Effects of women’s groups practising participatory learning and action on preventive and care-seeking behaviours to reduce neonatal mortality: A meta-analysis of cluster-randomised trials
Background: The World Health Organization recommends participatory learning and action (PLA) in women’s groups to improve maternal and newborn health, particularly in rural settings with low access to health services. There have been calls to understand the pathways through which this community intervention may affect neonatal mortality. We examined the effect of women’s groups on […]
Community perspectives: An exploration of potential barriers to men’s involvement in maternity care in a central Tanzanian community
Background Male involvement in maternal health has been linked to positive health outcomes for women and children, as they control household resources and make significant decisions, which influence maternal health. Despite of the important role they have in maternal health care, their actual involvement remains low. The objective of this study was to explore community […]
Performance-based financing empowers health workers delivering prevention of vertical transmission of HIV services and decreases desire to leave in Mozambique
Background: Despite increased access to treatment and reduced incidence, vertical transmission of HIV continues to pose a risk to maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa. Performance-based financing (PBF) directed at healthcare providers has shown potential to improve quantity and quality of maternal and child health services. However, the ways in which these PBF initiatives […]
Characterising infant and young child feeding practices and the consumption of poultry products in rural Tanzania: A mixed methods approach
Suboptimal breastfeeding practices, early initiation of complementary feeding, and monotonous cereal-based diets have been implicated as contributors to continuing high rates of child undernutrition in sub-Saharan Africa. Nutrition-sensitive interventions, including agricultural programs that increase access to nutrient-rich vegetables, legumes, and animal-source foods, have the potential to achieve sustainable improvements in children’s diets. In the quest […]
Minimum acceptable diet and associated factors among infants and young children aged 6-23 months in Amhara region, Central Ethiopia: Community-based cross-sectional study
Objective The main objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of a minimum acceptable diet (MAD) and associated factors. Design Community-based cross-sectional study Setting Debre Berhan Town, Ethiopia. Participants An aggregate of 531 infants and young children mother/caregiver pairs participated in this study. A one-stage cluster sampling method was used to select study […]
A case study on building capacity to improve clinical mentoring and maternal child health in rural Tanzania: The path to implementation
Background: Tanzania is a low income, East African country with a severe shortage of human resources for health or health workers. This shortage threatens any gains the country is making in improving maternal health outcomes. This paper describes a partnership between Touch Foundation and NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing – Global, aimed at improving […]
Quality of emergency obstetric and newborn care services in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia
Background: Globally, nearly 295,000 women die every year during and following pregnancy and childbirth. Emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) can avert 75% of maternal mortality if all mothers get quality healthcare. Improving maternal health needs identification and addressing of barriers that limit access to quality maternal health services. Hence, this study aimed to assess […]
The social dimensions of community delivery of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy in Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Introduction Intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy with sulphadoxine pyrimethamine (IPTp) is a key malaria prevention strategy in sub-Saharan African countries. We conducted an anthropological study as part of a project aiming to evaluate a community-based approach to the delivery of IPTp (C-IPTp) through community health workers (CHWs) in four countries (the Democratic Republic of Congo, […]
Antenatal depressive symptoms and utilisation of delivery and postnatal care: A prospective study in rural Ethiopia
Background: Uptake of delivery and postnatal care remains low in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), where 99% of global maternal deaths take place. However, the potential impact of antenatal depression on use of institutional delivery and postnatal care has seldom been examined. This study aimed to examine whether antenatal depressive symptoms are associated with use […]
“Because even the person living with HIV/AIDS might need to make babies” – Perspectives on the drivers of feasibility and acceptability of an integrated community health worker model in Iringa, Tanzania
Background: Countries with health workforce shortages are increasingly turning to multipurpose community health workers (CHWs) to extend integrated services to the community-level. However, there may be tradeoffs with the number of tasks a CHW can effectively perform before quality and/or productivity decline. This qualitative study was conducted within an existing program in Iringa, Tanzania where […]
