Medicinal plants used among pregnant women in a tertiary teaching hospital in Jimma, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study
Objective The aim of this study was to investigate and describe the use of medicinal plants during pregnancy among women admitted in the Maternity and Gynaecology wards at Jimma University Medical Centre (JUMC) in the southwest Ethiopia. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Maternity and Gynaecology wards at JUMC. Participants 1117 hospitalised pregnant women or postpartum women. […]
Protocol for active safety monitoring of a cohort of patients using a dolutegravir-based antiretroviral regimen in Mozambique
Introduction Dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) is increasingly being used as the preferred first-line regimen for the treatment of HIV in low-income and middle-income countries. The National Program for the Control of STI/HIV/AIDS in Mozambique has planned a phased introduction of the tenofovir/lamivudine/dolutegravir (TLD) regimen. In 2019, concerns about a potential safety signal identified with dolutegravir […]
Dynamics of the infant gut microbiota in the first 18 months of life: the impact of maternal HIV infection and breastfeeding
Background: Access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) during pregnancy and breastfeeding for mothers with HIV has resulted in fewer children acquiring HIV peri- and postnatally, resulting in an increase in the number of children who are exposed to the virus but are not infected (HEU). HEU infants have an increased likelihood of childhood infections and adverse […]
Pilot testing of the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly toolbox in Ghana
Background: Ghana has achieved significant progress in breastfeeding practices in the past two decades. Further progress is, however, limited by insufficient government funding and declining donor support for breastfeeding programs. The current study pretested feasibility of the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) toolbox in Ghana, to assess the existing enabling environment and gaps for scaling-up effective […]
Individual and facility-level factors associated with women’s receipt of immediate postpartum family planning counseling in Ethiopia: results from national surveys of women and health facilities
Background: Immediate postpartum family planning (IPPFP) helps prevent unintended and closely spaced pregnancies. Despite Ethiopia’s rising facility-based delivery rate and supportive IPPFP policies, the prevalence of postpartum contraceptive use remains low, with little known about disparities in access to IPPFP counseling. We sought to understand if women’s receipt of IPPFP counseling varied by individual and […]
Association between experiences of intimate partner sexual violence and cigarette smoking among women in union in Papua New Guinea: evidence from a nationally representative survey
Background: Intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) is a prevalent public health problem affecting millions of people each year globally, particularly in developing countries like Papua New Guinea (PNG). Although over two-thirds of women in PNG are estimated to experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime, empirical evidence is limited on the association between […]
Measuring progress from 1990 to 2017 and projecting attainment to 2030 of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals for 195 countries and territories: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
Background: Efforts to establish the 2015 baseline and monitor early implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight both great potential for and threats to improving health by 2030. To fully deliver on the SDG aim of “leaving no one behind”, it is increasingly important to examine the health-related SDGs beyond national-level estimates. As […]
Should I stay or should I go? Initiation of joint travel in mother–infant dyads of two chimpanzee communities in the wild
It is well established that great apes communicate via intentionally produced, elaborate and flexible gestural means. Yet relatively little is known about the most fundamental steps into this communicative endeavour—communicative exchanges of mother–infant dyads and gestural acquisition; perhaps because the majority of studies concerned captive groups and single communities in the wild only. Here, we […]
Exposure to a slightly sweet lipid-based nutrient supplement during early life does not increase the level of sweet taste most preferred among 4-to 6-year-old Ghanaian children: Follow-up of a randomized controlled trial
Background: The impact of feeding a slightly sweet nutrient supplement early in life on later sweet taste preference is unknown. Objective: We tested the hypothesis that the level of sucrose most preferred by 4-6-y-old children exposed to a slightly sweet lipidbased nutrient supplement (LNS) early in life would not be higher than that of children […]
Effect of single-dose anthelmintic treatment during pregnancy on an infant’s response to immunisation and on susceptibility to infectious diseases in infancy: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Helminth infections affect the human immune response. We investigated whether prenatal exposure to and treatment of maternal helminth infections affects development of an infant’s immune response to immunisations and unrelated infections. In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we enrolled 2507 women in the second or third trimester of pregnancy who were planning to deliver in […]
