A novel household water insecurity scale: Procedures and psychometric analysis among postpartum women in western Kenya
Our ability to measure household-level food insecurity has revealed its critical role in a range of physical, psychosocial, and health outcomes. Currently, there is no analogous, standardized instrument for quantifying household-level water insecurity, which prevents us from understanding both its prevalence and consequences. Therefore, our objectives were to develop and validate a household water insecurity […]
Employed mothers’ breastfeeding: Exploring breastfeeding experience of employed mothers in different work environments in Ethiopia
Background One of the most cost-effective interventions to enhance child health with the potential to reach families of all economic backgrounds is breastfeeding. Despite the many benefits optimal breastfeeding has, its practice is low due to various barriers among which maternal employment is mentioned repeatedly. Accordingly, this study has explored the experience of employed mothers […]
A road to obstetric fistula in malawi: Capturing women’s perspectives through a framework of three delays
Introduction: Obstetric fistula (OF) is a devastating birth injury, which leaves a woman with leaking urine and/or feces accompanied by bad smell, a situation that has been likened to death itself. The condition is caused by neglected obstructed labor. Many factors underlie fistula formation, most of which are preventable. The main purpose of this study […]
Learning from the experience of maternity healthcare workers in Malawi: A qualitative study leading to ten low-cost recommendations to improve working lives and quality of care
Background: In Malawi there are too few maternity healthcare workers to enable delivery of high quality care to women. These staff are often overworked and have low job satisfaction. Skilled maternity healthcare workers are essential to improve outcomes for mothers and babies. This study focuses on understanding the working life experience of maternity staff at […]
The Mentor-Mothers program in the Nigeria Department of Defense: policies, processes, and implementation
Background: Nigeria has the second largest HIV epidemic in the world and is one of the countries with the highest rates of new pediatric infections in sub-Saharan Africa. The country faces several challenges in the provision of healthcare services and coverage of Prevention of Mother to child transmission of HIV. In the Nigeria’s Department of […]
Scaling up context-tailored clinical guidelines and training to improve childbirth care in urban, low-resource maternity units in Tanzania: A protocol for a stepped-wedged cluster randomized trial with embedded qualitative and economic analyses (The PartoMa Scale-Up Study)
While facility births are increasing in many low-resource settings, quality of care often does not follow suit; maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity remain unacceptably high. Therefore, realistic, context-tailored clinical support is crucially needed to assist birth attendants in resource-constrained realities to provide best possible evidence-based and respectful care. Our pilot study in Zanzibar suggested […]
The views of key stakeholders in Zimbabwe on the introduction of postgraduate family medicine training: A qualitative study
Background: Strengthening primary health care (PHC) is a priority for all effective health systems, and family physicians are seen as a key member of the PHC team. Zimbabwe has joined a number of African countries that are seriously considering the introduction of postgraduate family medicine training. Implementation of training, however, has not yet happened. Aim: […]
Responding to maternal loss: A phenomenological study of older orphans in youth-headed households in impoverished areas of South Africa
The aim of this study was to explore how older orphans in youth-headed households (YHHs) experience and respond to maternal death and to examine the strategies they employ to care for their younger siblings. We interviewed 18 older orphans who were purposively selected from YHHs located in informal settlements in the City of Tshwane, South […]
Scaling up Locally Adapted Clinical Practice Guidelines for Improving Childbirth Care in Tanzania: A Protocol for Programme Theory and Qualitative Methods of the PartoMa Scale-up Study
Effective, low-cost clinical interventions to improve facility-based care during childbirth are critical to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity in low-resource settings. While health interventions for low- and lower-middle-income countries are often developed and implemented top-down, needs and circumstances vary greatly across locations. Our pilot study in Zanzibar improved care through locally co-created intrapartum […]
Associations between individual variations in visual attention at 9 months and behavioral competencies at 18 months in rural Malawi
Theoretical and empirical considerations suggest that individual differences in infant visual attention correlate with variations in cognitive skills later in childhood. Here we tested this hypothesis in infants from rural Malawi (n = 198–377, depending on analysis), who were assessed with eye tracking tests of visual orienting, anticipatory looks, and attention to faces at 9 […]
