OBJECTIVE To test the effects of the Healthy Steps for Young Children program (HS) (which supports parents managing children's developmental and behavioral issues)-with and without a prenatal component-on child health and development, parenting practices, and parental well-being. DESIGN A concurrent comparison with clinic-level assignment to intervention or usual care status. Nested in the in...

INTRODUCTION During the past two decades, HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health services in Namibia have been provided in silos, with high fragmentation. As a consequence of this, quality and efficiency of services in Primary Health Care has been compromised. METHODS We conducted an operational research (observational pre-post study) in a public health facility in Namibia. A health facility ...

Background: Employing informatics in the health care systems can improve the quality of health care through the effective use of information systems. Health informatics is potentially a powerful and dynamic method for providing health education. Reproductive health is a necessary part of health for individuals, couples and families. It deals with different features of health care, such as: impr...

BACKGROUND Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are between two to five times more likely to die in childbirth than non-Aboriginal women, and two to three times more likely to have a low birthweight infant. Babies with a low birthweight are more likely to have chronic health problems in adult life. Currently, there is limited research evidence regarding effective interventions...

BACKGROUND Maternal health care utilization is at the core of global public health provision and an area of focus in the now-concluded Millennium Development Goal agenda. OBJECTIVE This study aims to examine trends in maternal health care utilization over the last 15 years in Nepal, focusing on coverage and equity. METHODS This paper used data from the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) 2001, ...

One of the fundamental challenges to implementing successful prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs in Nigeria is the uptake of PMTCT services at health facilities. Several issues usually discourage many pregnant women from receiving antenatal care services at designated health facilities within their communities. The CRS Nigeria PMTCT Project funded by the Global Fund in i...

OBJECTIVE To describe the current antenatal care situation in Sudan with regard to routine utilization of antenatal health care services and application of tetanus toxoid (TT) vaccination in urban and rural areas. METHODS The study was conducted in Khartoum State, Sudan, between August and December 2002. Interviews were held among a representative sample of 400 married women aged 15-49 years ...

Health care leaders in the United States have recently advised that preconception care be made available to all prospective parents because health in pregnancy depends on health status prior to pregnancy. Prenatal care usually begins after the early critical period of pregnancy has passed, and optimal early prenatal care can be achieved only through preconception care. Family physicians, who ar...

INTRODUCTION Globally, health facility delivery is encouraged as a single most important strategy in preventing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. However, access to facility-based delivery care remains low in many less developed countries. This study assesses facilitators and barriers to institutional delivery in three districts of Tanzania. METHODS Data come from a cross-section...

BACKGROUND Geographic accessibility to health facilities represents a fundamental barrier to utilisation of maternal and newborn health (MNH) services, driving historically hidden spatial pockets of localized inequalities. Here, we examine utilisation of MNH care as an emergent property of accessibility, highlighting high-resolution spatial heterogeneity and sub-national inequalities in receivi...