Determinants of prelacteal feeding practices among mothers of children aged less than 24 months in ile-ife Southwest Nigeria: A community cross-sectional study

Introduction: prelacteal feeding remains an obstacle in achieving the best breastfeeding practices in the country. The growing poor breastfeeding practices are made worse by the continued engagement of the communities in prelacteal feeding practices. This study aimed at assessing the determinants of prelacteal feeding among mothers of children aged less than 24 months in Ile-Ife […]

Acceptability and user experiences of a patient-held smart card for antenatal services in Nigeria: a qualitative study

Background: Poor maternal, newborn and child health outcomes remain a major public health challenge in Nigeria. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions such as patient-held smart cards have been proposed as effective solutions to improve maternal health outcomes. Our objectives were to assess the acceptability and experiences of pregnant women with the use of a patient-held smartcard […]

HIV status disclosure, facility-based delivery and postpartum retention of mothers in a prevention clinical trial in rural Nigeria

Background: Within the context of a cluster randomized prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) trial, we evaluated the impact of disclosure on selected PMTCT continuum of care measures. Methods: In 12 rural matched-pair clinics randomly assigned to an intervention package versus standard-ofcare, we enrolled 372 HIV-infected pregnant women from April 2013 to March 2014. This […]

‘The stars seem aligned’: A qualitative study to understand the effects of context on scale-up of maternal and newborn health innovations in Ethiopia, India and Nigeria

Background: Donors commonly fund innovative interventions to improve health in the hope that governments of low and middle-income countries will scale-up those that are shown to be effective. Yet innovations can be slow to be adopted by country governments and implemented at scale. Our study explores this problem by identifying key contextual factors influencing scale-up […]

Improving the quality of obstetric care for women with obstructed labour in the national referral hospital in Uganda: Lessons learnt from criteria based audit

Background: Obstructed labour remains a major cause of maternal morbidity and mortality whose complications can be reduced with improved quality of obstetric care. The objective was to assess whether criteria-based audit improves quality of obstetric care provided to women with obstructed labour in Mulago hospital, Uganda. Methods: Using criteria-based audit, management of obstructed labour was […]

Predictors of differences in health services utilization for children in Nigerian communities

Health service utilization is an important component of child health promotion. Evidence shows that two-thirds of child deaths in low and middle income countries could be prevented if current interventions were adequately utilized. Aim of this study was to identify determinants of variation in health services utilization for children in communities in Nigeria. Multivariable negative […]

Provision of essential evidence-based interventions during facility-based childbirth: Cross-sectional observations of births in northeast Nigeria

Objectives To measure the provision of evidence-based preventive and promotive interventions to women, and subsequently their newborns, during childbirth in a high-mortality setting. Design and participants Cross-sectional observations of care provided to women, and their newborns during the intrapartum and immediate postpartum period using a standardised checklist capturing healthcare worker behaviours regarding lifesaving and respectful […]

Coverage-level and predictors of maternity continuum of care in Nigeria: implications for maternal, newborn and child health programming

Background: Completing maternity continuum of care from pregnancy to postpartum is a core strategy to reduce the burden of maternal and neonatal mortality dominant in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Nigeria. Thus, we evaluated the level of completion, dropout and predictors of women uptake of optimal antenatal care (ANC) in pregnancy, continuation to use of skilled birth […]

Role of trust in sustaining provision and uptake of maternal and child healthcare: Evidence from a national programme in Nigeria

Despite increasing attention to implementation research in global health, evidence from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) using realist evaluations, in understanding how complex health programmes work remains limited. This paper contributes to bridging this knowledge gap by reporting how, why and in what circumstances, the implementation and subsequent termination of a maternal and child health […]

Significant bacteriuria among asymptomatic antenatal clinic attendees in Ibadan, Nigeria

Untreated asymptomatic bacteriuria can lead to urinary tract infection (UTI) in pregnancy with devastating maternal and neonatal effects such as prematurity and low birth weight, higher fetal mortality rates and significant maternal morbidity. We carried out a two year (April 2007 to March 2009) cross-sectional epidemiological study to determine the prevalence of significant bacteriuria among […]