A Qualitative study of language barriers between South African health care providers and cross-border migrants
Background: Communication with health care providers represents an essential part of access to health care for the over 230 million cross-border migrants around the world. In this article, we explore the complexity of health communication from the perspective of cross-border migrants seeking antenatal care in Cape Town, South Africa in order to highlight the importance […]
Effectiveness of mHealth interventions targeting health care workers to improve pregnancy outcomes in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review
Background: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face the highest burden of maternal and neonatal deaths. Concurrently, they have the lowest number of physicians. Innovative methods such as the exchange of health-related information using mobile devices (mHealth) may support health care workers in the provision of antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care to improve maternal and neonatal […]
The economic burden of maternal mortality on households: Evidence from three sub-counties in rural western Kenya
Background: This study explores the consequences of a maternal death to households in rural Western Kenya focusing particularly on the immediate financial and economic impacts. Methods: Between September 2011 and March 2013 all households in the study area with a maternal death were surveyed. Data were collected on the demographic characteristics of the deceased woman; […]
What Are the Factors That Interplay From Normal Pregnancy to Near Miss Maternal Morbidity in a Nigerian Tertiary Health Care Facility?
Researchers in Nigeria examined the epidemiological characteristics and factors associated with maternal outcomes using a mixed method approach: a prospective case control study design involving 375 pregnant women who received maternal care from a tertiary facility and in-depth interviews reporting the experience of near-miss survivors. A generalized ordered logit model was used to generate the […]
The use of traditional medicine in maternity care among African women in Africa and the diaspora: A systematic review
Background: There is a paucity of literature describing traditional health practices and beliefs of African women. The purpose of this study was to undertake a systematic review of the use of traditional medicine (TM) to address maternal and reproductive health complaints and wellbeing by African women in Africa and the diaspora. Method: A literature search […]
Male involvement in maternal health: Perspectives of opinion leaders
Background: Twenty years after acknowledging the importance of joint responsibilities and male participation in maternal health programs, most health care systems in low income countries continue to face challenges in involving men. We explored the reasons for men’s resistance to the adoption of a more proactive role in pregnancy care and their enduring influence in […]
What watching others watching can tell us: using video vignettes alongside narrative interviews to access multiple positions and embodied information in cross-cultural mother-infant research
Culturally-embedded and embodied understandings of interaction, transmitted intergenerationally, and often non-consciously through sensory and affective memory, are notoriously difficult to access. Such information is often contained in implicit memory and is not readily available for narrative explanation. Alternative methodologies that can access these models of meaning are required. While videos of mother-infant interaction have long […]
A systematic review of qualitative evidence on barriers and facilitators to the implementation of task-shifting in midwifery services
Objective: to synthesise qualitative research on task-shifting to and from midwives to identify barriers and facilitators to successful implementation. Design: systematic review of qualitative evidence using a 4-stage narrative synthesis approach. We searched the CINAHL, Medline and the Social Science Citation Index databases. Study quality was assessed and evidence was synthesised using a theory-informed comparative […]
Barriers to access and utilization of emergency obstetric care at health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa-a systematic review protocol
Background: Nearly 15% of all pregnancies end in fatal perinatal obstetric complications including bleeding, infections, hypertension, obstructed labor, and complications of abortion. Between 1990 and 2015, an estimated 10.7 million women died due to obstetric complications. Almost all of these deaths (99%) happened in developing countries, and 66% of maternal deaths were attributed to sub-Saharan […]
Women’s perspectives on quality of maternal health care services in Malawi
Despite promotion by many stakeholders to improve maternal health outcome in many developing countries including Malawi, many analysts agree that the utmost success in maternal health will arise if maternal health care services are an unparallel led source for women’s health care solutions for any problem related to childbirth. Health advocates worldwide claim that even […]
