Assessing the costs and health outcomes of the WHO Caregivers Skills Training Programme in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Sub-Saharan African families with children with developmental disabilities (DD) experience severe challenges, including social isolation, stigma, and poverty (1, 2). Most children with DD remain unidentified and receive no formal support due to scarce skilled human resources (3). This remains a major barrier to scaling up health care services for children with DD (4).
The World health Organization (WHO) developed the Caregiver Skill Training (CST) programme for families with children with DD to address the treatment gap and access and quality of these services (5). The WHO Caregivers Skills (CST) Training programme aims to improve the well-being and mental health of children with developmental disabilities and their caregivers and is an integral part of the SPARK project (6).
Angela's PhD project aims to establish the costs and health benefits of implementing the WHO CST programme in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Project Phases
Phase 1: Cost Analysis of the WHO CST Programme
The cost analysis will estimate the costs of delivering the WHO CST programme in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Phase 2: Cost-effectiveness Analysis of the WHO CST Programme
Phase 3: Budget Impact Analysis of Implementing the WHO CST Programme
References
Tilahun D, Hanlon C, Fekadu A, Tekola B, Baheretibeb Y, Hoekstra RA. Stigma, explanatory models and unmet needs of caregivers of children with developmental disorders in a low-income African country: a cross-sectional facility-based survey. BMC health services research. 2016;16(1):1-12.
Tekola B, Baheretibeb Y, Roth I, Tilahun D, Fekadu A, Hanlon C, et al. Challenges and opportunities to improve autism services in low-income countries: lessons from a situational analysis in Ethiopia. Global mental health. 2016;3.
Ruparelia K, Abubakar A, Badoe E, Bakare M, Visser K, Chugani DC, et al. Autism spectrum disorders in Africa: Current challenges in identification, assessment, and treatment: A report on the International Child Neurology Association Meeting on ASD in Africa, Ghana, April 3-5, 2014. Journal of child neurology. 2016;31(8):1018-26.
Patel V, Kieling C, Maulik PK, Divan G. Improving access to care for children with mental disorders: a global perspective. Archives of disease in childhood. 2013;98(5):323-7.
Keynejad RC, Dua T, Barbui C, Thornicroft G. WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) Intervention Guide: a systematic review of evidence from low and middle-income countries. Evidence-based mental health. 2018;21(1):30-4.
Salomone E, Settanni M, McConachie H, Suma K, Ferrara F, Foletti G, et al. Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the WHO Caregiver Skills Training in Public Health Services in Italy. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 2021:1-15.
About Angela
Angela has a background in Public Health, Health Economics and Medicine in the public and private health sectors. She received a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from Kampala International University and holds a Master of Business Administration (Health Management and Leadership) from the United States International University in Kenya as well as a Master of Public Health from the University of Cape Town. Her current work is focusing on the economic evaluation of healthcare interventions, healthcare financing and health systems and policy research.