Use of big data and machine learning methods in the monitoring and evaluation of digital health programs in India: An exploratory protocol
Background: Digital health programs, which encompass the subsectors of health information technology, mobile health, electronic health, telehealth, and telemedicine, have the potential to generate “big data.” Objective: Our aim is to evaluate two digital health programs in India-the maternal mobile messaging service (Kilkari) and the mobile training resource for frontline health workers (Mobile Academy). We […]
Lively Minds: improving health and development through play-a randomised controlled trial evaluation of a comprehensive ECCE programme at scale in Ghana
Introduction Many children in developing countries grow up in environments that lack stimulation, leading to deficiencies in early years of development. Several efficacy trials of early childhood care and education (ECCE) programmes have demonstrated potential to improve child development; evidence on whether these effects can be sustained once programmes are scaled is much more mixed. […]
Verbal autopsy interpretation: A comparative analysis of the InterVA model versus physician review in determining causes of death in the Nairobi DSS
Background: Developing countries generally lack complete vital registration systems that can produce cause of death information for health planning in their populations. As an alternative, verbal autopsy (VA) – the process of interviewing family members or caregivers on the circumstances leading to death – is often used by Demographic Surveillance Systems to generate cause of […]
Association of Care Environment with HIV Incidence and Death among Orphaned, Separated, and Street-Connected Children and Adolescents in Western Kenya
Importance: In 2015, there were nearly 140 million orphaned children globally, particularly in low- and middle-income regions, and millions more for whom the street is central to their everyday lives. A total of 16.6 million children were orphaned because of deaths associated with HIV/AIDS, of whom 90% live in sub-Saharan Africa. Although most orphaned and […]
Impact of 1% chlorhexidine gluconate bathing and emollient application on bacterial pathogen colonization dynamics in hospitalized preterm neonates – A pilot clinical trial
Background: Chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) body washes and emollient application may modulate bacterial pathogen colonization and prevent neonatal hospital-acquired infections. Methods: This pilot, non-randomized, open-label trial, enrolled preterm neonates (1000-1500g; day 1-3 of life) at a tertiary hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Participants were sequentially allocated to 4 trial arms (n=20 each): 1% aqueous CHG […]
Qualitative assessment of community health workers’ perspective on their motivation in community-based primary health care in rural Malawi
Background: Community Health Workers (CHWs) have a positive impact on the provision of community-based primary health care through screening, treatment, referral, psychosocial support, and accompaniment. With a broad scope of work, CHW programs must balance the breadth and depth of tasks to maintain CHW motivation for high-quality care delivery. Few studies have described the CHW […]
Intention to use maternity waiting home and associated factors among pregnant women in Gamo Gofa zone, Southern Ethiopia, 2019
Background A maternity waiting home is a temporary residence in which pregnant women from remote areas wait for their childbirth. It is an approach targeted to advance access to emergency obstetric care services especially, in hard-to-reach areas to escalate institutional delivery to reduce complications that occur during childbirth. Apart from the availability of this service, […]
Low immunization coverage in Wonago district, southern Ethiopia: A community-based cross-sectional study
Introduction Immunization is a cost-effective intervention that prevented more than 5 million deaths worldwide from 2010 to 2015. Despite increased vaccination coverage over the past four decades in many African countries, including Ethiopia, universal coverage has not yet been reached. Only 39% of children aged 12–23 months received full vaccinations in Ethiopia, according to the […]
Impact of monovalent rotavirus vaccine on diarrhoea-associated post-neonatal infant mortality in rural communities in Malawi: a population-based birth cohort study
Background: Rotavirus is a major contributor to child mortality. The effect of rotavirus vaccine on diarrhoea mortality has been estimated in middle-income but not low-income settings, where mortality is high and vaccine effectiveness in reducing admissions to hospital is lower. Empirical population-based mortality studies have not been done in any setting. Malawi introduced monovalent rotavirus […]
Chronic disease outcomes after severe acute malnutrition in Malawian children (ChroSAM): a cohort study
Background Tackling severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is a global health priority. Heightened risk of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in children exposed to SAM at around 2 years of age is plausible in view of previously described consequences of other early nutritional insults. By applying developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) theory to this group, we […]
