Can an educational podcast improve the ability of parents of primary school children to assess the reliability of claims made about the benefits and harms of treatments: Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial
Background: Claims made about the effects of treatments are very common in the media and in the population more generally. The ability of individuals to understand and assess such claims can affect their decisions and health outcomes. Many people in both low- and high-income countries have inadequate aptitude to assess information about the effects of […]
Research protocol local ingredients-based supplementary food as an alternative to corn-soya blends plus for treating moderate acute malnutrition among children aged 6 to 59 months: A randomized controlled non-inferiority trial in Wolaita
Background: In Ethiopia, 12.5% of children below 5 years are wasted, and 9.7% are moderately wasted. The present strategy for the management of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) is a supplementary feeding program; however, this is only provided to chronically food-insecure areas. This randomized controlled non-inferiority trial examines if Local ingredients-based supplement (LIBS) is as effective […]
Disparities in children’s vocabulary and height in relation to household wealth and parental schooling: A longitudinal study in four low- and middle-income countries
Children from low socio-economic status (SES) households often demonstrate worse growth and developmental outcomes than wealthier children, in part because poor children face a broader range of risk factors. It is difficult to characterize the trajectories of SES disparities in low- and middle-income countries because longitudinal data are infrequently available. We analyze measures of children’s […]
Impacts of flood disasters in Nigeria: A critical evaluation of health implications and management
Floods lead to tremendous losses of property, infrastructure, business and increased risk of diseases. Floods are also the most frequent natural disasters, affecting over 2.8 billion people in the world and causing over 200 000 deaths over the past three decades. The World Health Organization categorised the 2012 flood disaster in Nigeria as the worst […]
Factors influencing job preferences of health workers providing obstetric care: Results from discrete choice experiments in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania
Background: Task shifting from established health professionals to mid-level providers (MLPs) (professionals who undergo shorter training in specific procedures) is one key strategy for reducing maternal and neonatal deaths. This has resulted in a growth in cadre types providing obstetric care in low and middle-income countries. Little is known about the relative importance of the […]
Determining the agreement between an automated respiratory rate counter and a reference standard for detecting symptoms of pneumonia in children: Protocol for a cross-sectional study in Ethiopia
Background: Acute respiratory infections (ARIs), primarily pneumonia, are the leading infectious cause of under-5 mortality worldwide. Manually counting respiratory rate (RR) for 60 seconds using an ARI timer is commonly practiced by community health workers to detect fast breathing, an important sign of pneumonia. However, correctly counting breaths manually and classifying the RR is challenging, […]
A quasi-experimental assessment of the effectiveness of the Community Health Strategy on health outcomes in Kenya
Background: Despite focused health policies and reform agenda, Kenya has challenges in improving households’ situation in poverty and ill health; interventions to address the Millennium Development Goals in maternal and child health, such as focused antenatal care and immunization of children, are yet to achieve success. Research has shown that addressing the demand side is […]
Adaptation of a gender-transformative sexual and reproductive health intervention for adolescent boys in South Africa and Lesotho using intervention mapping
Background: Rates of adolescent HIV and unintended pregnancy in southern Africa are amongst the highest in the world. Gender-transformative interventions that address underlying gender inequalities and engage both males and females have been emphasised by the World Health Organisation, amongst others, to target prevention. However, few such gender-transformative interventions have been rigorously developed or evaluated. […]
Standard Minimum Dietary Diversity Indicators for Women or Infants and Young Children Are Good Predictors of Adequate Micronutrient Intakes in 24-59-Month-Old Children and Their Nonpregnant Nonbreastfeeding Mothers in Rural Burkina Faso
Background: Simple proxy indicators are needed to assess and monitor micronutrient intake adequacy of vulnerable populations. Standard dichotomous indicators exist for nonpregnant women of reproductive age and 6-23-mo-old children in low-income countries, but not for 24-59-mo-old children or pregnant or breastfeeding women. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the performance of 2 standard food group […]
Study protocol for a pilot prospective, observational study investigating the condition suggestion and urgency advice accuracy of a symptom assessment app in sub-Saharan Africa: the AFYA- € Health’ Study
Introduction Due to a global shortage of healthcare workers, there is a lack of basic healthcare for 4 billion people worldwide, particularly affecting low-income and middle-income countries. The utilisation of AI-based healthcare tools such as symptom assessment applications (SAAs) has the potential to reduce the burden on healthcare systems. The purpose of the AFYA Study […]
