Is a woman’s first pregnancy outcome related to her years of schooling? An assessment of women’s adolescent pregnancy outcomes and subsequent educational attainment in Ghana
Background: Adolescent pregnancy and childbearing pose challenges to young women’s educational attainment. Studies show that while adolescent childbearing reduces educational attainment, not becoming pregnant and resorting to induced abortion when pregnant increases women’s educational levels. This study examined relationships between adolescents’ resolution of their first pregnancies and subsequent educational outcomes, for all women ages 20-49 […]
Factors associated with delivery outside a health facility: Cross-sectional study in rural Malawi
Objective: To identify factors associated with delivery outside a health facility in rural Malawi. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Balaka, Dedza, Mchinji and Ntcheu districts in Malawi in 2013 among women who had completed a pregnancy 12 months prior to the day of the survey. Multilevel logistic regression was used to assess factors associated […]
Community attitudes and gendered influences on decision making around contraceptive implant use in rural Papua New Guinea
Background: Despite targeted interventions to improve contraceptive implant acceptability and uptake in rural Papua New Guinea (PNG), ongoing use of this method remains limited. Previous literature has suggested community attitudes and intrinsic factors within the decision-making process may be negatively impacting on implant uptake, however these elements have not previously been studied in detail in […]
Health system, socio-cultural, economic, environmental and individual factors influencing bed net use in the prevention of malaria in pregnancy in two Ghanaian regions
Background: Improving maternal health remains a priority to the Ghanaian government. Consequently, it has implemented the World Health Organization recommendation of distributing free long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) to pregnant women-one of the effective strategies to combating malaria in pregnancy. However, the burden of negative outcomes of malaria in pregnancy such as low birth weight and […]
Reducing routine vaccination dropout rates: Evaluating two interventions in three Kenyan districts, 2014
Background: Globally, vaccine preventable diseases are responsible for nearly 20 % of deaths annually among children
Factors affecting malnutrition in children and the uptake of interventions to prevent the condition
Background: Malnutrition is a major cause of child morbidity and mortality. There are several interventions to prevent the condition but it is unclear how well they are taken up by both malnourished and well nourished children and their mothers and the extent to which this is influenced by socio-economic factors. We examined socio-economic factors, health […]
Access to urban acute care services in high- vs. middle-income countries: An analysis of seven cities
Purpose: Cities are expanding rapidly in middle-income countries, but their supply of acute care services is unknown. We measured acute care services supply in seven cities of diverse economic background. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we compared cities from two high-income (Boston, USA and Paris, France), three upper-middle-income (Bogota, Colombia; Recife, Brazil; and Liaocheng, China), […]
Poor newborn care practices – a population based survey in eastern Uganda
Background: Four million neonatal deaths are estimated to occur each year and almost all in low income countries, especially among the poorest. There is a paucity of data on newborn health from sub-Saharan Africa and few studies have assessed inequity in uptake of newborn care practices. We assessed socioeconomic differences in use of newborn care […]
The prevalence and risk factors for acute respiratory infections in children aged 0-59 months in rural Malawi: A cross-sectional study
Background: Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) are a leading cause of childhood mortality and morbidity. Malawi has high childhood mortality but limited data on the prevalence of disease in the community. Methods: A cross-sectional study of children aged 0-59 months. Health passports were examined for ARI diagnoses in the preceding 12 months. Children were physically examined for malnutrition […]
A multilevel analysis of factors associated with teenage pregnancy in ethiopia
Background: A significant number of girls in Ethiopia begin childbearing at an early age. Teenage pregnancy is the main contributor to maternal and child morbidity and mortality, and the vicious cycle of ill-health and poverty. However limited evidence exists about individual-and community-level factors affecting teenage pregnancy in Ethiopia. Methods: This study used data from the […]
