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OVC and Community IMCI – Malawi
At the invitation of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Malawi, D-tree is participating in the USAID funded ‘Integrated (HIV Effect) Mitigation and Positive Action for Community Transformation’ (IMPACT) project, which is designed to improve the quality of life of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and people living with HIV (PLHIV) in targeted districts of Malawi. D-tree’s main role within the IMPACT project is to develop the following two mobile-phone applications: Child Status Index (CSI) and Community Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (C-IMCI).
Child Status Index (CSI) application
The Child Status Index (CSI) is a tool developed with USAID and PEPFAR support to assess the wellbeing of vulnerable children. It is based on six domains, such as wellness and education, with 12 measurable goals on which a child is scored in a range of 4 (good) to 1 (very poor). If a child scores very low on a certain goal (score = 1), a plan of action is made to assist the child. Within the IMPACT program the CSI tool is undertaken every six months by Family Care Volunteers to assess the wellbeing of children in all registered beneficiary households of the program. The mobile application implements the Child Status Index tool (both in English and the local language Chichewa) and especially supports users in making decisions about appropriate actions for children scoring low on a particular domain, as well as following up on children who were referred somewhere for assistance.
C-IMCI application
The Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) is an effective model for facility-based management of the most common causes of childhood morbidity and mortality. Community-IMCI (C-IMCI) takes this methodology further by training community members to recognize and refer children exhibiting danger signs or serious illness, while treating those with basic morbidities at community level. The Ministry of Health in Malawi trains Health Surveillance Assistants (community health workers Malawi’s public health service) on C-IMCI to open ‘village clinics’ in their communities, which are typically in hard-to-reach areas. The mobile application implements the C-IMCI protocol as defined by the Government of Malawi and in that way offers decision support to the Health Surveillance Assistants who are working in their communities to promote good health.
The IMPACT project is supported by USAID.
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