ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2018
Correlates of the Women's Development Army strategy implementation strength with household reproductive, maternal, newborn and child healthcare practices: a cross-sectional study in four regions of Ethiopia.
Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
57 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Men's knowledge of obstetrics danger sign and associated factors in low-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- How and why do women's groups (WGs) improve the quality of maternal and child health (MCH) care? A systematic review of the literature.BMJ open · 2022Pooled it
- Contribution of women's development army to maternal and child health in Ethiopia: a systematic review of evidence.BMJ open · 2019Pooled it
- Effect of behavioural change communication through women development army on optimal complementary feeding practice among children aged 6-23 months in Southwest Ethiopia: a cluster randomized controlled trial.Nutrition journal · 2025Trial
- Effect of complementary feeding behaviour change communication delivered through community-level actors on infant growth and morbidity in rural communities of West Gojjam Zone, Northwest Ethiopia: A cluster-randomized controlled trial.Maternal & child nutrition · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Article
- Gender-based violence policies and practices in humanitarian settings: a qualitative policy analysis, North Ethiopia.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Pertussis outbreak investigation, associated risk factors, and evaluation of intervention effectiveness in Sayient Woreda, South Wollo Zone, Northwest Ethiopia: A case-control study.SAGE open medicine · 2026Article
- Uptake of second dose measles containing vaccine and associated factors among children aged 24-35 months in central Ethiopia: a community based cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Barriers to completion of maternal and neonatal continuum of care services in Assosa Zone, north-western Ethiopia.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2025Article
- Healthcare-Seeking Behaviour for Obstetric Complications in Ethiopia: A Multilevel Mixed-Effect Analysis.Health services insights · 2025Article
- Global trends and health system impact on polycystic ovary syndrome: a comprehensive analysis of age-stratified females from 1990 to 2021.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2025Article
- Learning from Ethiopia's success in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality through a health systems lens.BMJ global health · 2024Article
- Age-appropriate vaccination and associated factors among children aged 12-35 months in Ethiopia: A multi-level analysis.PloS one · 2024Article
- Policies for expanding family planning coverage: lessons from five successful countries.Frontiers in public health · 2024Review
- Sustaining women's empowerment for development in resource-limited settings: an exploratory qualitative approach.Frontiers in health services · 2024Article
- Postnatal care utilization and associated factors among women who gave birth within the last 12 months in northwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study.The Pan African medical journal · 2024Article
- Urban-rural disparities and change in postnatal care use from 2016 to 2019 in Ethiopia: Multivariate decomposition analysis.PloS one · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTo address the shortfall in human resources for health, Ethiopia launched the Health Extension Program (HEP) in 2004, establishing a health post with two female health extension workers (HEWs) in every kebele (community). In 2011, the Women's Development Army (WDA) strategy was added, using networks of neighboring women to increase the efficiency of HEWs in reaching every household, with one WDA team leader for every 30 households. Through the strategy, women in the community, in partnership with HEWs, share and learn about health practices and empower one another. This study assessed the association between the WDA strategy implementation strength and household reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health care behaviors and practices.
methodsUsing cross-sectional household surveys and community-level contextual data from 423 kebeles representing 145 rural districts, an internal comparison group design was applied to assess whether HEP outreach activity and household-level care practices were better in kebeles with a higher WDA density. The density of active WDA leaders was considered as WDA strategy implementation strength; higher WDA density in a kebele indicating relatively high implementation strength. Based on this, kebeles were classified as higher, moderate, or lower. Multilevel logit models, adjusted for respondents' individual, household and contextual characteristics, were used to assess the associations of WDA strategy implementation strength with outcome indicators of interest.
resultsAverage numbers of households per active WDA team leader in the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles of the kebeles studied were respectively 41, 50 and 73. WDA density was associated with better service for six of 13 indicators considered (p < 0.05). For example, kebeles with one active WDA team leader for up to 40 households (higher category) had respectively 7 (95% CI, 2, 13), 11 (5, 17) and 9 (1, 17) percentage-points higher contraceptive prevalence rate, coverage of four or more antenatal care visits, and coverage of institutional deliveries respectively, compared with kebeles with one active WDA team leader for 60 or more households (lower category).
conclusionHigher WDA strategy implementation strength was associated with better health care behaviors and practices, suggesting that the WDA strategy supported HEWs in improving health care services delivery.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.