Case review of perinatal deaths at hospitals in Kigali, Rwanda: Perinatal audit with application of a three-delays analysis
Background: Perinatal audit and the three-delays model are increasingly being employed to analyse barriers to perinatal health, at both community and facility level. Using these approaches, our aim was to assess factors that could contribute to perinatal mortality and potentially avoidable deaths at Rwandan hospitals. Methods: Perinatal audits were carried out at two main urban […]
Trends and Determinants of Full Immunisation among Children Aged 12–23 Months: Analysis of Pooled Data from Mozambican Household Surveys between 1997 and 2015
The 1974 Expanded Program on Immunisation has saved millions of children worldwide by promoting full immunisation coverage (FIC). However, forty years later, many sub-Saharan African countries remain well below its target of 90% FIC. This study analysed the level, trends and determinants of FIC in 4322 Mozambican children aged 12–23 months from pooled data from […]
Promoting male involvement to improve PMTCT uptake and reduce antenatal HIV infection: A cluster randomized controlled trial protocol
Background: Despite the availability of a dual therapy treatment protocol and infant feeding guidelines designed to prevent mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, of the over 1 million babies born in South Africa each year, only 70% of those born to HIV positive mothers receive dual therapy. Similar to other resource-poor nations facing the […]
‘The stars seem aligned’: A qualitative study to understand the effects of context on scale-up of maternal and newborn health innovations in Ethiopia, India and Nigeria
Background: Donors commonly fund innovative interventions to improve health in the hope that governments of low and middle-income countries will scale-up those that are shown to be effective. Yet innovations can be slow to be adopted by country governments and implemented at scale. Our study explores this problem by identifying key contextual factors influencing scale-up […]
Effectiveness of a Lay Counselor-Led Combination Intervention for Retention of Mothers and Infants in HIV Care: A Randomized Trial in Kenya
Background:Retention of mothers and infants across the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) continuum remains challenging. We assessed the effectiveness of a lay worker administered combination intervention compared with the standard of care (SOC) on mother-infant attrition.Methods:HIV-positive pregnant women starting antenatal care at 10 facilities in western Kenya were randomized using simple randomization to receive […]
Predictors of differences in health services utilization for children in Nigerian communities
Health service utilization is an important component of child health promotion. Evidence shows that two-thirds of child deaths in low and middle income countries could be prevented if current interventions were adequately utilized. Aim of this study was to identify determinants of variation in health services utilization for children in communities in Nigeria. Multivariable negative […]
Factors associated with maternity waiting home use among women in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia: A multilevel cross-sectional analysis
Objective To identify individual-, household- and community-level factors associated with maternity waiting home (MWH) use in Ethiopia. Design Cross-sectional analysis of baseline household survey data from an ongoing cluster-randomised controlled trial using multilevel analyses. Setting Twenty-four rural primary care facility catchment areas in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia. Participants 3784 women who had a pregnancy outcome (live […]
The effect of maternal and child factors on stunting, wasting and underweight among preschool children in Northern Ghana
Background: Undernutrition among preschool children in Northern region is the highest in Ghana. However, there is scarcity of data on the factors that determine undernutrition in these children. This study investigated the effect of maternal and child factors on undernutrition among preschool children in Northern Ghana. Methods: This study was a community based analytical cross-sectional […]
Assessing program coverage of two approaches to distributing a complementary feeding supplement to infants and young children in Ghana
The work reported here assesses the coverage achieved by two sales-based approaches to distributing a complementary food supplement (KOKO Plus™) to infants and young children in Ghana. Delivery Model 1 was conducted in the Northern Region of Ghana and used a mixture of health extension workers (delivering behavior change communications and demand creation activities at […]
A mixed-methods study of factors influencing access to and use of micronutrient powders in Rwanda
The World Health Organization recommends point-of-use fortification with multiple micronutrients powder (MNP) for foods consumed by children aged 6–23 months in populations where anemia prevalence among children under 2 years or under 5 years of age is 20% or higher. In Rwanda, anemia affects 37% of children under 5 years. The MNP program was implemented […]
