Articles

Defining disrespect and abuse of newborns: a review of the evidence and an expanded typology of respectful maternity care

The review revealed examples of mistreatment of newborns in six of the seven categories. Common occurrences were failure to meet a professional standard of care, stigma and discrimination, and health system constraints. Many instances of mistreatment of newborns related to neglect and non-consented care rather than outright physical or verbal abuse. Two additional categories were also identified for newborns related to legal accountability and bereavement care.

Evidence-based policy responses to strengthen health, community and legislative systems that care for women in Australia with female genital mutilation / cutting

This article reviews the literature on research on FGM/C in Australia, which focuses on health system response to women and girls with FGM/C. Recommendations are made for policy reform in health, legislation, and community programs to provide the best healthcare, protect children, and help communities abandon this harmful practice.  Findings suggest that countries of migration can be part of the solution for abandonment of FGM/C through community interventions and implementation of national and coordinated training in FGM/C of experts involved in the care and protection of children and women. The global focus on collaboration on research, training and prevention programs should be fostered between countries of FGM/C prevalence and migration.

Strategies to improve the implementation of healthy eating, physical activity and obesity prevention policies, practices or programmes within childcare services

Current research provides weak and inconsistent evidence of the effectiveness of such strategies in improving the implementation of policies and practices, childcare service staff knowledge or attitudes, or child diet, physical activity or weight status. Further research in the field is required.

Dietary advice interventions in pregnancy for preventing gestational diabetes mellitus

This review aims to assess the effects of dietary advice interventions for preventing GDM and associated adverse health outcomes for women and their babies.

The effect of health insurance and health facility-upgrades on hospital deliveries in rural Nigeria: a controlled interrupted time-series study

Access to quality obstetric care is considered essential to reducing maternal and new-born mortality. The authors evaluated the effect of the introduction of a multifaceted voluntary health insurance programme on hospital deliveries in rural Nigeria. Voluntary health insurance combined with quality healthcare services is highly effective in increasing hospital deliveries in rural Nigeria, by improving access to healthcare for insured and uninsured women in the programme area.

Community-Based Care to Improve Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health

Summarizes evidence on the impact of community-based programs for improving reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) by (1) describing contextual factors affecting implementation; (2) considering issues of cost-effectiveness; and (3) highlighting research gaps, the challenges of scaling up, and the way forward.

Effectiveness of community health workers delivering preventive interventions for maternal and child health in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

This review reports findings on a systematic review analysing effectiveness of preventive interventions delivered by Community Health Workers for Maternal and Child Health in low- and middle-income countries. Community Health Workers were shown to provide a range of preventive interventions for Maternal and Child Health in low- and middle-income countries with some evidence of effective strategies, though insufficient evidence is available to draw conclusions for most interventions and further research is needed.

New NIHR Themed Review: Better Beginnings

This themed review brings together NIHR research on different aspects of health before, during and after pregnancy. It features:

• 46 published studies
• 28 ongoing studies or interim results
• Questions for clinicians, commissioners, public health professionals and othe

Health Research Saving Lives - The CHAPAS Trial

This short film shows the impact of the CHAPAS trial on patient health and future possibilities of a small boy from Malawi.

The effect of a transition into poverty on child and maternal mental health: a longitudinal analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study

To inform policy, the authors explore the association between transitions into poverty and subsequent mental health among children and their mothers. In a contemporary UK cohort, first transition into income poverty during early childhood was associated with an increase in the risk of child and maternal mental health problems. These effects were independent of changes in employment status. Transitions to income poverty do appear to affect children's life chances and actions that directly reduce income poverty of children are likely to improve child and maternal mental health.

"Africa’s health in transition" with Prof Kevin Marsh

This is a great video of a talk given at the Oxford Martin School by Professor Kevin Marsh.

Mapping the knowledge and understanding of menarche, menstrual hygiene and menstrual health among adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries

This review aims to answer the following questions: (1) how knowledgeable are adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries about menstruation and how prepared are they for reaching menarche, (2) who are their sources of information regarding menstruation, (3) how well do the adults around them respond to their information needs, (4) what negative health and social effects do adolescents experience as a result of menstruation, and (5) how do adolescents respond when they experience these negative effects and what practices do they develop as a result? Results suggest that dolescent girls in LMIC are often uninformed and unprepared for menarche. Information is primarily obtained from mothers and other female family members who are not necessarily well equipped to fill gaps in girls’ knowledge. Exclusion and shame lead to misconceptions and unhygienic practices during menstruation. Rather than seek medical consultation, girls tend to miss school, self-medicate and refrain from social interaction. Also problematic is that relatives and teachers are often not prepared to respond to the needs of girls.

Factors associated with spontaneous abortion: a cross-sectional study of Chinese populations

The present study is aimed to explore the association between spontaneous abortion (SA) and socioeconomic status (SES) and provides reference for policy makers to improve strategies on maternal health promotion. Generally women with lower SES status had a higher risk of SA. Lower income and educational attainment were inversely associated with the risk of SA. Women with agricultural and related work had a significantly higher prevalence of SA. Interventions could be targeted more on women with low SES to increase both health profits as well as economic gains for health programs.

Neonatal nursing in Kenya

In this podcast Dr Jacob McKnight talks about his experiences in neonatal nursing delivery and research in Kenya.

Barriers to accessing adequate maternal care in Central and Eastern European countries: A systematic literature review

In this study service-related indicators of access to maternal care in CEE are examined. These include availability, appropriateness, affordability, approachability and acceptability of maternal care. Fndings indicate that major gaps in evidence exist and that more representative and better quality data should be collected. Governments in CEE countries need to establish a reliable system for measuring and monitoring a suitable set of indicators, as well as deal with the general social and economic problem of informality. Medical curricula in the CEE region need to be overhauled and there should be a focus on improving the allocation of medical staff and institutions as well as protecting vulnerable population groups to ensure universal access to care.

Factors associated with the utilization of institutional delivery services in Bangladesh

Effective policymaking to promote the utilization of MHS can be greatly facilitated by the identification of the factors that hinder service uptake. In this study, the authors aim to measure the prevalence of institutional delivery services and explore the factors associated with their utilization in Bangladesh. Results suggest that efforts towards reducing national maternal mortality in Bangladesh could be aided by investments into education, poverty reduction and the strengthening of reproductive healthcare services through community clinics, with particular focus on rural areas.

The World Health Organization Fetal Growth Charts: A Multinational Longitudinal Study of Ultrasound Biometric Measurements and Estimated Fetal Weight

WHO made it a high priority to provide the present fetal growth charts for estimated fetal weight (EFW) and common ultrasound biometric measurements intended for worldwide use. This study provides WHO fetal growth charts for EFW and common ultrasound biometric measurements, and shows variation between different parts of the world.

Customised and Noncustomised Birth Weight Centiles and Prediction of Stillbirth and Infant Mortality and Morbidity: A Cohort Study of 979,912 Term Singleton Pregnancies in Scotland

This is a population-based linkage study of 979,912 term singleton pregnancies in Scotland, United Kingdom, between 1992 and 2010. At term, birth weight remains strongly associated with the risk of stillbirth and infant death and neonatal morbidity. Partial customisation does not improve prediction performance. Consideration of early term delivery or closer surveillance for those with a predicted birth weight ≤25th or ≥85th centile may reduce adverse outcomes. Replication of the analysis with fully customised centiles accounting for ethnicity is warranted.

Health research capacity development in low and middle income countries: reality or rhetoric?

There has been steady progress in LMIC health research capacity, but major barriers to research persist and more empirical evidence on development strategies is required.

Simplified antibiotic regimens for treatment of clinical severe infection in the outpatient setting when referral is not possible for young infants in Pakistan (Simplified Antibiotic Therapy Trial)

Parenteral antibiotic therapy for young infants (aged 0–59 days) with suspected sepsis is sometimes not available or feasible in countries with high neonatal mortality. Outpatient treatment could save lives in such settings. The authors in this study aimed to assess the equivalence of two simplifi ed antibiotic regimens, comprising fewer injections and oral rather than parenteral administration, compared with a reference treatment for young infants with clinical severe infection. Two simplifi ed antibiotic regimens requiring fewer injections are equivalent to a reference treatment for young infants with signs of clinical severe infection but without signs of critical illness. The use of these simplifi ed regimens has the potential to increase access to treatment for sick young infants who cannot be referred to hospital.