Independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene, and improved complementary feeding, on stunting and anaemia among HIV-exposed children in rural Zimbabwe: a cluster-randomised controlled trial
Background: Children exposed to HIV have a high prevalence of stunting and anaemia. We aimed to test the effect of improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) on child linear growth and haemoglobin concentrations. Methods: We did a cluster randomised 2 × 2 factorial trial in two districts […]
Pooled prevalence and determinants of skilled birth attendant delivery in East Africa countries: a multilevel analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys
Introduction: Skilled health professional assisted delivery is an effective strategy to reduce maternal and newborn mortality. Skilled assistant delivery can prevent about 16–33% of maternal and newborn mortality. Despite the commitments of the government to assure home free delivery, majority of the births in Sub-Saharan Africa are attended by traditional birth attendants. As to our […]
What predicts delayed first antenatal care contact among primiparous women? Findings from a cross-sectional study in Nigeria
Background: Delayed first antenatal care contact refers to first antenatal care contact occurring above twelfth weeks of gestation. Studies in Nigeria and in other countries have examined the prevalence and predictors of delayed first antenatal care contact. Nevertheless, existing studies have rarely examined the predictors among primiparous women. In addition, the evidence of higher health […]
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) types Western blot (WB) band profiles as potential surrogate markers of HIV disease progression and predictors of vertical transmission in a cohort of infected but antiretroviral therapy naïve pregnant women in Harare, Zimbabwe
Background: Expensive CD4 count and viral load tests have failed the intended objective of enabling access to HIV therapy in poor resource settings. It is imperative to develop simple, affordable and non-subjective disease monitoring tools to complement clinical staging efforts of inexperienced health personnel currently manning most healthcare centres because of brain drain. Besides accurately […]
Factors associated with tuberculosis infection, and with anti-mycobacterial immune responses, among five year olds BCG-immunised at birth in Entebbe, Uganda
Background: BCG is used widely as the sole licensed vaccine against tuberculosis, but it has variable efficacy and the reasons for this are still unclear. No reliable biomarkers to predict future protection against, or acquisition of, TB infection following immunisation have been identified. Lessons from BCG could be valuable in the development of effective tuberculosis […]
Use of the Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG) for Life-Threatening Obstetric Hemorrhage: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Egypt and Nigeria
Objective:To assess the cost-effectiveness of a non-pneumatic anti-shock garment (NASG) for obstetric hemorrhage in tertiary hospitals in Egypt and Nigeria.Methods:We combined published data from pre-intervention/NASG-intervention clinical trials with costs from study sites. For each country, we used observed proportions of initial shock level (mild: mean arterial pressure [MAP] >60 mmHg; severe: MAP ≤60 mmHg) to […]
The coverage of continuum of care in maternal, newborn and child health: A cross-sectional study of woman-child pairs in Ghana
Introduction The continuum of care has recently received attention in maternal, newborn and child health. It can be an effective policy framework to ensure that every woman and child receives timely and appropriate services throughout the continuum. However, a commonly used measurement does not evaluate if a pair of woman and child complies with the […]
Improving health literacy through group antenatal care: A prospective cohort study
Background: To examine whether exposure to group antenatal care increased women’s health literacy by improving their ability to interpret and utilize health messages compared to women who received standard, individual antenatal care in Ghana. Methods: We used a prospective cohort design. The setting was a busy urban district hospital in Kumasi, the second most populous […]
Cervical dilatation over time is a poor predictor of severe adverse birth outcomes: a diagnostic accuracy study
Objective: To assess the accuracy of the World Health Organization (WHO) partograph alert line and other candidate predictors in the identification of women at risk of developing severe adverse birth outcomes. Design: A facility-based, multicentre, prospective cohort study. Setting: Thirteen maternity hospitals located in Nigeria and Uganda. Population: A total of 9995 women with spontaneous […]
Maternal Effects in Relation to Helper Presence in the Cooperatively Breeding Sociable Weaver
In egg laying species, breeding females may adjust the allocation of nutrients or other substances into eggs in order to maximise offspring or maternal fitness. Cooperatively breeding species offer a particularly interesting context in which to study maternal allocation because helpers create predictably improved conditions during offspring development. Some recent studies on cooperative species showed […]
