Though improvements in infant and maternal mortality rates have occurred over time, women and children still die every hour from preventable causes. Various regional, social and economic factors are involved in the ability of women and children to receive adequate care and prevention services. Patient-held maternal and/or child health records have been used for a number of years in many countri...

We draw upon a framework outlining household recognition and response to child illness proposed by Colvin and colleagues (2013) to examine factors predictive of treatment sought for a recent child illness. In particular, we model whether no treatment, middle layer treatment (traditional healer, pharmacy, community health worker, etc.), or biomedical treatment was sought for recent episodes of d...

BACKGROUND Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a severe form of physical child abuse, and can even cause death. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether or not the primary healthcare workers had received any education regarding child abuse and neglect, whether they could diagnose the cases, whether they had sufficient knowledge about SBS as a part of child abuse, and whether they were in need o...

In several developing countries, maternal and child health indicators trail behind the international targets set by the UN as Millennium or Sustainable Development Goals. One of the reasons is poor and nonstandardized maternal health record keeping that affects data quality. Effective decision making to improve public healthcare depends essentially on the availability of reliable data. Therefor...

BACKGROUND Millions of children worldwide suffer and die from conditions for which effective interventions exist. While there is ample evidence regarding these diseases, there is a dearth of information on the social factors associated with child mortality. METHODS The 2014 Verbal and Social Autopsy Study was conducted based on a nationally representative sample of 3,254 deaths that occurred ...

Nigeria with an estimated $350 per capital annually still ranks near the bottom 158 out of 177 countries in the UN Human Capital Development Index in terms of per capita income, with more than half of the population living in poverty. Over the past decade U5MR is estimated to be 201 deaths/1000 lives births,the high rates of child mortality especially the 0-5 years shows the total breakdown of ...

OBJECTIVES In Australian 0-7-year olds with and without sleep problems, to compare (1) type and costs to government of non-hospital healthcare services and prescription medication in each year of age and (2) the cumulative costs according to persistence of the sleep problem. DESIGN Cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a longitudinal population study. SETTING Data from two cohorts part...

In Nigeria, the government is implementing the Free Maternal and Child Health Care Programme (FMCHCP). The policy is premised on the notion that financial barriers are one of the most important constraints to equitable access and use of skilled maternal and child healthcare. In Ebonyi State, Southeastern Nigeria the FMCHCP is experiencing implementation challenges including: inadequate human re...

BACKGROUND Fever is common in children aged 0-4 years old and often leads to parental worries and in turn, high use of healthcare services. Educating parents may have beneficial effects on their sense of coping and fever management. Most parents receive information when their child is ill but it might be more desirable to educate parents in the setting of well-child clinics prior to their child...

The problem of child abuse was first described by Kempe et al. in their landmark article entitled “the battered child syndrome,” which was published in 1962. Since then, the problem has had increased recognition worldwide, and legal solutions and state-enforced statutes have been put in place to combat this menace in many Western countries. In the US, child abuse is the second most important ca...