The impact of a direct to beneficiary mobile communication program on reproductive and child health outcomes: A randomised controlled trial in India
Background Direct-to-beneficiary communication mobile programmes are among the few examples of digital health programmes to have scaled widely in low-resource settings. Yet, evidence on their impact at scale is limited. This study aims to assess whether exposure to mobile health information calls during pregnancy and postpartum improved infant feeding and family planning practices. Methods We […]
Negotiating social norms, the legacy of vertical health initiatives and contradicting health policies: a qualitative study of health professionals’ perceptions and attitudes of providing adolescent sexual and reproductive health care in Arusha and Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania
Background: Adolescents in Tanzania are at risk of many health problems attributed to limited access to quality sexual and reproductive health services. Health professionals are a crucial part of service delivery, and their perspective on providing care is important in understanding the barriers that hamper access to sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents. Better […]
Maternal participant experience in a South African birth cohort study enrolling healthy pregnant women and their infants
Background: Critical to conducting high quality research is the ability to attract and retain participants, especially for longitudinal studies. Understanding participant experiences and motivators or barriers to participating in clinical research is crucial. There are limited data on healthy participant experiences in longitudinal research, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This study aims to investigate […]
The Uganda Newborn Study (UNEST): An effectiveness study on improving newborn health and survival in rural Uganda through a community-based intervention linked to health facilities – study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial
Background: Reducing neonatal-related deaths is one of the major bottlenecks to achieving Millennium Development Goal 4. Studies in Asia and South America have shown that neonatal mortality can be reduced through community-based interventions, but these have not been adapted to scalable intervention packages for sub-Saharan Africa where the culture, health system and policy environment is […]
Predictors of singleton preterm birth using multinomial regression models accounting for missing data: A birth registry-based cohort study in northern Tanzania
Background Preterm birth is a significant contributor of under-five and newborn deaths globally. Recent estimates indicated that, Tanzania ranks the tenth country with the highest preterm birth rates in the world, and shares 2.2% of the global proportion of all preterm births. Previous studies applied binary regression models to determine predictors of preterm birth by […]
Burden and impact of Plasmodium vivax in pregnancy: A multi-centre prospective observational study
Background: Despite that over 90 million pregnancies are at risk of Plasmodium vivax infection annually, little is known about the epidemiology and impact of the infection in pregnancy. Methodology and principal findings: We undertook a health facility-based prospective observational study in pregnant women from Guatemala (GT), Colombia (CO), Brazil (BR), India (IN) and Papua New […]
Utilization of preconception care and associated factors among reproductive age group women in Debre Birhan town, North Shewa, Ethiopia
Background: Preconception care refers to things women can do before and between pregnancies to increase the chance of having a healthy baby and being a healthy mother. Unfortunately, millions of women in the world do not have access to pre-pregnancy, pregnancy health services and childbirth with suitable quality. Therefore, addressing this significant gap and coming […]
A cost-effectiveness study of caesarean-section deliveries by clinical officers, general practitioners and obstetricians in Burkina Faso
Background: The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of alternative training strategies for increasing access to emergency obstetric care in Burkina Faso. Methods: Case extraction forms were used to record data on 2305 caesarean sections performed in 2004 and 2005 in hospitals in six out of the 13 health regions […]
Factors associated with timely antenatal care booking among pregnant women in remote area of bule hora district, Southern Ethiopia
Background: Antenatal care (ANC) is one of the most cost-effective and crucial compo-nents of maternal health care services. In developing countries where access to care, empowerment, and decision making power of women is low, ANC service is vital. The time at which first ANC visit was done has the utmost importance to ensure optimal health […]
Community-based health financing and child stunting in rural Rwanda
Objectives. We analyzed the likelihood of rural children (aged 6-24 months) being stunted according to whether they were enrolled in Mutuelles, a community-based health-financing program providing health insurance to rural populations and granting them access to health care, including nutrition services. Methods. We retrieved health facility data from the District Health System Strengthening Tool and […]
