“Once the government employs you, it forgets you”: Health workers’ and managers’ perspectives on factors influencing working conditions for provision of maternal health care services in a rural district of Tanzania
Background: In many developing countries, health workforce crisis is one of the predominant challenges affecting the health care systems’ function of providing quality services, including maternal care. The challenge is related to how these countries establish conducive working conditions that attract and retain health workers into the health care sector and enable them to perform […]
Determinants of Campylobacter infection and association with growth and enteric inflammation in children under 2 years of age in low-resource settings
Campylobacter species infections have been associated with malnutrition and intestinal inflammation among children in low-resource settings. However, it remains unclear whether that association is specific to Campylobacter jejuni/coli. The aim of this study was to assess the association between both all Campylobacter species infections and Campylobacter jejuni/coli infections on growth and enteric inflammation in children […]
Uterine rupture in a teaching hospital in Mbarara, western Uganda, unmatched case-control study
Background: Uterine rupture is one of the most devastating complications of labour that exposes the mother and foetus to grave danger hence contributing to the high maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity in Uganda. Every year, 6000 women die due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth, uterine rupture accounts for about 8% of all maternal […]
Quality of care in six sub-Saharan Africa countries: A provider-based study on adherence to WHO’s antenatal care guideline
Objective: Quality of care may help explain the high burden of disease in maternal, newborn and child health in low- and middle-income countries even as access to care is improved. We explored the determinants of quality of antenatal care (ANC) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Design: Cross-sectional study. Multilevel Generalized Linear Latent Mixed-Effect models with logit […]
Addressing inequity to achieve the maternal and child health millennium development goals: Looking beyond averages
Background: Inequity in access to and use of child and maternal health interventions is impeding progress towards the maternal and child health Millennium Development Goals. This study explores the potential health gains and equity impact if a set of priority interventions for mothers and under fives were scaled up to reach national universal coverage targets […]
Men’s roles in care seeking for maternal and newborn health: A qualitative study applying the three delays model to male involvement in Morogoro Region, Tanzania
Background: Increasing the utilization of facility-based care for women and newborns in low-resource settings can reduce maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality. Men influence whether women and newborns receive care because they often control financial resources and household decisions. This influence can have negative effects if men misjudge or ignore danger signs or are unwilling […]
Factors Associated With Uptake of Iron Supplement During Pregnancy Among Women of Reproductive Age in Tanzania: an Analysis of Data From the 2015 to 2016 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey and Malaria Indicators Survey
Background: Pregnant women are vulnerable to iron deficiency due to the fact that more iron is needed primarily to supply the growing fetus and placenta and to increase the maternal red cell mass. Little is known on the factors associated with uptake of iron supplement during pregnancy. Methods: The study used data from the 2015 […]
Assessing coverage, equity and quality gaps in maternal and neonatal care in sub-Saharan Africa: An integrated approach
Background: Gaps in coverage, equity and quality of health services hinder the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 in most countries of sub-Saharan Africa as well as in other high-burden countries, yet few studies attempt to assess all these dimensions as part of the situation analysis. We present the base-line data of […]
The Tanzania Connect Project: A cluster-randomized trial of the child survival impact of adding paid community health workers to an existing facility-focused health system
Background: Tanzania has been a pioneer in establishing community-level services, yet challenges remain in sustaining these systems and ensuring adequate human resource strategies. In particular, the added value of a cadre of professional community health workers is under debate. While Tanzania has the highest density of primary health care facilities in Africa, equitable access and […]
Health facility-based counselling and community outreach are associated with maternal dietary practices in a cross-sectional study from Tanzania
Background: Anemia and underweight among women are major public health challenges. Access to health services can improve dietary behaviors and women’s nutritional status. We examined whether exposure to health services is associated with women’s dietary practices in Tanzania. Methods: Data come from a cross-sectional baseline survey among 5000 female primary caregivers who were randomly selected […]
