Integrating a Package of Home-Based Early Childhood Interventions into Existing Community Health Worker Protocols in South Africa: A Cluster-Randomized Trial

Denise Evans from the Wits Health Consortium (Pty) Ltd. in South Africa in collaboration with Peter Rockers from Boston University will evaluate the impact and sustainability of a combined health care package for families offered by community health workers in the home to improve child health in South Africa. The package includes methods that are known to be effective on their own but have never been evaluated in combination including cognitive behavioral therapy for maternal depression and teaching parents new ways to engage and stimulate their children to boost their cognitive and emotional development. They will integrate the package into the current community health worker program for ease of delivery direct to people's homes, and evaluate it using a pilot cluster-randomized trial involving 2000 households and 100 community health workers.