How has sustainable development goals declaration influenced health financing reforms for universal health coverage at the country level? A scoping review of literature
Background: Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) requires health financing reforms (HFR) in many of the countries. HFR are inherently political. The sustainable development goals (SDG) declaration provides a global political commitment context that can influence HFR for UHC at national level. However, how the declaration has influenced HFR discourse at the national level and how […]
The IMpact of Vertical HIV infection on child and Adolescent SKeletal development in Harare, Zimbabwe (IMVASK Study): A protocol for a prospective cohort study
The scale-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART) across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has reduced mortality so that increasing numbers of children with HIV (CWH) are surviving to adolescence. However, they experience a range of morbidities due to chronic HIV infection and its treatment. Impaired linear growth (stunting) is a common manifestation, affecting up to 50% of children. […]
Joint modelling of multivariate longitudinal clinical laboratory safety outcomes, concomitant medication and clinical adverse events: application to artemisinin-based treatment during pregnancy clinical trial
Background: In drug trials, clinical adverse events (AEs), concomitant medication and laboratory safety outcomes are repeatedly collected to support drug safety evidence. Despite the potential correlation of these outcomes, they are typically analysed separately, potentially leading to misinformation and inefficient estimates due to partial assessment of safety data. Using joint modelling, we investigated whether clinical […]
Low-dose aspirin for preventing intrauterine growth restriction and pre-eclampsia in sickle cell pregnancy (PIPSICKLE): A randomised controlled trial (study protocol)
Introduction Pregnancy in sickle cell disease is fraught with many complications including pre-eclampsia (PE) and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Previously, we found an abnormality in prostacyclin-thromboxane ratio in sickle cell pregnant women, a situation that is also found in non-sickle pregnancies with PE and unexplained IUGR. Low-dose aspirin (LDA) has been shown to reduce the […]
Effect of community-based nutritional education on dietary diversity and consumption of animal-source foods among rural preschool-aged children in the Ilu Abba Bor zone of southwest Ethiopia: Quasi-experimental study
Dietary diversity (DD) is a concern for poor people in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Most people’s diets consist primarily of monotonous carbohydrate staples, with little or no animal products and few fresh fruits and vegetables. The aim of this intervention was to see how nutrition education delivered by trained health professionals improved preschool-aged children’s […]
Effectiveness of screening and treatment of children with severe acute malnutrition by community health workers in Simiyu region, Tanzania: a quasi-experimental pilot study
Health system constraints hamper treatment of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in Tanzania. This non-inferiority quasi-experimental study in Bariadi (intervention) and Maswa (control) districts assessed the effectiveness, coverage, and cost-effectiveness of SAM treatment by community health workers (CHWs) compared with outpatient therapeutic care (OTC). We included 154 and 210 children aged 6–59 months with SAM […]
The effect of ethiopia’s community-based health insurance scheme on revenues and quality of care
Ethiopia’s Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) scheme was established with the objectives of enhancing access to health care, reducing out-of-pocket expenditure (OOP), mobilizing financial resources and enhancing the quality of health care. Previous analyses have shown that the scheme has enhanced health care access and led to reductions in OOP. This paper examines the impact of […]
Intramuscular 17-hydroxyprogesterone caproate to prevent preterm birth among HIV-infected women in Zambia: Study protocol of the IPOP randomized trial
Background: Each year, an estimated 15 million babies are born preterm, a global burden borne disproportionately by families in lower-income countries. Maternal HIV infection increases a woman’s risk of delivering prematurely, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) may compound this risk. While prenatal progesterone prophylaxis prevents preterm birth among some high-risk women, it is unknown whether HIV-infected […]
Cluster-randomized study of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in infants (IPTi) in southern Tanzania: Evaluation of impact on survival
Background: Intermittent Preventive Treatment for malaria control in infants (IPTi) consists of the administration of a treatment dose of an anti-malarial drug, usually sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, at scheduled intervals, regardless of the presence of Plasmodium falciparum infection. A pooled analysis of individually randomized trials reported that IPTi reduced clinical episodes by 30%. This study evaluated the effect […]
The mixed effects of a package of multilevel interventions on the health and care of pregnant women in Zinder, Niger
Background Anaemia is prevalent among pregnant women in rural Niger and antenatal care (ANC) attendance is suboptimal. We designed a programmatic intervention including community-based behaviour change communication, provision of essential drugs (including iron folic acid (IFA) supplements) and quality improvement activities at selected integrated health centres (IHCs). Objective To assess the impact of the programmatic […]
