Using community-based, participatory qualitative research to identify determinants of routine vaccination drop-out for children under 2 in Lilongwe and Mzimba North Districts, Malawi.

Objective: In recent years, full childhood routine immunisation coverage has fallen by 5% to levels not seen since 2008; between 2019 and 2021, 67 million children were undervaccinated. We aimed to identify and describe the determinants of vaccination drop-out from the perspectives of caregivers and health workers in Malawi.

Design: We used a community-based participatory research approach to collect data through photo elicitation, short message service exchanges, in-depth interviews and observations.

Bi-directional drones to strengthen healthcare provision: experiences and lessons from Madagascar, Malawi and Senegal.

Drones are increasingly being used globally for the support of healthcare programmes. Madagascar, Malawi and Senegal are among a group of early adopters piloting the use of bi-directional transport drones for health systems in sub-Saharan Africa. This article presents the experiences as well as the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) of these country projects.

Impact of pharmacy worker training and deployment on access to essential medicines for children under five in Malawi: a cluster quasi-experimental evaluation.

Background: Poor access to essential medicines is common in many low- and middle-income countries, partly due to an insufficient and inadequately trained workforce to manage the medicines supply chain. We conducted a prospective impact evaluation of the training and deployment of pharmacy assistants (PAs) to rural health centers in Malawi.

Methods: A quasi-experimental design was used to compare access to medicines in two districts where newly trained PAs were deployed to health centers (intervention) and two districts with no trained PAs at health centers (comparison).

Impact of pharmacy worker training and deployment on access to essential medicines and health outcomes in Malawi: protocol for a cluster quasi-experimental evaluation.

Background: Access to essential medicines is core to saving lives and improving health outcomes of people worldwide, particularly in the low- and middle-income countries. Having a trained pharmacy workforce to manage the supply chain and safely dispense medicines is critical to ensuring timely access to quality pharmaceuticals and improving child health outcomes.

Methods/design: This study measures the impact of an innovative pharmacy assistant training program in the low-income country of Malawi on access to medicines and health outcomes.