Breastfeeding practices of HIV-positive and HIV-negative women in Kabarole district, Uganda
Ugandan policy regarding infant feeding for HIV-positive mothers is replacement feeding (RF), if feasible; otherwise, exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for 3 months is advised (or EBF for 6 months, if RF is still not feasible). HIV-negative mothers should practise EBF for 6 months. The study objective was to explore the association between maternal HIV status and […]
Inequitable childhood immunization uptake in Nigeria: A multilevel analysis of individual and contextual determinants
Background: Immunization coverage in many parts of Nigeria is far from optimal, and far from equitable. Methods: Nigeria accounts for half of the deaths from Measles in Africa, the highest prevalence of circulating wild poliovirus in the world, and the country is among the ten countries in the world with vaccine coverage below 50 percent. […]
Asymptomatic Plasmodium infection and cognition among primary schoolchildren in a high malaria transmission setting in Uganda
Asymptomatic parasitemia is common among schoolchildren living in areas of high malaria transmission, yet little is known about its effect on cognitive function in these settings. To investigate associations between asymptomatic parasitemia, anemia, and cognition among primary schoolchildren living in a high malaria transmission setting, we studied 740 children enrolled in a clinical trial in […]
Malaria indicator survey 2007, Ethiopia: Coverage and use of major malaria prevention and control interventions
Background. In 2005, a nationwide survey estimated that 6.5% of households in Ethiopia owned an insecticide-treated net (ITN), 17% of households had been sprayed with insecticide, and 4% of children under five years of age with a fever were taking an anti-malarial drug. Similar to other sub-Saharan African countries scaling-up malaria interventions, the Government of […]
Scaling up Locally Adapted Clinical Practice Guidelines for Improving Childbirth Care in Tanzania: A Protocol for Programme Theory and Qualitative Methods of the PartoMa Scale-up Study
Effective, low-cost clinical interventions to improve facility-based care during childbirth are critical to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity in low-resource settings. While health interventions for low- and lower-middle-income countries are often developed and implemented top-down, needs and circumstances vary greatly across locations. Our pilot study in Zanzibar improved care through locally co-created intrapartum […]
Associations between individual variations in visual attention at 9 months and behavioral competencies at 18 months in rural Malawi
Theoretical and empirical considerations suggest that individual differences in infant visual attention correlate with variations in cognitive skills later in childhood. Here we tested this hypothesis in infants from rural Malawi (n = 198–377, depending on analysis), who were assessed with eye tracking tests of visual orienting, anticipatory looks, and attention to faces at 9 […]
Neonatal resuscitation monitoring: A low-cost video recording setup for quality improvement in the delivery room at the resuscitation table
Background: The quality of neonatal resuscitation after delivery needs to be improved to reach the Sustainable Development Goals 3.2 (reducing neonatal deaths to
Does ownership of improved dairy cow breeds improve child nutrition? A pathway analysis for Uganda
The promotion of livestock production is widely believed to support enhanced diet quality and child nutrition, but the empirical evidence for this causal linkage remains narrow and ambiguous. This study examines whether adoption of improved dairy cow breeds is linked to farm-level outcomes that translate into household-level benefits including improved child nutrition outcomes in Uganda. […]
Evaluation of mainstreaming youth-friendly health in private clinics in Malawi
Background: High fertility rates and low modern contraceptive use put African youth and adolescents at high risk for health complications, including maternal mortality. Mainstreaming youth-friendly health services (YFHS) into existing services is one approach to improve access to reproductive health services for youth and adolescents. The objective of the evaluation was to assess the effects […]
Mobile phone access and willingness among mothers to receive a text-based mhealth intervention to improve prenatal care in northwest ethiopia: Cross-sectional study
Background: Maternal mortality remains high in many low- and middle-income countries where limited access to health services is linked to low antenatal care utilization. Effective communication and engagement with care providers are vital for the delivery and receipt of sufficient health care services. There is strong evidence that simple text-based interventions can improve the prenatal […]
