Measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood?
A recent Nature article modelled within-country inequalities in primary, secondary, and tertiary education and forecast progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to education (SDG 4). However, their paper entirely overlooks inequalities in achieving Target 4.2, which aims to achieve universal access to quality early childhood development, care and preschool education by 2030. This […]
A comparative human rights analysis of laws and policies for adolescent contraception in Uganda and Kenya
Background: Improving access to adolescent contraception information and services is essential to reduce unplanned adolescent pregnancies and maternal mortality in Uganda and Kenya, and attain the SDGs on health and gender equality. This research studies to what degree national laws and policies for adolescent contraception in Uganda and Kenya are consistent with WHO standards and […]
Use of chicken eggshell to improve dietary calcium intake in rural sub-Saharan Africa
Undernutrition resulting from inadequate access to high-quality, nutritious food is a widespread issue in sub-Saharan Africa impacting the health and survival of mothers and their children. Inadequate dietary intake leads to a deficiency in nutrients including calcium, required for growth and physiological functioning. This study investigated the potential of increasing dietary calcium intake by the […]
Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015
Background Improving survival and extending the longevity of life for all populations requires timely, robust evidence on local mortality levels and trends. The Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study (GBD 2015) provides a comprehensive assessment of all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2015. These results informed […]
“We Are Having a Huge Problem with Compliance”: Exploring Preconception Care Utilization in South Africa
Background: Preconception care (PCC), a policy directive from the World Health Organ-isation (WHO), comprises all the health interventions offered to women and couples before con-ception and is intended to improve their overall health status and the pregnancy outcomes. Alt-hough PCC should be an essential part of maternal and child health services in most African coun-tries, […]
Determinants of Dietary Diversity Practice among Pregnant Women in the Gurage Zone, Southern Ethiopia, 2021: Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study
Background. Dietary diversification is considered the proxy indicator of dietary quality and nutrient adequacy during pregnancy. Pregnant women have been considered susceptible to malnutrition because of their increased nutrient demands and thus consuming a variety of foods in their diet plays a lion’s role in ensuring adequate nutrient intake. So understanding bottleneck factors associated with […]
Hierarchical disentanglement of contextual from compositional risk factors of diarrhoea among under-five children in low- and middle-income countries
Several studies have documented the burden and risk factors associated with diarrhoea in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). To the best of our knowledge, the contextual and compositional factors associated with diarrhoea across LMIC were poorly operationalized, explored and understood in these studies. We investigated multilevel risk factors associated with diarrhoea among under-five children in […]
The effect of an interactive weekly mobile phone messaging on retention in prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV program: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (WELTEL PMTCT)
Background: Improving retention in prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programs is critical to optimize maternal and infant health outcomes, especially now that lifelong treatment is immediate regardless of CD4 cell count). The WelTel strategy of using weekly short message service (SMS) to engage patients in care in Kenya, where mobile coverage […]
Micronutrient status among pregnant women in zinder, niger and risk factors associated with deficiency
Anemia and micronutrient (MN) deficiencies in pregnant women are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. In Niger, 58.6% of pregnant women are anemic, however, MN statuses are unknown. The study objectives were to estimate the prevalence of MN deficiencies among pregnant women in Zinder, Niger and explore associated risk factors. Pregnant women living in randomly selected […]
An ethnographic study of how health system, socio-cultural and individual factors influence uptake of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in a Ghanaian context
Background Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria among pregnant women with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP), is one of the three recommended interventions for the prevention of malaria in pregnancy (MiP) in sub-Sahara Africa. The World Health Organisation recommended in 2012 that SP be given at each scheduled ANC visit except during the first trimester and can be given […]
