Comparison of high- versus low-intensity community health worker intervention to promote newborn and child health in Northern Nigeria
Background: In Northern Nigeria, infant mortality rates are two to three times higher than in the southern states, and, in 2008, a partnership program to improve maternal, newborn, and child health was established to reduce infant and child mortality in three Northern Nigeria states. The program intervention zones received government-supported health services plus integrated interventions […]
Study protocol for promoting respectful maternity care initiative to assess, Measure and design interventions to reduce disrespect and abuse during childbirth in Kenya
Background: Increases in the proportion of facility-based deliveries have been marginal in many low-income countries in the African region. Preliminary clinical and anthropological evidence suggests that one major factor inhibiting pregnant women from delivering at facility is disrespectful and abusive treatment by health care providers in maternity units. Despite acknowledgement of this behavior by policy […]
Beyond Their HIV Status: the Occurrence of Multiple Health Risk Behavior Among Adolescents from a Rural Setting of Sub-Saharan Africa
Background: Health risk behaviors during adolescence may cluster into patterns that might be predicted by specific factors, among which HIV may have an important role. Method: In a cross-sectional study conducted between 2017 and 2018, clustering of HRB and its associated factors was investigated in rural Kenya among 588 adolescents (36% perinatally HIV infected; 28% […]
Does early Vitamin B12 supplementation improve neurodevelopment and cognitive function in childhood and into school age: A study protocol for extended follow-ups from randomised controlled trials in India and Tanzania
Introduction: As many as 250 million children under the age of 5 may not be reaching their full developmental potential partly due to poor nutrition during pregnancy and the first 2 years of life. Micronutrients, including vitamin B12, are important for the development of brain structure and function; however, the timing, duration and severity of […]
Scaling down to scale up: A health economic analysis of integrating point-of-care syphilis testing into antenatal care in Zambia during pilot and national rollout implementation
Maternal syphilis results in an estimated 500,000 stillbirths and neonatal deaths annually in Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the existence of national guidelines for antenatal syphilis screening, syphilis testing is often limited by inadequate laboratory and staff services. Recent availability of inexpensive rapid point-of-care syphilis tests (RST) can improve access to antenatal syphilis screening. A 2010 pilot […]
Systems analysis and improvement to optimize pMTCT (SAIA): A cluster randomized trial
Background: Despite significant increases in global health investment and the availability of low-cost, efficacious interventions to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission (pMTCT) in low- and middle-income countries with high HIV burden, the translation of scientific advances into effective delivery strategies has been slow, uneven and incomplete. As a result, pediatric HIV infection remains largely uncontrolled. A […]
Bridging the childhood epilepsy treatment gap in northern Nigeria (BRIDGE): Rationale and design of pre-clinical trial studies
Epilepsy is the most common serious childhood neurological disorder. In the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) of Africa, children with epilepsy suffer increased morbidity and mortality compared to their counterparts in high-income countries, and the majority do not receive treatment – the childhood epilepsy treatment gap. Reports of the childhood epilepsy treatment gap in Africa […]
Evaluation of conditional cash transfers and mHealth audio messaging in reduction of risk factors for childhood malnutrition in internally displaced persons camps in Somalia: A 2 × 2 factorial cluster-randomised controlled trial
Background AU Cash: Pleaseconfirmthatallheadinglevelsarerepresentedcorrectly transfer programmes are increasingly used in humanitarian : contexts to help address people’s needs across multiple sectors. However, their impact on the key objectives of reducing malnutrition and excess mortality remains unclear. mHealth interventions show great promise in many areas of public health, but evidence for their impact on reducing the […]
Risk of psychological distress following severe obstetric complications in Benin: The role of economics, physical health and spousal abuse
Background: Little is known about the impact of life-threatening obstetric complications (‘near miss’) on women’s mental health in low- and middle-income countries. Aims: To examine the relationships between near miss and postpartum psychological distress in the Republic of Benin. Method: One-year prospective cohort using epidemiological and ethnographic techniques in a population of women delivering at […]
Factors associated with data quality in the routine health information system of Benin
Background: Routine health information systems (RHIS) are crucial to the acquisition of data for health sector planning. In developing countries, the insufficient quality of the data produced by these systems limits their usefulness in regards to decision-making. The aim of this study was to identify the factors associated with poor data quality in the RHIS […]
