Improving the effectiveness of point of care tests for malaria and anaemia: A qualitative study across three Ghanaian antenatal clinics

Background: Anaemia and malaria are both major contributors to maternal and child mortality, and morbidity, with some of the worst outcomes occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Point of care tests (POCT), if used appropriately, provide a simple, inexpensive form of diagnostic testing, as a reliable alternative when laboratory tests are not readily available. In such resource […]

How do diverse low-income and middle-income countries implement primary healthcare team integration to support the delivery of comprehensive primary health care? A mixed-methods study protocol from India, Mexico and Uganda

Introduction Attainment of universal health coverage is feasible via strengthened primary health systems that are comprehensive, accessible, people-centred, continuous and coordinated. Having an adequately trained, motivated and equipped primary healthcare workforce is central to the provision of comprehensive primary healthcare (CPHC). This study aims to understand PHC team integration, composition and organisation in the delivery […]

Health postservice readiness and use of preventive and curative services for suspected childhood pneumonia in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

Objective Pneumonia is the single-leading cause of infectious disease deaths in children under-5. Despite this challenge, the utilisation of preventive and curative child health services remains low in Ethiopia. We investigated the association between health post service readiness and caregivers’ awareness of pneumonia services, care-seeking and utilisation of pneumonia-relevant immunisation in four Ethiopian regions. Design […]

Adding proactive and reactive case detection into the integrated community case management system to optimise diagnosis and treatment of malaria in a high transmission setting of Cameroon: An observational quality improvement study

Objective Integrated community case management (iCCM) of childhood illness is a powerful intervention to reduce mortality. Yet, only 29% and 59% of children with fever in sub-Saharan Africa had access to malaria testing and treatment between 2015 and 2017. We report how iCCM+ based on incorporating active case detection of malaria into iCCM could help […]

Cultural and contextual adaptation of mental health measures in Kenya: An adolescentcentered transcultural adaptation of measures study

Introduction There is paucity of culturally adapted tools for assessing depression and anxiety in children and adolescents in low-and middle-income countries. This hinders early detection, provision of appropriate and culturally acceptable interventions. In a partnership with the University of Nairobi, Nairobi County, Kenyatta National Hospital, and UNICEF, a rapid cultural adaptation of three adolescent mental […]

The use of a speaking book® to enhance vaccine knowledge among caregivers in the Gambia: A study using qualitative and quantitative methods

Objectives To measure the usefulness of a Speaking Book (SB) as an educational tool for enhancing knowledge, understanding and recall of key vaccine-related information among caregivers in The Gambia, as well as its acceptability and relevance as a health promotion tool for caregivers and healthcare workers. Design and setting We developed a multimedia educational tool, […]

Predictors of Neonatal Tetanus Mortality in Katsina State, Northwestern Nigeria

Background: The mortality rate of neonatal tetanus (NNT) remains high in Nigeria. The study was guided by Mosley and Chen’s model for the elements of child survival in developing countries. The goal of the study was to assess the associations between selected NNT risk factors, number of maternal tetanus toxoid injections, frequency of antenatal visits, […]

Individual and community-level factors associated with modern contraceptive use among adolescent girls and young women in Ethiopia: a multilevel analysis of 2016 Ethiopia demographic and health survey

Background: The importance of contraception use is immense for young girls of age 15–24 years. In literatures, there were significant attempts made to study factors associated with adolescent and young women contraception use in Africa. Despite the resulting interventions followed those studies, the contraception uses among youth population in Africa remained below average. Thus, this […]

Determinants of unmet need for family planning in rural Burkina Faso: A multilevel logistic regression analysis

Background: Unmet need for family planning has implications for women and their families, such as unsafe abortion, physical abuse, and poor maternal health. Contraceptive knowledge has increased across low-income settings, yet unmet need remains high with little information on the factors explaining it. This study assessed factors associated with unmet need among pregnant women in […]

Individual factors associated with time to non-adherence to ART pick-up within HIV care and treatment services in three health facilities of Zambézia Province, Mozambique

Introduction Mozambique has made significant gains in addressing its HIV epidemic, yet adherence to visit schedules remains a challenge. HIV programmatic gains to date could be impaired if adherence and retention to ART remains low. We investigate individual factors associated with non-adherence to ART pick-up in Mozambique. Methods This was a retrospective cohort of patients […]