Unpredictability dictates quality of maternal and newborn care provision in rural Tanzania-A qualitative study of health workers’ perspectives
Background: Health workers are the key to realising the potential of improved quality of care for mothers and newborns in the weak health systems of Sub Saharan Africa. Their perspectives are fundamental to understand the effectiveness of existing improvement programs and to identify ways to strengthen future initiatives. The objective of this study was therefore […]
A cluster randomised controlled trial of the community effectiveness of two interventions in rural Malawi to improve health care and to reduce maternal, newborn and infant mortality
Background: The UN Millennium Development Goals call for substantial reductions in maternal and child mortality, to be achieved through reductions in morbidity and mortality during pregnancy, delivery, postpartum and early childhood. The MaiMwana Project aims to test community-based interventions that tackle maternal and child health problems through increasing awareness and local action.Methods/Design: This study uses […]
The Community-Level Interventions for Pre-eclampsia (CLIP) cluster randomised trials in Mozambique, Pakistan, and India: an individual participant-level meta-analysis
Background: To overcome the three delays in triage, transport and treatment that underlie adverse pregnancy outcomes, we aimed to reduce all-cause adverse outcomes with community-level interventions targeting women with pregnancy hypertension in three low-income countries. Methods: In this individual participant-level meta-analysis, we de-identified and pooled data from the Community-Level Interventions for Pre-eclampsia (CLIP) cluster randomised […]
Prompt access to effective malaria treatment among children under five in sub-Saharan Africa: A multi-country analysis of national household survey data
Background: Scaling up diagnostic testing and treatment is a key strategy to reduce the burden of malaria. Delays in accessing treatment can have fatal consequences; however, few studies have systematically assessed these delays among children under five years of age in malaria-endemic countries of sub-Saharan Africa. This study identifies predictors of prompt treatment with first-line […]
Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in HIV-infected pregnant women: Protocol of a multicentre, two-arm, randomised, placebo-controlled, superiority clinical trial (MAMAH project)
Introduction Malaria infection during pregnancy is an important driver of maternal and neonatal health especially among HIV-infected women. Intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine is recommended for malaria prevention in HIV-uninfected women, but it is contraindicated in those HIV-infected on cotrimoxazole prophylaxis (CTXp) due to potential adverse effects. Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PPQ) has been shown […]
An analysis of the quality of maternity services in Nampula, Mozambique: implementation research
Introduction: the quality of maternity services is an essential factor in reducing maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality, which remains extremely high in Africa. In Mozambique, maternal mortality rate is 451.6 deaths per 100,000 live births (2017). The reasons for this are complex, but one important factor to reduce this burden is to provide effective […]
Prevalence of stillbirth and its associated factors in East Africa: generalized linear mixed modeling
Background: Stillbirth is the most frequently reported adverse pregnancy outcome worldwide, which imposes significant psychological and economic consequences to mothers and affected families. East African countries account for one-third of the 2.6 million stillbirths globally. Though stillbirth is a common public health problem in East African countries, there is limited evidence on the pooled prevalence […]
Incidence of infant mortality and its predictors in East Africa using Gompertz gamma shared frailty model
Background: Globally, infant mortality is a major public health concern and a sensitive indicator of countries’ socio-economic and health status. Despite the substantial reduction of under-five mortality in sub-Saharan African countries specifically in East Africa, the infant mortality rate remains highest and too far below to achieve the WHO target. As to our search of […]
Access to and use of preventive intermittent treatment for Malaria during pregnancy: A qualitative study in the Chókwè district, Southern Mozambique
Background Malaria remains a significant health problem in Mozambique, particularly in the case of pregnant women and children less than five years old. Intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPT-SP) is recommended for preventing malaria in pregnancy (MiP). Despite the widespread use and cost-effectiveness of IPTp-SP, coverage remains low. In this study, we explored factors limiting […]
Association of Higher Educational Attainment on Antenatal Care Utilization Among Pregnant Women in East Africa Using Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from 2010 to 2018: A Multilevel Analysis
Introduction: The use of antenatal care (ANC) plays a major role in minimizing maternal and child mortality through effective and appropriate screening, preventive, or treatment intervention. Even though almost all pregnancy-related mortalities are largely preventable through adequate use of ANC, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly East African Countries, continues to share the largest share of global […]
