Playing the catch-up game: Accelerating the scale-up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services to eliminate new pediatric HIV infection in Nigeria
Introduction As the world is making progress towards elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, poor coverage of PMTCT services in Nigeria remains a major challenge. In order to address this, scale-up was planned with activities organized into 3 phases. This paper describes the process undertaken in eight high burden Nigerian states to rapidly close PMTCT […]
Medical and psychological consequences of rape among survivors during armed conflicts in northeast Ethiopia
Background Rape is the most common act of violence against women during wartime which is considered interpersonal, social and political violence because survivors usually suffer from stigma and discrimination in the community. Sexual violence is a serious threat to women’s health. The psychological and medical consequences of rape during the conflict period are not well […]
Mothers’ experience of disrespect and abuse during maternity care in northern Ethiopia
Background: The provision of respectful and satisfactory maternity care is essential for promoting timely care-seeking behaviour, and ultimately ensuring the health and well-being of mothers and their babies. Disrespectful and abusive care has been recognized as one of the barriers to seeking timely maternity health services. However, the issue has not been adequately researched in […]
Realist evaluation to improve health systems responsiveness to neglected health needs of vulnerable groups in Ghana and Vietnam: Study protocol
Background Socio-economic growth in many low and middle-income countries has resulted in more available, though not equitably accessible, healthcare. Such growth has also increased demands from citizens for their health systems to be more responsive to their needs. This paper shares a protocol for the RESPONSE study which aims to understand, co-produce, implement and evaluate […]
Incidence of severe and nonsevere pertussis among HIV-exposed and-unexposed zambian infants through 14weeks of age: Results from the southern Africa mother infant pertussis study (samips), a longitudinal birth cohort study
Background. Maternal vaccination with tetanus, reduced-dose diphtheria, and acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap) could be an effective way of mitigating the high residual burden of infant morbidity and mortality caused by Bordetella pertussis. To better inform such interventions, we conducted a burden-of-disease study to determine the incidence of severe and nonsevere pertussis among a population of […]
Spatial variation and inequities in antenatal care coverage in Kenya, Uganda and mainland Tanzania using model-based geostatistics: a socioeconomic and geographical accessibility lens
Background: Pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experience the highest levels of maternal mortality and stillbirths due to predominantly avoidable causes. Antenatal care (ANC) can prevent, detect, alleviate, or manage these causes. While eight ANC contacts are now recommended, coverage of the previous minimum of four visits (ANC4+) remains low and inequitable in SSA. Methods: […]
Improving emergency obstetric referral systems in low and middle income countries: A qualitative study in a tertiary health facility in Ghana
Background: Timely access to emergency obstetric care is crucial in preventing mortalities associated with pregnancy and childbirth. The referral of patients from lower levels of care to higher levels has been identified as an integral component of the health care delivery system in Ghana. To this effect, in 2012, the National Referral Policy and Guidelines […]
‘People have started to deliver in the facility these days’: A qualitative exploration of factors affecting facility delivery in Ethiopia
Objectives To understand the recent rise in facility deliveries in Ethiopia. Design A qualitative study. Setting Four rural communities in two regions of Ethiopia. Participants 12 narrative, 12 in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions with recently delivered women; and four focus group discussions with each of grandmothers, fathers and community health workers. Results We […]
How accurate are modelled birth and pregnancy estimates? Comparison of four models using high resolution maternal health census data in southern Mozambique
Background Existence of inequalities in quality and access to healthcare services at subnational levels has been identified despite a decline in maternal and perinatal mortality rates at national levels, leading to the need to investigate such conditions using geographical analysis. The need to assess the accuracy of global demographic distribution datasets at all subnational levels […]
Predictors of prenatal iron folic acid supplement utilization in Wolaita, South Ethiopia: A community based cross-sectional study (quantitative and qualitative approach)
Background: Effectiveness of prenatal iron supplementation program depends on utilization of the supplement by pregnant women. Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, regardless of increasing efforts, lower proportion of pregnant women use the supplementation for recommended 3 months and above but, the reason is not clear. This study aimed to identify the level and factors associated with utilization […]
