Patient and public involvement
The study was designed and implemented in partnership with national, district and local health officials of the Malian Ministry of Health. Bankass health district was chosen in consultation with the Ministry of Health for three reasons: (1) healthcare utilisation (prenatal and curative consultations) was low and under-5 mortality was high; (2) there were no overlapping interventions by other non-governmental organisations at the time or intended for the period of the trial and (3) local authorities were highly engaged and interested in collaborating on study implementation. Research questions and outcome measures were also chosen in consultation, to answer questions of key concern to government partners for informing the design of the national strategic plan for iCCM scale-up, including whether the intervention is equitable, cost-effective and affordable at scale. Community consultation and permission were sought prior to trial commencement in meetings with representatives of the village clusters, such as village chiefs and their advisories, politico-administrative authorities, religious leaders and representatives of women’s and youth associations. Representatives then communicated with community members via open public meetings. Findings will be disseminated via workshops at all levels of local, regional and national representation.