The Use of Design Thinking in MNCH Programs: A Case Study of the Care Community Hub (CCH) Pilot, Ghana




Responding to growing interest among designers, global health practitioners, and funders in understanding the potential benefits of applying design thinking methods and tools to solving complex social problems, the Innovations for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) Initiative piloted innovative interventions to address common barriers to improving the effectiveness of basic health services in low-resource settings. Central to the initiative’s overall strategy was experimentation and learning related to the application of “design thinking,” a form of inquiry that is applied in the conceptual stages of a planning process and subsequent stages of program or product development. In spite of increased reports of the use of design thinking in developing-country settings, there is little systematically documented evidence of the value of these approaches in the form of in-depth documentation or formal evaluations that link design thinking to health program performance or health outcomes. Moreover, there are few validated metrics to assess the effect of design thinking.

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