Understanding health innovation adoption: a realist evaluation of pulse oximeter implementation in primary care for children under 5 in four West African countries.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Hypoxaemia is an important contributor to child mortality, particularly in low-resource settings where diagnostic tools are scarce. The Améliorer l'Identification des détresses Respiratoires chez l'Enfant project introduced pulse oximeters (POs) into 202 primary healthcare centres (PHCs) in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger, integrating them into the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness guidelines. This initiative aimed to strengthen diagnostic capacities for identifying hypoxaemia and to improve care management for critically ill children under 5. This study examined how healthcare workers (HCWs) adopted POs and explored the contexts and mechanisms influencing their adoption.

Methods

We conducted a realist evaluation to analyse adoption patterns, focus

SUBMITTER: Louart S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12684202 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature