Millennium development health metrics: Where do Africa’s children and women of childbearing age live?
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have prompted an expansion in approaches to deriving health metrics to measure progress toward their achievement. Accurate measurements should take into account the high degrees of spatial heterogeneity in health risks across countries, and this has prompted the development of sophisticated cartographic techniques for mapping and modeling risks. Conversion of […]
Decomposing multidimensional child poverty and its drivers in the Mouhoun region of Burkina Faso, West Africa
Background: The global poverty profile shows that Africa and Asia bear the highest burden of multidimensional child poverty. Child survival and development therefore depend on socioeconomic and environmental factors that surround a child.The aim of this paper is to measure multidimensional child poverty and underpin what drives it among children aged 5 to 18 years […]
Measuring the capacity utilization of public district hospitals in Tunisia: Using dual data envelopment analysis approach
Background: Public district hospitals (PDHs) in Tunisia are not operating at full plant capacity and underutilize their operating budget. Methods: Individual PDHs capacity utilization (CU) is measured for 2000 and 2010 using dual data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach with shadow prices input and output restrictions. The CU is estimated for 101 of 105 PDH in […]
Magnitude and associated factors of postpartum depression among women in Nekemte town, East Wollega zone, west Ethiopia, 2019: A community-based study
Background Postpartum depression is a non-psychotic disorder that happens during the first 1year after childbirth. It affects both the mother’s health and child’s development and is given significant public health concern in developed countries. However, in developing countries including Ethiopia, postnatal care is mainly concerned with obstetric problems and the baby’s health, while the psychological […]
Nutrition assessment of under-five children in Sudan: Tracking the achievement of the global nutrition targets
Background: Malnutrition places a heavy burden on the health, well-being, and sustainable development of populations in Sudan, especially a country affected by conflict, which continues to experience high levels of food insecurity, undernutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies; 3.3 million are acutely malnourished, with 522,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition and approximately 2.2 million children requiring […]
Use of the creating opportunities for parent empowerment programme to decrease mental health problems in Ugandan children surviving severe malaria: a randomized controlled trial
Background: Severe malaria is associated with long-term mental health problems in Ugandan children. This study investigated the effect of a behavioural intervention for caregivers of children admitted with severe malaria, on the children’s mental health outcomes 6 months after discharge. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted at Naguru Hospital in Kampala, Uganda from January 2018 […]
Growth of young HIV-infected and HIV-exposed children in western Kenya: A retrospective chart review
Introduction The objective of this study was to determine the growth patterns, rates of malnutrition, and factors associated with malnutrition in children born to HIV-infected mothers in western Kenya using data from an electronic medical record system. Methods This study was a retrospective chart review of HIV-infected (HIV+) and–exposed (HEU) children (
Preparedness for and impact of COVID-19 on primary health care delivery in urban and rural Malawi: a mixed methods study
Objective Across Africa, the impact of COVID-19 continues to be acutely felt. This includes Malawi, where a key component of health service delivery to mitigate against COVID-19 are the primary healthcare facilities, strategically placed throughout districts to offer primary and maternal healthcare. These facilities have limited infrastructure and capacity but are the most accessible and […]
Mapping tuberculosis treatment outcomes in Ethiopia
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death from an infectious disease in Ethiopia, killing more than 30 thousand people every year. This study aimed to determine whether the rates of poor TB treatment outcome varied geographically across Ethiopia at district and zone levels and whether such variability was associated with socioeconomic, behavioural, health […]
Impact of adversity on early childhood growth & development in rural India: Findings from the early life stress sub-study of the SPRING cluster randomised controlled trial (SPRING-ELS)
Introduction Early childhood development is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and can be negatively influenced by many different adversities including violence in the home, neglect, abuse and parental ill-health. We set out to quantify the extent to which multiple adversities are associated with impaired early childhood growth & development. Methods This was a […]