Re-evaluation of population-level protection conferred by a rotavirus vaccine using the ‘fried-egg’ approach in a rural setting in Bangladesh

Background: Vaccine herd protection assessed in a cluster-randomized trial (CRT) may be masked by disease transmission into the cluster from outside. However, herd effects can be unmasked using a ‘fried-egg’ approach whereby the analysis, restricted to the innermost households of clusters, ‘yolk’, creates an insulating ‘egg-white’ periphery. This approach has been demonstrated to unmask vaccine […]

Food security reduces multiple HIV infection risks for high-vulnerability adolescent mothers and non-mothers in South Africa: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: Adolescent girls and young women, including adolescent mothers, in Southern Africa have high HIV seroconversion and transmission. We need to know which risks drive HIV infections, and what can reduce these risks. Methods: We interviewed 1712 adolescent girls and young women (11–23 years), including 1024 adolescent mothers who had conceived before age 20 and […]

Tuberculin skin test conversion and primary progressive tuberculosis disease in the first 5 years of life: a birth cohort study from Cape Town, South Africa

Background Tuberculosis is a leading cause of global childhood mortality. However, the epidemiology and burden of tuberculosis in infancy is not well understood. We aimed to investigate tuberculin skin test conversion and tuberculosis in the Drakenstein Child Health study, a South African birth cohort in a community in which tuberculosis incidence is hyperendemic. Methods In […]

Anthropometric failures and its associated factors among preschool-aged children in a rural community in southwest Ethiopia

Background In 2019, 144 million under-five-year-old children were stunted, and 47 million were wasted globally. In Ethiopia, approximately 350,000 children are estimated to die each year. Preschool aged children need focused attention because this age group not only has special needs, but also forms the platform for growth and development of all children. Under nutrition […]

Leveraging Stakeholder Engagement and Virtual Environments to Develop a Strategy for Implementation of Adolescent Depression Services Integrated Within Primary Care Clinics of Mozambique

Psychiatric disorders are the number one cause of disability in adolescents worldwide. Yet, in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), where 90% of adolescents reside, mental health services are extremely limited, and the majority do not have access to treatment. Integration of mental health services within primary care of LMICs has been proposed as an efficient […]

Tonse Pamodzi: Developing a combination strategy to support adherence to antiretroviral therapy and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis during pregnancy and breastfeeding

To eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV (EMTCT), scalable strategies to enhance antiretroviral adherence for both antiretroviral therapy (ART) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are needed as part of integrated HIV and maternal-child health services. We developed Tonse Pamodzi (“all of us together”), an adaptable intervention integrating biomedical and behavioral components to support HIV treatment and prevention. […]

Impacts of an egg complementary feeding trial on energy intake and dietary diversity in Malawi

Complementary feeding diets in low- and middle-income countries are generally inadequate to meet requirements for growth and development. Food-based interventions may prevent nutrient inadequacies provided that they do not displace other nutrient-rich foods. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in rural Malawi in which 660 children aged 6 to 9 months were provided an egg […]

Early outcomes after implementation of treat all in Rwanda: an interrupted time series study

Introduction: Nearly all countries in sub-Saharan Africa have adopted policies to provide antiretroviral therapy (ART) to all persons living with HIV (Treat All), though HIV care outcomes of these programmes are not well-described. We estimated changes in ART initiation and retention in care following Treat All implementation in Rwanda in July 2016. Methods: We conducted […]

Engaging fathers to improve complementary feeding is acceptable and feasible in the Lake Zone, Tanzania

In Tanzania, suboptimal complementary feeding practices contribute to high stunting rates. Fathers influence complementary feeding practices, and effective strategies are needed to engage them. The objectives of this research were to examine the acceptability and feasibility of (1) tailored complementary feeding recommendations and (2) engaging fathers in complementary feeding. We conducted trials of improved practices […]

“It is like that, we didn’t understand each other”: Exploring the influence of patient-provider interactions on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV service use in rural Tanzania

Interactions between patients and service providers frequently influence uptake of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) HIV services in sub-Saharan Africa, but this process has not been examined in depth. This study explores how patient-provider relations influence PMTCT service use in four government facilities in Kisesa, Tanzania. Qualitative data were collected in 2012 through participatory group […]