Health Topics
- Childbirth and Early Newborn Care Practices in 4 Provinces in China: A Comparison With WHO Recommendations
In the 10 hospitals studied, we found that hospital policies, protocols, and interventions only partially align with WHO early newborn care recommendations, and that many hospitals still use outdated and non-medically sound practices.
- Adaptation of the Training Resource Package to Strengthen Preservice Family Planning Training for Nurses and Midwives in Tanzania and Uganda
Lessons learned when adapting the evidence-based global family planning training resource package included the need to: (1) engage key nursing and midwifery educators for buy-in; (2) update the technical skills of educators in contraceptive technology and competency-based training methods; and (3) adapt to the local context including condensing the global content for the time-limited preservice education context.
- Decentralized, Community-Based Treatment for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: Bangladesh Program Experience
Shifting from hospital- to community-based management of drug-resistant TB, increased treatment enrollment, reduced treatment initiation delays, improved follow-up and adherence, and lowered treatment failure, and was associated with higher cure rates and lower mortality.
- Menstrual Bleeding Changes Are NORMAL: Proposed Counseling Tool to Address Common Reasons for Non-Use and Discontinuation of Contraception
A new family planning counseling tool uses the simple mnemonic device “NORMAL” to help family planning counselors and providers communicate to their clients key messages about menstrual bleeding changes associated with use of hormonal contraception and the copper IUD.
- Engaging Men in Family Planning: Perspectives From Married Men in Lomé, Togo
Men in the study generally supported couples' use of contraception, especially citing socioeconomic reasons. Some had reservations stemming from perceptions that family planning could facilitate infidelity and promiscuity. They also thought family planning decisions should be made jointly. All men expressed interest in learning more about family planning, preferring dissemination from community health workers, trusted men, and current family planning users.
- Malaria Case Detection Among Mobile Populations and Migrant Workers in Myanmar: Comparison of 3 Service Delivery Approaches
In 3 regions of Myanmar, village malaria workers (VMWs) and mobile teams tested a higher number of people than strategically placed fixed screening points at border crossings, but VMWs and screening points yielded higher malaria positive rates. We recommend using a combination of these approaches in the Greater Mekong Subregion for such populations depending on the strategic approach of the program.
- Increasing Contraceptive Use Among Young Married Couples in Bihar, India: Evidence From a Decade of Implementation of the PRACHAR Project
Critical program elements to improving voluntary contraceptive use among married youth included: (1) use of a socioecological intervention model of behavior change; (2) engaging both women and men; and (3) calibrating interventions to different moments in the life cycle of adolescents and youth. Trade-offs between intensive NGO-led models and less intensive government-led models occurred in effectiveness, scale of interventions, and sustained behavior changes.
- Effectiveness of SMS Technology on Timely Community Health Worker Follow-Up for Childhood Malnutrition: A Retrospective Cohort Study in sub-Saharan Africa
In Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda, we found positive association between community health workers (CHWs) using SMS data entry with reminder alerts and timely follow-up for childhood malnutrition screening visits compared with paper forms. This association was strongest when CHWs used SMS data entry consecutively over multiple visits than when they switched between SMS and paper forms.
- Review of Grain Fortification Legislation, Standards, and Monitoring Documents
The majority of countries with mandatory grain fortification requirements document the technical specifications for grain fortification, such as allowable food vehicles and fortification levels required. Most document systems for monitoring. However, detailed protocols, descriptions of roles and responsibilities, means to support the cost of regulation, enforcement strategies, and methods for reporting monitoring results to stakeholders are generally lacking.
- High-Risk Advanced Maternal Age and High Parity Pregnancy: Tackling a Neglected Need Through Formative Research and Action
Harmful social norms and lack of knowledge contribute to risky pregnancies in older and high-parity women in low- and middle-income countries. A social and behavior change communication resource combining technical guidance with tangible client and provider materials was designed to address and prevent such pregnancies in Niger and Togo.