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Addressing payment challenges faced by front-line health care workers in LMICs — a call for research to incentivize better patient care

A person receiving a Digitial payment via a cell phone

The conceptual model detailed in this Commentary in BMJ Global Health illustrates how payment digitation for health care workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) could help to improve health systems, and incentivize more streamlined, effective patient care. Five of the Commentary authors are Harvard Pop Center affiliates, including former PGDA Fellow Margaret McConnell, and faculty affiliates Sebastian Bauhoff, Kevin Croke, Stéphane Verguet, and Marcia Castro.

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Pregnant women exposed to increased threat of eviction within their county at greater risk of premature birth, lower birth weight

Eviction notice taped to a door

Harvard Pop Center graduate student affiliate Aayush Khadka, MS, faculty member Margaret McConnell, PhD, and colleagues Günther Fink, PhD, and Ashley Gromis, PhD, have published a paper that advances the growing body of evidence linking threatened evictions with poor health outcomes. Photo: David Jackmanson on Flickr

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Adolescents identifying as sexual minority found to be 3 times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual peers

Group of teens at gay pride parade

Three researchers affiliated with the Harvard Pop Center* are among the authors of a study in Pediatrics that looked at changes in US adolescent reported sexual orientation and suicide attempts by sexual orientation from 2009–2017. Authors on the study include: Julia Raifman, Brittany M. Charlton, Renata Arrington-Sanders, Philip A. Chan, Jack Rusley, Kenneth H. Mayer*, Michael D. Stein, S. Bryn Austin* and Margaret McConnell*. Photo: Seven Seas of Rhye on…

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Margaret McConnell promoted to associate professor of global health economics

Congratulations to Harvard Pop Center faculty member Margaret McConnell on her promotion to associate professor of global health economics in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. A former PGDA Fellow at the Harvard Pop Center, Dr. McConnell’s research combines behavioral economics with field and laboratory experiments to better understand and evaluate policies designed to change health behaviors, with a specific…

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Medical symptoms of girls in sub-Saharan Africa found to be under reported by parents

Harvard Pop Center faculty member Margaret McConnell, PhD, is co-author on a paper that has found that parents appear to under report the symptoms of girls, which could be linked to their poorer health outcomes. The study is published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Photo: Rod Waddington on Flickr

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To reduce maternal mortality, community cash transfers may be more effective than household

Harvard Pop Center faculty members Jessica Cohen, PhD, and Margaret McConnell, PhD, are authors on a paper published in Social Science & Medicine that examines the effectiveness of different types of cash transfer programs in reducing maternal mortality. The researchers suggest that both community and household cash transfer programs need to be better designed and implemented to maximize impact. Photo: www.401kcalculator.org

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Postnatal health checkups at home by community health workers benefit mothers and babies in Kenya

Harvard Pop Center faculty members Margaret McConnell, PhD, and Jessica Cohen, PhD, are authors on a study published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth that suggests that home visits by community health workers within first three days of child birth are an effective and affordable way to help new mothers flag postnatal health issues for themselves and their babies, and make it more likely that they seek care. Photo: Diana Robinson,…

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