Predictors of health care practitioners’ normative attitudes and practices towards sexual and reproductive health and rights: a cross-sectional study of participants from low-income countries enrolled in a capacity-building program
Background: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) is a concept of human rights applied to sexuality and reproduction. Suboptimal access to SRHR services in many low-income countries results in poor health outcomes. Sustainable development goals (3.7 and 5.6) give a new impetus to the aspiration of universal access to high-quality SRHR services. Indispensable stakeholders […]
Antiretroviral Therapy Helps HIV-Positive Women Navigate Social Expectations for and Clinical Recommendations against Childbearing in Uganda
Understanding factors that influence pregnancy decision-making and experiences among HIV-positive women is important for developing integrated reproductive health and HIV services. Few studies have examined HIV-positive women’s navigation through the social and clinical factors that shape experiences of pregnancy in the context of access to antiretroviral therapy (ART). We conducted 25 semistructured interviews with HIV-positive, […]
Measuring and explaining changing patterns of inequality in institutional deliveries between urban and rural women in Ghana: A decomposition analysis
Background: Despite recent progress in improving access to maternal health services, the utilization of these services remains inequitable among women in developing countries, and rural women are particularly disadvantaged. This study sought to measure i) disparities in the rates of institutional births between rural and urban women in Ghana, ii) the extent to which existing […]
When women deliver at home without a skilled birth attendant: A qualitative study on the role of health care systems in the increasing home births among rural women in southwestern uganda
Background: Uganda’s maternal mortality remains unacceptably high, with thousands of women and newborns still dying of preventable deaths from pregnancy and childbirth-related complica-tions. Globally, Antenatal care (ANC) attendance has been associated with improved rates of skilled births. However, despite the fact that over 95% of women in Uganda attend at least one ANC, over 30% […]
Knowledge of postnatal mothers on essential newborn care practices at the Kenyatta national Hospital: A cross sectional study
Introduction: Of the 130 million babies born yearly, nearly 4 million die in the neonatal period. Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) 2014 places neonatal mortality rate at 22 deaths per 1,000 live births, well above the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 that aims to reduce these mortalities to at least 12 deaths per 1000 live […]
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 […]
Prevalence of undernutrition and potential risk factors among children below five years of age in Somali region, Ethiopia: evidence from 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey
Background: Childhood under-nutrition is far-reaching in low and middle-income nations. Undernutrition is one of the major open wellbeing concerns among newborn children and youthful children in Ethiopia. The present study aimed to explore the potential risk factors of undernutrition among children under 5 years of age in Somali Region, Ethiopia. Methods: The data for this […]
Inequalities in prevalence of birth by caesarean section in Ghana from 1998-2014
Background: Caesarean section (CS) is an intervention to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality, for complicated pregnancy and labour. We analysed trends in the prevalence of birth by CS in Ghana from 1998 to 2014. Methods: Using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT) software, data from the 1998-2014 Ghana Demographic and Health […]
Transboundary nomadic population movement: A potential for import-export of poliovirus
Background: Nomadic populations have a considerably higher risk of contracting a number of diseases but, despite the magnitude of the public health risks involved, they are mostly underserved with few health policies or plans to target them. Nomadic population movements are shown to be a niche for the transmission of diseases, including poliomyelitis. The nomadic […]
Health care professionals’ adherence to partograph use in Ethiopia: analysis of 2016 national emergency obstetric and newborn care survey
Background: The period around childbirth and the first 24 hours postpartum remains a perilous time for both mother and newborn. Health care providers’ compliance to the World Health Organization modified partogram across the active first stage of labor is a graphic representation of a mother’s condition that is used as a guide in providing quality […]