Migration and child immunization in Nigeria: Individual- and community-level contexts
Background: Vaccine-preventable diseases are responsible for severe rates of morbidity and mortality in Africa. Despite the availability of appropriate vaccines for routine use on infants, vaccine-preventable diseases are highly endemic throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Widespread disparities in the coverage of immunization programmes persist between and within rural and urban areas, regions and communities in Nigeria. This […]
Prenatal dexamethasone exposure induces changes in nonhuman primate offspring cardiometabolic and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function
Prenatal stress or glucocorticoid administration has persisting “programming” effects on offspring in rodents and other model species. Multiple doses of glucocorticoids are in widespread use in obstetric practice. To examine the clinical relevance of glucocorticoid programming, we gave 50, 120, or 200 μg/kg/d of dexamethasone (dex50, dex120, or dex200) orally from mid-term to a singleton-bearing […]
An agriculture–nutrition intervention improved children’s diet and growth in a randomized trial in Ghana
Stunting in Ghana is associated with rural communities, poverty, and low education; integrated agricultural interventions can address the problem. This cluster randomized controlled trial tested the effect of a 12-month intervention (inputs and training for poultry farming and home gardening, and nutrition and health education) on child diet and nutritional status. Sixteen clusters were identified […]
Introduction of syphilis point-of-care tests, from pilot study to national programme implementation in Zambia: A qualitative study of healthcare workers’ perspectives on testing, training and quality assurance
Syphilis affects 1.4 million pregnant women globally each year. Maternal syphilis causes congenital syphilis in over half of affected pregnancies, leading to early foetal loss, pregnancy complications, stillbirth and neonatal death. Syphilis is under-diagnosed in pregnant women. Point-of-care rapid syphilis tests (RST) allow for same-day treatment and address logistical barriers to testing encountered with standard […]
Evaluating the integration of tuberculosis screening and contact investigation in tuberculosis clinics in Ethiopia: A mixed method study
Background Aligned with global childhood tuberculosis (TB) road map, Ethiopia developed its own in 2015. The key strategies outlined in the Ethiopian roadmap are incorporating TB screening in Integrated Maternal, Neonatal and Child Illnesses (IMNCI) clinic for children under five years (U5) and intensifying contact investigations at TB clinic. However, these strategies have never been […]
Do mothers pick up a phone? A cross-sectional study on delivery of MCH voice messages in Lagos, Nigeria
Background Voice messages have been employed as an effective and efficient approach for increasing health service utilization and health promotion in low- and middle-income countries. However, unlike SMS, voice message services require their users to pick up a phone call at its delivery time. Furthermore, voice messages are difficult for the users to review their […]
Impact of insecticide-treated net ownership on all-cause child mortality in Malawi, 2006-2010
Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) have been shown to be highly effective at reducing malaria morbidity and mortality in children. However, there are limited studies that assess the association between increasing ITN coverage and child mortality over time, at the national level, and under programmatic conditions. Two analytic approaches were used to examine this association: A retrospective […]
A cluster randomised controlled effectiveness trial evaluating perinatal home visiting among South African mothers/infants
Background: Interventions are needed to reduce poor perinatal health. We trained community health workers (CHWs) as home visitors to address maternal/infant risks. The Institutional Review Boards of University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Stellenbosch University, and Emory University approved the study, whose methods have previously been published [16]. We received written informed consent from all […]
Understanding mistreatment during institutional delivery in Northeast Nigeria: A mixed-method study
Background: Improving quality of care including the clinical aspects and the experience of care has been advocated for improved coverage and better childbirth outcomes. Objective: This study aimed to explore the quality of care relating to the prevalence and manifestations of mistreatment during institutional birth in Gombe State, northeast Nigeria, an area of low institutional […]
Baseline assessment of the WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA maternal and newborn quality-of-care standards around childbirth: Results from an intermediate hospital, northeast Namibia
Background: Quality of care around childbirth can reduce above half of the stillbirths and newborn deaths. Northeast Namibia’s neonatal mortality is higher than the national level. Yet, no review exists on the quality of care provided around childbirth. This paper reports on baseline assessment for implementing WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA quality measures around childbirth. Methods: A mixed-methods research […]