Health Knowledge and Behavior Augmentation
RCTReview
Low household health literacy and inadequate adoption of simple preventive and curative practices lead to high rates of preventable childhood mortality from endemic conditions like malaria and diarrhea.
Picture this
Regular home visits combined with accessible product sales educate families at their doorstep. Experiencing clear explanations and immediate access to tools like water purification tablets or bed nets transforms health literacy into daily home routines.
What the evidence says
Untreated water knowledge grew by 11% (41.4% vs 37.3%), zinc knowledge for diarrhea grew by 16% (26.3% vs 22.7%), malaria etiology knowledge grew by 38% (9.8% vs 7.1%), water treatment behavior reached 81.2% vs 77.4%, net usage reached 45.3% vs 40.2%, and oral rehydration salts/zinc treatment reached 38.1% vs 32.8%.
- Who was studied
- ~7,000 households and >11,000 children across 214 rural villages in Uganda.
- How
- Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) evaluating changes in health knowledge and self-reported health-promoting behaviors 3 years post-implementation.
What to do
Combine door-to-door health education with immediate access to affordable preventive and curative commodities to simultaneously improve household health knowledge and daily health behaviors.
From the source
"The CHP program improved health knowledge and health promoting behavior, especially concerning malaria and diarrhea."
in-the-business-of-saving-lives.pdf