Last Updated
April 2014
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The information in this profile reflects feedback from this model’s developer as of the above date. The description of the implementation of the model here, including any adaptations, may differ from how it was implemented in the studies reviewed to determine this model’s evidence of effectiveness. Inclusion in the implementation report does not mean the practices described meet the DHHS criteria for evidence of effectiveness.
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Implementation Support
The Philani Child Health & Nutrition Project, an international nongovernmental organization, administers the Philani Outreach Programme, a home visiting program, in coordination with the South African government’s health care system.
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Theoretical Model
Philani means be healthy in isiXhosa, the mother tongue of most of Philani’s mothers and staff. The Philani Outreach Programme is designed to alleviate child malnutrition and other child health and development problems in South Africa’s informal settlements. It is modeled after the Nurse Family Partnership home visiting program and World Vision’s Positive Deviance/Hearth malnutrition program. The program builds on existing community expertise by recruiting “positive deviants,” women who have raised well-nourished and healthy children despite living in poverty. Through the Philani Outreach Programme, the positive deviant women, known as outreach workers or mentor mothers, share their experiences with and support other women in the community around issues related to child health. After observing that many of the malnourished children served had been born with low birth weights and noting an increasing prevalence of HIV-positive pregnant women, Philani Outreach Programme added a component to support healthy pregnancies, called the Mother-To-Be Program.
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Target Population
Among those living in South Africa’s informal settlements, the program seeks to identify and serve all pregnant women; malnourished children; and children at risk of malnutrition, abuse, neglect or HIV/ AIDS.
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Targeted Outcomes
The Philani Outreach Programme aims to improve child and maternal nutrition and health and prevent the mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The Mother-To-Be Program component aims to improve the nutrition of pregnant women and thus the birth weight of their children, and prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
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Program Model Components
Outreach workers, also called mentor mothers, identify families with malnourished children in their communities and invite them to participate in the home visiting program. The outreach workers share their own experiences and educate the women on health issues. They also foster mothers’ coping skills and empower them to identify the resources they need to care for their children. The outreach workers refer children who need additional medical attention to the local medical clinics.
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Program Model Intensity and Length
No information is available.
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Location
The Philani Outreach Programme currently serves more than 4,500 women and children living in informal settlements of Cape Town and the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Pilot programs have been initiated in Swaziland and Ethiopia.
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Adaptations and Enhancements
No information is available.
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Notes
The information contained on this page was last updated in April 2014. Recommended Further Reading lists the sources for this information.
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