Group-level cooperation in chimpanzees is shaped by strong social ties

Humans maintain extensive social ties of varying preferences, providing a range of opportunities for beneficial cooperative exchange that may promote collective action and our unique capacity for large-scale cooperation. Similarly, non-human animals maintain differentiated social relationships that promote dyadic cooperative exchange, but their link to cooperative collective action is little known. Here, we investigate the […]

Facility-based delivery in the context of Zimbabwe’s HIV epidemic – missed opportunities for improving engagement with care: A community-based serosurvey

Background: In developing countries, facility-based delivery is recommended for maternal and neonatal health, and for prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT). However, little is known about whether or not learning one’s HIV status affects one’s decision to deliver in a health facility. We examined this association in Zimbabwe. Methods: We analyzed data from a 2012 […]

Prevalence and factors associated with antenatal care utilization in Ethiopia: An evidence from demographic health survey 2016

Background: Ethiopia is one of the sub-Saharan African country with high maternal mortality ratio (MMR). According to Ethiopian demographic health survey (EDHS) 2016 report, MMR is 420 among 100,000 live births. Antenatal care utilization is a key intervention to reduce these deaths through problem detection and treatment, promotion of health seeking behavior, and preparing pregnant […]

Women’s autonomy in household decision-making and safer sex negotiation in sub-Saharan Africa: An analysis of data from 27 Demographic and Health Surveys

Women’s ability to negotiate the conditions and timing of sex is key to several reproductive health outcomes including family planning and prevention of sexually transmitted infections. We investigated the association between women’s autonomy in household decision-making and safer sex negotiation (SSN) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This was a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Demographic […]

Health facility delivery in sub-Saharan Africa: Successes, challenges, and implications for the 2030 development agenda

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa remains one of the regions with modest health outcomes; and evidenced by high maternal mortality ratios and under-5 mortality rates. There are complications that occur during and following pregnancy and childbirth that can contribute to maternal deaths; most of which are preventable or treatable. Evidence shows that early and regular attendance of […]

Individual- And Community-Level Determinants for Complete Vaccination among Children Aged 12-23 Months in Ethiopia: A Multilevel Analysis

Background. Childhood vaccination continues to increase dramatically. In spite of the success of immunization programs to date, millions of children continued to die each year, and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounted for the world’s highest neonatal deaths. Childhood vaccination was designed as one of the most effective ways to reduce child mortalities from fatal vaccine-preventable diseases. […]

Exploring spatial variations and determinants of dietary diversity among children in ethiopia: Spatial and multilevel analysis using edhs (2011–2016)

Introduction: Dietary diversity has a significant impact on children’s nutritional health. For developing and implementing interventions, it is critical to understand the regional distribution of dietary diversity and underlying factors. However, the application of spatial techni-ques in dietary studies has not been well documented. The study’s goal was to look into the regional variances and […]

Institutional mistrust and child vaccination coverage in Africa

Despite considerable improvements in vaccination coverage over the last decade, half of the world’s unvaccinated and undervaccinated children are located in Africa. The role of institutional trust in explaining vaccination gaps has been highlighted in several qualitative reports but so far has only been quantified in a small number of high-income countries. We matched information […]

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 […]

Distance, difference in altitude and socioeconomic determinants of utilisation of maternal and child health services in Ethiopia: A geographic and multilevel modelling analysis

Objective We assessed whether geographic distance and difference in altitude between home to health facility and household socioeconomic status were associated with utilisation of maternal and child health services in rural Ethiopia. Design Household and health facility surveys were conducted from December 2018 to February 2019. Setting Forty-six districts in the Ethiopian regions: Amhara, Oromia, […]