Latest Articles
- Ebola: A Hyperinflated Emergency
As with the Ebola outbreak, global under-5 mortality and morbidity should be considered a public health emergency of international concern.
- Will the Higher-Income Country Blueprint for COVID-19 Work in Low- and Lower Middle-Income Countries?
Strategies to radically suppress incidence of COVID-19, as used in higher-income countries, may be unrealistic and counterproductive in most low- and lower middle-income countries. Instead, strategies should be tailored to the setting, balancing expected benefits, potential harms, and feasibility.
- Doing Things Differently: What It Would Take to Ensure Continued Access to Contraception During COVID-19
COVID-19 may fundamentally change women’s contraceptive use, meaning that the future we have been planning and procuring for, may not match these changes. In these unprecedented times, we must rethink how we link product and program in the short-term to ensure women’s changing needs are met.
- What Goes In Must Come Out: A Mixed-Method Study of Access to Contraceptive Implant Removal Services in Ghana
Many Ghanaian women seeking implant removal are able to obtain services, but knowledge and access gaps exist.
- Costing Analysis of a Pilot Community Health Worker Program in Rural Nepal
Data from a retrospective costing analysis offers insights and practical considerations for policy makers and locally elected officials for designing and implementing a new community health work cadre as a mechanism to achieve SDG targets in Nepal.
- National Surgical, Obstetric, and Anesthesia Plans Supporting the Vision of Universal Health Coverage
Developing a national surgical, obstetric, and anesthesia plan is an important first step for countries to strengthen their surgical systems and improve surgical care. Barriers to successful implementation of these plans include data collection, scalability, and financing, yet surgical system strengthening efforts are gaining momentum in achieving universal access to emergency and essential surgical care.
- A Rapid Review of Available Evidence to Inform Indicators for Routine Monitoring and Evaluation of Respectful Maternity Care
We present a set of indicators that could be used to measure the effects of programs on RMC. Integrating these indicators into programs to improve quality of care and other health system outcomes will facilitate routine monitoring and accountability around experience of care.
- Insights Into Provider Bias in Family Planning from a Novel Shared Decision Making Based Counseling Initiative in Rural, Indigenous Guatemala
Race, ethnicity, and indigenous status should be considered as potential drivers of provider bias in family planning services globally. Efforts to confront provider bias in family planning counseling should include concrete strategies that promote provider recognition of biases and longitudinal curriculums that allow for sustained feedback and self-reflection.
- Two-Way Short Message Service (SMS) Communication May Increase Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Continuation and Adherence Among Pregnant and Postpartum Women in Kenya
We evaluated a 2-way short messaging service (SMS) communication platform to improve continuation of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention among Kenyan pregnant and postpartum women who initiated PrEP within routine maternal child health and family planning clinics. SMS increased support for PrEP, provided opportunities for dialogue beyond the clinic, and enabled women to ask and receive answers in real-time, which facilitated continued PrEP use.
- How Should Home-Based Maternal and Child Health Records Be Implemented? A Global Framework Analysis
Our assessment of home-based record use in low- and middle-income countries indicated that the implementation process consists of 8 interdependent components involving policy makers, funders, and end users—health care workers, pregnant women, and the parents/caregivers of children. Successful implementation can result in improved maternal and child health outcomes and more efficient use of government and donor investments.