Why women utilize traditional rather than skilled birth attendants for maternity care in rural Nigeria: Implications for policies and programs
Objective: Data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey indicate that many pregnant women in rural Nigeria use traditional birth attendants (TBAs) rather than skilled birth attendants (SBAs) for maternal health care. This is one factor that accounts for the persistently high rate of maternal mortality in Nigeria. The objective of this study was to […]
Quantifying pregnant women’s knowledge of educational components of antenatal care in Lesotho
Antenatal care (ANC) literacy is particularly important for pregnant women who need to make appropriate decisions for care during their pregnancy and childbirth. The link between inadequate health literacy on the educational components of ANC and maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is undisputable. Yet, little is known about the ANC literacy of pregnant women […]
Availability, utilisation and quality of basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric care services in Malawi
Objective: To establish a baseline for the availability, utilisation and quality of maternal and neonatal health care services for monitoring and evaluation of a maternal and neonatal morbidity/mortality reduction programme in three districts in the Central Region of Malawi. Methods: Survey of all the 73 health facilities (13 hospitals and 60 health centres) that provide […]
Predicting the impact of COVID-19 and the potential impact of the public health response on disease burden in Uganda
The COVID-19 pandemic and public health “lockdown” responses in sub-Saharan Africa, including Uganda, are now widely reported. Although the impact of COVID-19 on African populations has been relatively light, it is feared that redirecting focus and prioritization of health systems to fight COVID-19 may have an impact on access to non–COVID-19 diseases. We applied age-based […]
Evaluating the impact of a maternal health voucher programme on service use before and after the introduction of free maternity services in Kenya: A quasi-experimental study
Introduction From 2006 to 2016, the Government of Kenya implemented a reproductive health voucher programme in select counties, providing poor women subsidised access to public and private sector care. In June 2013, the government introduced a policy calling for free maternity services to be provided in all public facilities. The concurrent implementation of these interventions […]
HIV infection, hunger, breastfeeding self-efficacy, and depressive symptoms are associated with exclusive breastfeeding to six months among women in western Kenya: A longitudinal observational study
Background: Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life is recommended for all infants. However, breastfeeding rates remain suboptimal; around 37% of infants are exclusively breastfed for the first six months globally. In Nyanza region, western Kenya, numerous challenges to breastfeeding have been identified, including food insecurity, hunger, depressive symptoms, and HIV infection. Yet, […]
Influence of women’s empowerment indices on the utilization of skilled maternity care: Evidence from rural Nigeria
There is increasing evidence that women with the ability to exercise control over their sexual and reproductive lives have greater access to prompt prevention and treatment of maternal health disorders, resulting in a concomitant reduction in maternal morbidity and mortality. This study assessed the association between indices of women’s empowerment and utilization of skilled antenatal, […]
Public health spending and health outcome in Nigeria: the role of governance
Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the relationship between public health spending and health outcome using time series data in Nigeria over the period 1980 to 2017, taking into account the role of governance by assessing how the quality of governance directly affects health status and indirectly as a mediator for the effectiveness of public […]
The proposed need for integrated maternal and child oral health policy: A case of South Africa
The high oral disease burden among children in South Africa, specifically early childhood caries, has received scant attention despite the fact that it is a public health concern that negatively impacts the overall well-being and quality of life of the child. While South Africa has a number of well documented policies that focus on oral […]
Inequities in child survival in Nigerian communities during the Sustainable Development Goal era: insights from analysis of 2016/2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey
Background: Child survival is a major concern in Nigeria, as it contributes 13% of the global under-five mortalities. Although studies have examined the determinants of under-five mortality in Nigeria, the comparative roles of social determinants of health at the different stages of early childhood development have not been concurrently investigated. This study, therefore, aimed to […]
