Formal maternal employment is associated with lower odds of exclusive breastfeeding by 14 weeks postpartum: A cross-sectional survey in Naivasha, Kenya
Background: In many low-and middle-income countries, improvements in exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) have stalled, delaying reductions in child mortality. Maternal employment is a potential barrier to EBF. Objectives: We evaluated associations between maternal employment and breastfeeding (BF) status. We compared formally and non-formally employed mothers in Naivasha, Kenya, where commercial floriculture and hospitality industries employ many […]
Individual-and community-level determinants of neonatal mortality in the emerging regions of Ethiopia: a multilevel mixed-effect analysis
Background: Unlike infant and child mortality, neonatal mortality has declined steadily in Ethiopia. Despite the large-scale investment made by Ethiopia to improve the health of newborns and infants, it is among the regions with the highest burden of neonatal mortality. Although there are studies done on neonatal mortality in different areas of Ethiopia, as to […]
Pathways Utilized for Antenatal Health Seeking Among Women in the Ga East District, Ghana
BACKGROUND: Ghana’s maternal mortality ratio has been declining over the last two decades but at a rather slow pace. Poor access to effective maternity care is identified as one of the key challenges of maternity care. The current study mapped out the pathways to pregnancy care seeking among urban-dwelling adult women in a peri-urban district […]
Illness recognition and appropriate care seeking for newborn complications in rural Oromia and Amhara regional states of Ethiopia
Background: Ethiopia has made significant progress in reducing child mortality but newborn mortality has stagnated at around 29 deaths per 1000 births. The Maternal Health in Ethiopia Partnership (MaNHEP) was a 3.5-year implementation project aimed at developing a community-oriented model of maternal and newborn health in rural Ethiopia and to position it for scale up. […]
The status of maternal and newborn health care services in Zanzibar
Background: It is estimated that 287,000 women worldwide die annually from pregnancy and childbirth-related conditions, and 6.9 million under-five children die each year, of which about 3 million are newborns. Most of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. The maternal health situation in Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar is similar to other sub-Saharan countries. This study […]
Measuring child survival for the Millennium Development Goals in Africa: what have we learned and what more is needed to evaluate the Sustainable Development Goals?
Reducing child mortality is a key global health challenge. We examined reasons for greater or lesser success in meeting under-five mortality rate reductions, i.e. Millennium Development Goal #4, between 1990 and 2015 in Sub-Saharan Africa where child mortality remains high. We first examined factors associated with child mortality from all World Health Organization African Region […]
Factors associated with inadequate prenatal care service utilization in Ethiopia according to the WHO recommended standard guidelines
Background: Adequate maternal health care could prevent 54% of maternal deaths in low- and middle-income countries. In Ethiopia, the maternal mortality rate was reduced from 817 to 412 deaths per 100,000 live births between 2000 and 2016. Thus, the current study focuses on the adequacy of prenatal care (PNC) services rather than the mere prenatal […]
Understanding the local context and its possible influences on shaping, implementing and running social accountability initiatives for maternal health services in rural Democratic Republic of the Congo: a contextual factor analysis
Background: Social accountability has to be configured according to the context in which it operates. This paper aimed to identify local contextual factors in two health zones in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and discuss their possible influences on shaping, implementing and running social accountability initiatives. Methods: Data on local socio-cultural characteristics, the governance […]
Stakeholders perceptions regarding implementing maternal and newborn health care programs in Rwanda
Background: While maternal and newborn deaths has been decreasing since 2008 in Rwanda, there is room for improvement to meet its sustainable development goals. The maternal and newborn health care program needs to be monitored to ensure its effective implementation. This study therefore aimed to explore stakeholder’s perceptions of the Rwandan maternal and newborn health […]
Exploring the impact of a community participatory intervention on women’s capability: a qualitative study in Gulu Northern Uganda
Background: Community participatory interventions mobilizing women of childbearing age are an effective strategy to promote maternal and child health. In 2017, we implemented this strategy in Gulu Northern Uganda. This study explored the perceived impact of this approach on women’s capability. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study based on three data collection methods: 14 in-depth […]
