Essential health services delivery in South Africa during COVID-19: Community and healthcare worker perspectives
Background: Between May 2020 and February 2022, South Africa’s health system bore strain as it battled mitigating the coronavirus pandemic. The country’s pandemic response was scrutinized. This period also brought into focus pre-existing shortcomings in the healthcare system and its governing bodies. Contextually, there is a paucity in literature on the experiences of healthcare providers […]
Access to institutional delivery care and reasons for home delivery in three districts of Tanzania
Introduction. Globally, health facility delivery is encouraged as a single most important strategy in preventing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. However, access to facility-based delivery care remains low in many less developed countries. This study assesses facilitators and barriers to institutional delivery in three districts of Tanzania. Methods. Data come from a cross-sectional survey […]
A low-cost ultrasound program leads to increased antenatal clinic visits and attended deliveries at a health care clinic in rural uganda
Background: In June of 2010, an antenatal ultrasound program to perform basic screening for high-risk pregnancies was introduced at a community health care center in rural Uganda. Whether the addition of ultrasound scanning to antenatal visits at the health center would encourage or discourage potential patients was unknown. Our study sought to evaluate trends in […]
The impact of the West Africa Ebola outbreak on obstetric health care in Sierra Leone
Background: As Sierra Leone celebrates the end of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak, we can begin to fully grasp its impact on already weak health systems. The EVD outbreak in West Africa forced many hospitals to close down or reduce their activity, either to prevent nosocomial transmission or because of staff shortages. The aim […]
Trend and burden of neural tube defects among cohort of pregnant women in Ethiopia: Where are we in the prevention and what is the way forward?
Introduction Neural tube defect is one of the top five most serious birth defects in the world. In Ethiopia an accurate estimate of the trend and burden of neural tube defects is still unknown. There hasn’t been much research done on the prevalence and trend of neural tube defects in Eastern Ethiopia. To complement previous […]
Association of maternal characteristics with child feeding indicators and nutritional status of children under-two years in Rural Ghana
Background: Optimal nutrition during the first two years of a child’s life is critical for the reduction of morbidity and mortality. In Ghana, majority of children miss out on optimal nutrition and only few (13%) of children receive a Minimum Acceptable Diet (MAD). Several studies have investigated the influence of community-level factors on infants and […]
Community health worker knowledge and management of pre-eclampsia in southern Mozambique
Background: Mozambique has drastically improved an array of health indicators in recent years, including maternal mortality rates which decreased 63 % from 1990-2013 but the rates still high. Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia constitute the third major cause of maternal death in the country. Women in rural areas, with limited access to health facilities are at greatest […]
Risk Factors of Birth Asphyxia among Newborns at Debre Markos Comprehensive Specialized Referral Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia: Unmatched Case-Control Study
Background: Despite a global decline in under-five deaths, the neonatal mortality rate remains slow in developing countries and birth asphyxia remains the third cause of neonatal deaths. Globally, neonatal deaths accounts for 45% of under-five deaths, birth asphyxia causes 23-40% of neonatal deaths in Ethiopia. There is limited data on risk factors of asphyxia in […]
Use of the Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG) for Life-Threatening Obstetric Hemorrhage: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Egypt and Nigeria
Objective:To assess the cost-effectiveness of a non-pneumatic anti-shock garment (NASG) for obstetric hemorrhage in tertiary hospitals in Egypt and Nigeria.Methods:We combined published data from pre-intervention/NASG-intervention clinical trials with costs from study sites. For each country, we used observed proportions of initial shock level (mild: mean arterial pressure [MAP] >60 mmHg; severe: MAP ≤60 mmHg) to […]
Fetal and maternal outcome of higher-order multiple pregnancies in a tertiary hospital: A 5-year single-center observational study from Nigeria
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the pattern and outcomes of higher-order multiple pregnancies in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria Methods: This is a retrospective review of all cases of higher-order multiple pregnancies that were managed between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2016 in Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, […]
