Sampling method
WEST
There were two and three poor-performing subdistricts (in terms of maternal health indicators) in the Sissala East and Sissala West Districts, respectively. Two subdistricts (one from each district) with similar characteristics were randomly selected out of the five sub-districts. The selected subdistrict (Sakai) of the Sissala East District served as the control arm and all functional health facilities and communities within the selected subdistrict were included in the study. The other subdistrict (Jawia) selected from the Sissala West district served as the intervention arm and again all health facilities and communities were included in the study. Women for the study were selected from communities directly served by the health facilities in the selected subdistricts. Since there were no community-specific population records, the number of women recruited for the study was evenly distributed among the communities. Trained female educators and enumerators were engaged in recruiting and interviewing women. In each community, enumerators worked with the Community Health Officer (CHO) and Community-Based Volunteers to identify and list all eligible women for the study. From this list, a random selection process was used to arrive at the sample size required for the study.