation of a General Directorate of Health Information and Statistics (DGISS) and a technical unit to coordinate performance-based financing (CT-FBR). We analysed the policymaking processes associated with the establishment of these units, and documented the factors that influenced this process.

Why do policies change? Institutions, interests, ideas and networks in three cases of policy reform.

Policy researchers have used various categories of variables to explain why policies change, including those related to institutions, interests and ideas. Recent research has paid growing attention to the role of policy networks-the actors involved in policy-making, their relationships with each other, and the structure formed by those relationships-in policy reform across settings and issues; however, this literature has largely ignored the theoretical integration of networks with other policy theories, including the '3Is' of institutions, interests and ideas. This article proposes a conceptual framework integrating these variables and tests it on three cases of policy change in Burkina Faso, addressing the need for theoretical integration with networks as well as the broader aim of theory-driven health policy analysis research in low- and middle-income countries.

Safety of insecticide-treated mosquito nets for infants and their mothers: randomized controlled community trial in Burkina Faso.

Background: Insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) are now the main tool for malaria prevention in endemic areas. Synthetic pyrethroids are the only group of insecticides recommended by the World Health Organization for the use on ITNs. There are only few studies which have specifically investigated potential adverse effects of frequent exposure to ITNs in the vulnerable group of young infants and their mothers.

Improving the Quality of Host Country Ethical Oversight of International Research: The Use of a Collaborative 'Pre-Review' Mechanism for a Study of Fexinidazole for Human African Trypanosomiasis.

Developing countries face numerous barriers to conducting effective and efficient ethics reviews of international collaborative research. In addition to potentially overlooking important scientific and ethical considerations, inadequate or insufficiently trained ethics committees may insist on unwarranted changes to protocols that can impair a study's scientific or ethical validity. Moreover, poorly functioning review systems can impose substantial delays on the commencement of research, which needlessly undermine the development of new interventions for urgent medical needs.

Effects of information, education, and communication campaign on a community-based health insurance scheme in Burkina Faso.

Objective: The study analysed the effect of Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) campaign activities on the adoption of a community-based health insurance (CHI) scheme in Nouna, Burkina Faso. It also identified the factors that enhanced or limited the campaign's effectiveness.

Design: Complementary data collection approaches were used.

Exploring the effects of task shifting for HIV through a systems thinking lens: the case of Burkina Faso.

Background: While the impact of task shifting on quality of care and clinical outcomes has been demonstrated in several studies, evidence on its impact on the health system as a whole is limited. This study has two main objectives. The first is to conceptualize the wider range of effects of task shifting through a systems thinking lens.

Consensus standards for introductory e-learning courses in human participants research ethics.

This paper reports the results of a workshop held in January 2013 to begin the process of establishing standards for e-learning programmes in the ethics of research involving human participants that could serve as the basis of their evaluation by individuals and groups who want to use, recommend or accredit such programmes. The standards that were drafted at the workshop cover the following topics: designer/provider qualifications, learning goals, learning objectives, content, methods, assessment of participants and assessment of the course. The authors invite comments on the draft standards and eventual endorsement of a final version by all stakeholders.

Assessing effectiveness of a community based health insurance in rural Burkina Faso.

Background: Financial barriers are a recognized major bottleneck of access and use of health services. The aim of this study was to assess effectiveness of a community based health insurance (CBHI) scheme on utilization of health services as well as on mortality and morbidity.

Methods: Data were collected from April to December 2007 from the Nouna's Demographic Surveillance System on overall mortality, utilization of health services, household characteristics, distance to health facilities, membership in the Nouna CBHI.

'How to know what you need to do': a cross-country comparison of maternal health guidelines in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania.

Background: Initiatives to raise the quality of care provided to mothers need to be given priority in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). The promotion of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) is a common strategy, but their implementation is often challenging, limiting their potential impact. Through a cross-country perspective, this study explored CPGs for maternal health in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Tanzania.

HIV treatment and reproductive health in the health system in Burkina Faso: resource allocation and the need for integration.

Organizational changes, increased funding and the demands of HIV antiretroviral (ARV) treatment create particular challenges for governance in the health sector. We assess resource allocation, policy making and integration of the national responses to ARV provision and reproductive health in Burkina Faso, using national and district budgets related to disease burden, policy documents, organizational structures, and coordination and implementation processes. ARV provision represents the concept of a "crisis scenario", in which reforms are pushed due to a perception of urgent need, whereas the national reproductive health programme, which is older and more integrated, represents a "politics-as-usual scenario".

Evaluability Assessment of an immunization improvement strategy in rural Burkina Faso: intervention theory versus reality, information need and evaluations.

An innovative immunization improvement strategy was proposed by the CRSN (Centre de Recherche en Santé de Nouna) to improve the low coverage rate for children aged 0-11 months in the health district of Nouna in Burkina Faso. This article reports on the Evaluability Assessment (EA) study that aimed to orient decisions for its evaluation in close relationship with the information needs of the stakeholders. Various methods were used, including document reviews, individual interviews, focus group discussions, meetings, literature reviews and site visits.

The Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) in Nouna, Burkina Faso, 1993-2007.

The Nouna Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) is located in rural Burkina Faso and has existed since 1992. Currently, it has about 78,000 inhabitants. It is a member of the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH), a global network of members who conducts longitudinal health and demographic evaluation of populations in low- and middle-income countries.

Seasonal patterns of cardiovascular disease mortality of adults in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Objective: To evaluate seasonal patterns of cardiovascular death in adults, which are possibly influenced by hot and dry climate, in a rural setting of Burkina Faso.

Methods: Cause of death was ascertained by verbal autopsy. Age-specific death rates (cardiovascular death and all-cause) by month of death were calculated.

Decreasing childhood mortality and increasing proportion of malaria deaths in rural Burkina Faso.

Background: Malaria is the leading cause of death among children less than five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), however, precise estimates on the burden of malaria are lacking. The aim of this study was to describe temporal trends for malaria and all-cause mortality by combining a series of clinical and intervention studies conducted in Burkina Faso.

Methods: Data from a demographic surveillance system was used to follow-up children under five years who participated in five observational and intervention studies between June 1999 and December 2004 in rural north-western Burkina Faso.

Portrait of a lengthy vaccination trajectory in Burkina Faso: from cultural acceptance of vaccines to actual immunization.

Background: The global recognition of vaccination is strongly related to the fact that it has proved in the past able to dramatically reduce the incidence of certain diseases. Nevertheless, reactions regarding the practice of vaccination still vary among communities, affecting the worldwide vaccination coverage. Numerous studies, conducted from varying perspectives, have focused on explaining this active refusal or resistance to vaccination.

Assessment of factors associated with complete immunization coverage in children aged 12-23 months: a cross-sectional study in Nouna district, Burkina Faso.

Background: The Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) is still in need of improvement. In Burkina Faso in 2003, for example, the Nouna health district had an immunization coverage rate of 31.5%, compared to the national rate of 52%.

Comparative cost analysis of insecticide-treated net delivery strategies: sales supported by social marketing and free distribution through antenatal care.

Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) are effective in substantially reducing malaria transmission. Still, ITN coverage in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains extremely low. Policy makers are concerned with identifying the most suitable delivery mechanism to achieve rapid yet sustainable increases in ITN coverage.

Community health insurance in sub-Saharan Africa: what operational difficulties hamper its successful development?

In recent years, a number of reviews have generated evidence on the potential of community health insurance (CHI) to increase access to care and offer financial protection against the cost of illness for poor people excluded from formal insurance systems. Field experience, however, shows that in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), a series of operational difficulties still hampers the successful development of CHI, yielding negative effects on potential progress towards increased access to care and improved financial protection. Through a careful assessment of the existing literature, including peer-reviewed articles, books, consultancy reports, and manuscripts from international organizations, we produce an analytical review of such difficulties.

[Evaluation of transfer of knowledge about malaria by health professionals to patients' mothers in Nouna, Burkina Faso].

To reduce the infant mortality rate associated with malaria, the WHO recommends preventive home treatment by antimalarial drugs for all children with fever. This practice requires some medical knowledge by mothers who want to treat their children. In Burkina Faso, the main source of the transmission of such knowledge and skills is the interaction between health professionals and mothers during consultations for their children.