Informing Reproductive and Child Health Social and Behavior Change Programs: Findings from a household survey in Nepal

In Nepal, SHOPS Plus focuses on building the technical capacity and financial sustainability of the CRS Company, a Nepalese social marketing organization and key USAID partner. CRS leads the Ghar Ghar Maa Swasthya (GGMS), or Healthy Homes project, in 49 urban and rural districts of Nepal (nearly two-thirds of the country) from both hill and mountain regions. The GGMS project aims to increase access to family planning products and improve child health indicators through marketing and distribution of subsidized family planning and child health products. As part of the GGMS project, CRS is implementing community-based social and behavior change activities called the Remote Area Initiative (RAI) in certain parts of four hill districts. The second phase of CRS’ RAI program will focus on social and behavior change activities related to family planning access and choice, diarrhea prevention and treatment, use of antenatal care services and facility delivery, and uterine prolapse prevention and treatment. The RAI program has a variety of social and behavior change components including interpersonal communication and community events. In contrast, the larger GGMS program focuses solely on product marketing and distribution.

SHOPS Plus conducted a knowledge, attitudes, and practices baseline survey in the GGMS and RAI districts.This report presents outcomes from the baseline GGMS and RAI surveys as well as recommendations to inform CRS’ GGMS and RAI programs. Key outcomes included in this report are the modern contraceptive prevalence rate, the percentage of caregivers who used ORS and zinc to treat diarrhea in children under 5, the percentage of pregnant women who attended four or more antenatal care visits, the percentage of women who delivered in health centers, knowledge of hand washing, and the percentage of households that treat their drinking water.