Community engagement supports maternal health care attitudes and utilisation: mixed-method evaluation evidence from the CONNECT Initiative in Lao PDR.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Maternal health has made important gains globally over the past decades, but it remains a pressing health priority that is facing diminishing returns from conventional policy instruments. Community engagement approaches hold great promise through their focus on social and contextual determinants of maternal health. This study explores the short-term effects of a relational community engagement intervention which foregrounded trust and relationships between communities and local healthcare providers as important social determinants: the Community Network Engagement for Essential Healthcare and COVID-19 Responses Through Trust (CONNECT) Initiative in Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR).

Methods

We studied the short-term effects of the CONNECT Initiative on health

SUBMITTER: Haenssgen MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12542032 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature