BACKGROUND Awareness of the danger signs of obstetric complications is the essential first step in accepting appropriate and timely referral to obstetric and newborn care. The objectives of this study were to assess women's awareness of danger signs of obstetric complications and to identify associated factors in a rural district in Tanzania. METHODS A total of 1118 women who had been pregnan...

Early nutrition is critical for later health and sustainable development. We determined potential effectiveness of the Kenyan Community Health Strategy in promoting exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) in urban poor settings in Nairobi, Kenya. We used a quasi-experimental study design, based on three studies [Pre-intervention (2007-2011; n=5824), Intervention (2012-2015; n=1110) and Comparison (2012-2...

Data for this study were obtained from a population-based follow-up study in 25 Italian Local Health Units (LHUs) to evaluate pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum care in Italy. A sample of 3534 women was recruited and interviewed within a few days of their giving birth and at 3, 6, and 12 months after delivery, by trained interviewers using questionnaires. The objective of the study was to eval...

BACKGROUND The importance of postnatal care cannot be overemphasised. Various studies undertaken worldwide have found that PNC is critical for the survival of newborns. However, in Zambia, despite much emphasis by the government and various international Organisations on the need for PNC, coverage continues to be low. This study attempted to assess the demographic and socio-economic factors ass...

BACKGROUND Antenatal education needs to be renewed and adapted to the needs of women. OBJECTIVES to assess women needs, identify factors that influence the desired outcomes, and propose a framework for developing new perinatal education based on the guidance published by the UK Medical Research Council for the development and evaluation of complex interventions in primary care. METHODS For ...

A better understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which early life stress (ELS) modifies brain development and adult behavior is necessary for diagnosing and treating psychopathology associated with exposure to ELS. For historical reasons, most of the work in rodents has been done in rats and attempts to establish robust and reproducible paradigms in the mouse have proven to be...

Introduction Postnatal depression is a common cause of morbidity but is rarely diagnosed or managed in busy primary care settings in most resource limited countries like Zimbabwe. Objectives This study sought to determine the prevalence of postnatal depression and establish factors associated with postnatal depression. Methods The study utilized a cross-sectional descriptive design where 29...

BACKGROUND Postnatal care (PNC) for the mother and infant is a neglected area, even for women who give birth in a health facility. Currently, there is very little evidence on the determinants of use of postnatal care from health facilities in Tanzania. METHODS This study examined the role of individual and community-level variables on the use of postnatal health services, defined as a check u...

Breast milk is nature’s way of providing all nutritious those new born needs in the right amounts and proportions till the infant reaches 4-6 months of age. No other types of animal milk or milk formula can substitute for this breast milk. To assess the effectiveness of prenatal teaching programme on postnatal practice of breast care and breastfeeding on the first postnatal day and third postna...

Postpartum care (PPC) has remained relatively neglected in many interventions designed to improve maternal and neonatal health in sub-Saharan Africa. The Missed Opportunities in Maternal and Infant Health project developed and implemented a context-specific package of health system strengthening and demand generation in four African countries, aiming to improve access and quality of PPC. A real...