Spatial pattern and determinants of institutional delivery in Ethiopia: Spatial and multilevel analysis using 2019 Ethiopian demographic and health survey
Background In Ethiopia, despite the progress that has been made to improve maternal and child health, the proportion of births occurring at health institutions is still very low (26%), Which significantly contribute to a large number of maternal death 412 deaths/100,000 live births. Therefore, this study intended to determine spatial pattern and factors affecting institutional […]
Estimating abortion incidence and unintended pregnancy among adolescents in Zimbabwe, 2016: A cross-sectional study
Objective To estimate age-specific abortion incidence and unintended pregnancy in Zimbabwe, and to examine differences among adolescents by marital status and residence. Design We used a variant of the Abortion Incidence Complications Methodology, an indirect estimation approach, to estimate age-specific abortion incidence. We used three surveys: the Health Facility Survey, a census of 227 facilities […]
Factors associated with birth preparedness and complication readiness in Southern Ethiopia: a community based cross-sectional study
BACKGROUND: Birth preparedness and complication readiness (BP/CR) is a strategy to promote use of skilled maternal and neonatal care so that they can get timely skilled care, particularly during child birth. There is minimal evidence on the factors associated with BP/CR among pregnant women in Ethiopia. Hence, this study aimed to assess the factors influencing […]
Improving service uptake and quality of care of integrated maternal health services: The Kenya kwale district improvement collaborative
Background: Health-related millennium development goals are off track in most of the countries in the sub-Saharan African region. Lack of access to, and low utilization of essential services and high-impact interventions, together with poor quality of health services, may be partially responsible for this lack of progress. We explored whether improvement approaches can be applied […]
Effects of selenium supplementation on pregnancy outcome and disease progression in HIV-infected pregnant women in Lagos, Nigeria Study protocol for a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Background: Micronutrient deficiencies are common during pregnancy, especially in pregnant women from economically disadvantaged settings where diets with low content of minerals and vitamins are consumed. Selenium is a non-metallic chemical element of great importance to human health. This study will assess the effect of selenium supplementation on major pregnancy outcomes and disease progression among […]
Early feeding practices and stunting in Rwandan children: A cross-sectional study from the 2010 Rwanda demographic and health survey
Introduction: in Rwanda, despite different interventions to improve child nutrition status, malnutrition in children under five years of age continue to be a public health concern. This study aimed to evaluate the factors that contribute to childhood stunting by assessing feeding practices of Rwandans in children ≤ 2 years of age. Methods: A cross-sectional study […]
Process Evaluation of Skilled Delivery Service in Hadiya Zone in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, Ethiopia
Pregnancy-related death is a cause for maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity as well as an obstacle for economic growth. Three-quarters of mothers’ lives can be saved if women have access to a skilled health worker at delivery and emergency obstetric care. This evaluation was conducted to assess skilled delivery service implementation level by using […]
Level of Postnatal Checkup in Ethiopia – Implications for Child Health Services
Background: High neonatal mortality rates continue to be a major public health issue in Ethiopia. Despite different maternal and neonatal care interventions, neonatal mortality in Ethiopia is at a steady state. This could be due to the low utilization of neonatal checkups. Thus, nationally assessing the level and predictors of postnatal checkups could provide important […]
Prevalence and factors associated with covert contraceptive use in Kenya: a cross-sectional study
Background: Family planning (FP) is a key intervention for preventing unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal death. Involvement of both women and their partners promotes contraceptive acceptance, uptake and continuation, couple communication and gender-equitable attitude. Partner involvement is a key strategy for addressing about 17.5% of the unmet needs in FP in Kenya. This study […]
Orphans of the AIDS epidemic? the extent, nature and circumstances of child-headed households in South Africa
There is widespread concern that the number of children living in child-headed households is rapidly increasing as a result of AIDS-related adult mortality in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Based on analyses of data from several representative national surveys over the period 2000-2007, this paper examines the extent to which this is the case in South […]