Willing but unable? Extending theory to investigate community capacity to participate in Ghana’s community-based health planning and service implementation
While primary health care programmes based on community participation are widely implemented in low- and middle- income settings, empirical evidence on whether and to what extent local people have the capacity to participate, support and drive such programmes scale up is scant in these countries. This paper assessed the level of community capacity to participate […]
Factors associated with prelacteal feeding practices in a rural Northern nigerian setting
Introduction: Prelacteal feeding practice contravenes the recommendation of World Health Organisation that breastfeeding be initiated within an hour of childbirth. Consequently, the health, social, emotional and economic benefits of optimal breastfeeding are limited. Therefore, to break this vicious cycle of prelacteal feeding and suboptimal breastfeeding, factors associated with the practice must be identified. Objective: To […]
Quality Improvement Interventions for Early HIV Infant Diagnosis in Northeastern Uganda
Introduction. Early infant diagnosis (EID) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ensures prompt treatment and infant survival. In Kaabong Hospital, 20% of HIV exposed infants (HEIs) had access to HIV diagnosis by eight weeks. We aimed to improve EID of HIV by deoxyribonucleic acid-polymerase chain reaction (DNA-PCR) testing by eight weeks from 20 to 100% between […]
Maternal health care services utilisation in the context of ‘Abiye’ (safe motherhood) programme in Ondo State, Nigeria
Background: The Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) of 2008 show that Ondo State had the worst maternal outcomes in the South Western region of Nigeria. To address this problem, the “Abiye” (safe motherhood) programme – which included community engagement, health system strengthening and user fee removal – was implemented by the state government. We […]
Individual, maternal and household risk factors for anaemia among young children in sub-Saharan Africa: A cross-sectional study
Objective Anaemia affects the majority of children in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Previous studies of risk factors for anaemia have been limited by sample size, geography and the association of many risk factors with poverty. In order to measure the relative impact of individual, maternal and household risk factors for anaemia in young children, we analysed […]
Towards achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3: multilevel analyses of demographic and health survey data on health insurance coverage and maternal healthcare utilisation in sub-Saharan Africa
BACKGROUND: Improving maternal health and achieving universal health coverage (UHC) are important expectations in the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda. While health insurance has been shown as effective in the utilisation of maternal healthcare, there is a paucity of literature on this relationship in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We examined the relationship between health insurance […]
Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy: A new delivery system and its effect on maternal health and pregnancy outcomes in Uganda
Objective: To assess whether traditional birth attendants, drug-shop vendors, community reproductive-health workers, or adolescent peer mobilizers could administer intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp) for malaria with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine to pregnant women. Methods: A non-randomized community trial was implemented in 21 community clusters (intervention) and four clusters where health units provided routine IPTp (control). The primary outcome measures […]
Evaluation of the Direct Health Facility Financing Program in Improving Maternal Health Services in Pangani District, Tanzania
Background: Maternal morbidity and mortality remain significant public health concerns globally, with Tanzania reporting 398 deaths per 100,000 live births annually. While national level data provide some insights into the issue, a focus on sub-national levels is required because of differences in contexts such as rural-urban disparities in maternal mortality. This study examined Direct Health […]
Multisite, mixed methods study to validate 10 maternal health system and policy indicators in Argentina, Ghana and India: A research protocol
Introduction Most efforts to assess maternal health indicator validity focus on measures of service coverage. Fewer measures focus on the upstream enabling environment, and such measures are typically not research validated. Thus, methods for validating system and policy-level indicators are not well described. This protocol describes original multicountry research to be conducted in Argentina, Ghana […]
Participating in a Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Intervention Is Not Associated with Less Maternal Time for Care in a Rural Ghanaian District
Background: Nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions may increase farm-related work for mothers, with consequences for child nutrition. The Nutrition Links (NL) intervention provided mothers with poultry, gardening inputs, technical support, and education to improve livelihoods and child nutrition outcomes in rural Ghana. Objectives: Our objective was to compare time allocated to child care by a cross-section […]
