A case study on building capacity to improve clinical mentoring and maternal child health in rural Tanzania: The path to implementation
Background: Tanzania is a low income, East African country with a severe shortage of human resources for health or health workers. This shortage threatens any gains the country is making in improving maternal health outcomes. This paper describes a partnership between Touch Foundation and NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing – Global, aimed at improving […]
Quality of emergency obstetric and newborn care services in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia
Background: Globally, nearly 295,000 women die every year during and following pregnancy and childbirth. Emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) can avert 75% of maternal mortality if all mothers get quality healthcare. Improving maternal health needs identification and addressing of barriers that limit access to quality maternal health services. Hence, this study aimed to assess […]
The social dimensions of community delivery of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy in Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Introduction Intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy with sulphadoxine pyrimethamine (IPTp) is a key malaria prevention strategy in sub-Saharan African countries. We conducted an anthropological study as part of a project aiming to evaluate a community-based approach to the delivery of IPTp (C-IPTp) through community health workers (CHWs) in four countries (the Democratic Republic of Congo, […]
Adapting and testing a brief intervention to reduce maternal anxiety during pregnancy (ACORN): report of a feasibility randomized controlled trial
Background: We investigated the acceptability and feasibility of a new brief intervention for maternal prenatal anxiety within maternity services in London and Exeter, UK. Methods: One hundred fourteen pregnant individuals attending their 12-week scan at a prenatal clinic with elevated symptoms of anxiety (GAD-7 score of ≥7) were randomly assigned to either the ACORN intervention […]
Antenatal depressive symptoms and utilisation of delivery and postnatal care: A prospective study in rural Ethiopia
Background: Uptake of delivery and postnatal care remains low in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), where 99% of global maternal deaths take place. However, the potential impact of antenatal depression on use of institutional delivery and postnatal care has seldom been examined. This study aimed to examine whether antenatal depressive symptoms are associated with use […]
“Because even the person living with HIV/AIDS might need to make babies” – Perspectives on the drivers of feasibility and acceptability of an integrated community health worker model in Iringa, Tanzania
Background: Countries with health workforce shortages are increasingly turning to multipurpose community health workers (CHWs) to extend integrated services to the community-level. However, there may be tradeoffs with the number of tasks a CHW can effectively perform before quality and/or productivity decline. This qualitative study was conducted within an existing program in Iringa, Tanzania where […]
Assessing the acceptability of village health workers’ roles in improving maternal health care in Gombe State, Nigeria a qualitative exploration from women beneficiaries
Introduction Maternal, and under-five mortality rates in Gombe State are disproportionately high. The Society for Family Health (a Non-Governmental Organization) in collaboration with Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency implemented the Village Health Worker (VHW) Program in Gombe to address the low uptakes of maternal neonatal and child health (MNCH) services and reduced the […]
Effects of early feeding on growth velocity and overweight/obesity in a cohort of HIV unexposed South African infants and children
Background: South Africa has the highest prevalence of overweight/obesity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Assessing the effect of modifiable factors such as early infant feeding on growth velocity and overweight/obesity is therefore important. This paper aimed to assess the effect of infant feeding in the transitional period (12 weeks) on 12-24 week growth velocity amongst HIV unexposed […]
Unpacking the enabling factors for hand, cord and birth-surface hygiene in Zanzibar maternity units
Recent national surveys in The United Republic of Tanzania have revealed poor standards of hygiene at birth in facilities. As more women opt for institutional delivery, improving basic hygiene becomes an essential part of preventative strategies for reducing puerperal and newborn sepsis. Our collaborative research in Zanzibar provides an in-depth picture of the state of […]
MHealth tool to improve community health agent performance for child development: Study protocol for a cluster-randomised controlled trial in Peru
Introduction Cultivating child health and development creates long-term impact on the well-being of the individual and society. The Amazon of Peru has high levels of many risk factors that are associated with poor child development. The use of ‘community health agents’ (CHAs) has been shown to be a potential solution to improve child development outcomes. […]