Prevalence of Caesarean sections in Enugu, southeast Nigeria: Analysis of data from the Healthy Beginning Initiative
Background In order to meet the Sustainable Development Goal to decrease maternal mortality, increased access to obstetric interventions such as Caesarean sections (CS) is of critical importance. As a result of women’s limited access to routine and emergency obstetric services in Nigeria, the country is a major contributor to the global burden of maternal mortality. […]
Neurodevelopment of HIV-exposed uninfected children in South Africa: outcomes from an observational birth cohort study
Background: HIV infection is known to cause developmental delay, but the effects of HIV exposure without infection during pregnancy on child development are unclear. We compared the neurodevelopmental outcomes of HIV-exposed uninfected and HIV-unexposed children during their first 2 years of life. Methods: Pregnant women (>18 years of age) at 20–28 weeks’ gestation were enrolled […]
Linking data sources for measurement of effective coverage in maternal and newborn health: What do we learn from individual- vs ecological-linking methods?
Background Improving maternal and newborn health requires improvements in the quality of facility-based care. This is challenging to measure: routine data may be unreliable; respondents in population surveys may be unable to accurately report on quality indicators; and facility assessments lack population level denominators. We explored methods for linking access to skilled birth attendance (SBA) […]
Factors associated with health facility childbirth in districts of Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia: A population based survey
Background: Maternal mortality continues to be a heavy burden in low and middle income countries where half of all deliveries take place in homes without skilled attendance. The study aimed to investigate the underlying and proximate determinants of health facility childbirth in rural and urban areas of three districts in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.Methods: A […]
Preconception care practices in Nigeria: a descriptive qualitative study
Background: Preconception care is a specialized care targeted at women of reproductive age before pregnancy to detect, treat or counsel them about pre-existing medical and social conditions that may militate against safe motherhood and positive pregnancy outcome. In spite of the known need for preconception care in Nigeria, routine preconception care services are not available […]
Persistent barriers to care; a qualitative study to understand women’s experiences in areas served by the midwives service scheme in Nigeria
Background: The Nigerian Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) is an ambitious human resources project created in 2009 to address supply side barriers to accessing care. Key features include the recruitment and deployment of newly qualified, unemployed and retired midwives to rural primary healthcare centres (PHCs) to ensure improved access to skilled care. This study aimed to […]
Willingness to pay for small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements for women and children: Evidence from Ghana and Malawi
Small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) are designed to enrich maternal and child diets with the objective of preventing undernutrition during the first 1,000 days. Scaling up the delivery of supplements such as SQ-LNS hinges on understanding private demand and creatively leveraging policy-relevant factors that might influence demand. We used longitudinal stated willingness-to-pay (WTP) data from contingent […]
Access to and use of preventive intermittent treatment for Malaria during pregnancy: A qualitative study in the Chókwè district, Southern Mozambique
Background Malaria remains a significant health problem in Mozambique, particularly in the case of pregnant women and children less than five years old. Intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPT-SP) is recommended for preventing malaria in pregnancy (MiP). Despite the widespread use and cost-effectiveness of IPTp-SP, coverage remains low. In this study, we explored factors limiting […]
Mobile-based Vaccine Registry to Improve Collection and Completeness of Maternal Immunization Data
Immunization during pregnancy and infancy significantly reduces morbidity and mortality of mothers, unborn fetuses, and young infants. Several studies show the merits of getting complete, quality, and accurate data on time to enhance policy and decision-making for society or country development. Despite the efforts by nations to ensure the success of maternal immunization through electronic […]
Family Planning in the Sierra Leone Ebola Outbreak: Women’s Proximal and Distal Reasoning
Sierra Leone was highly impacted by the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, with 3,955 recorded deaths. Already stressed maternal health services were deeply affected by the outbreak due to fears of viral transmission, reallocation of maternity staff, and broader policies to stop transmission including travel restrictions. This research sought to explore women’s perspectives on delaying […]
