Effect of health facility linkage with community using postnatal card on postnatal home visit coverage and newborn care practices in rural Ethiopia: A controlled quasi-experimental study design

Background Postnatal home visit has the potential to improve maternal and newborn health, but it remains as a missed opportunity in many low-and middle-income countries. This study examines the effect of health extension worker administered postnatal card combined with health facility strengthening intervention on postnatal home visit coverage, newborn care practices, and knowledge of newborn danger signs in rural Ethiopia. Methods We employed quasi-experimental design using controlled before-and-after study in intervention and comparison districts of rural Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Training of health extension workers (HEWs) on postnatal home visit (PNHV), training of healthcare providers on maternal and newborn care, and capacity building of healthcare authorities on leadership, management and governance together with health system strengthening were the implemented interventions. Baseline (n = 705) and end line (n = 980) data were collected from mothers who delivered a year before the commencement of the actual data collection in the respective surveys. We used difference-in-differences (DiD) analysis to assess the effect of the intervention on PNHV coverage, essential newborn care practices and maternal knowledge of newborn danger signs. Results A total of 1685 (100%) mothers participated in this study. In all districts, more than 1/3(rd) of the mothers 633(37.57%) were in the age of 30-39 years. The difference-in-differences estimator showed an average of 23.5% increase in coverage of PNHVs within three days (DiD, p<0.001) and the provision of most postnatal contents significantly increased in the intervention district in the end line survey. The knowledge of at least three danger signs increased by 13.6% (p = 0.012).The DiD estimator showed an average of 27.6% increase to check the mothers for heavy bleeding (DiD, p = 0.011). This study also revealed that the checking of maternal blood pressure increased from 5.8% to 11.8% in the comparison districts and from 9.4% to 93.3% in the intervention district. The difference-in-differences estimator result showed a 9% difference in clean cord care practices among the participants (p = 0.025), 12.2% in skin to skin care (p = 0.022), and borderline significant increase in early initiation of breastfeeding (10.5%, p = 0.051). Conclusion We conclude that the intervention package was effective in improving the coverage of PNHV, increase in knowledge of newborn danger sign and essential newborn care practices. Hence, further strengthening the linkages between health facilities and community is imperative to improve the coverage of essential lifesaving maternal and newborn care services by HEWs at home.