Dear Reader, welcome to our Issue No. 56 with great news, features, blogs, latest research publications and much more. Enjoy your reading!
News & Features
Kangaroo care practicing dad a ray of hope
Not even being the lone man among women in the unit practicing kangaroo care could move him. Currently he’s a poster boy for the few men that stand by their wives under such circumstances. “We have been together in this and I knew about it. The news was not accidental. She came to deliver when we are prepared for the twins because we went for an ultrasound scan three times and we were told the number of fetuses in the womb,” a confidant Isabirye intimated to me after asking him on how he received the news. Full story.
When politicians wanted health workers to stop carrying bags to work
At a recent meeting, political leaders suggested that that health workers should stop going with bags to the health facilities because they believe drugs would be carried away in these bags, a district health officer tells us in our Health Worker Tales series. Full story.
Adaptation of the WHO maternal near miss tool for use in sub–Saharan Africa: an International Delphi study
“All WHO clinical criteria were accepted for use in the region. Only few of the laboratory- and management based were rated applicable. This study brought forward important suggestions for adaptations in the WHO MNM criteria to enhance its applicability in sub-Saharan Africa and possibly other low–resource settings.”
Association of the Paediatric Admission Quality of Care score with mortality in Kenyan hospitals: a validation study
“The Paediatric Admission Quality of Care score, designed as an index of the technical quality of care for the three commonest causes of admission in children, is also associated with mortality. This finding suggests that it could be a meaningful summary measure of the quality of care for common inpatient conditions and supports a link between process quality and outcome. It might have potential for application in low-income countries with similar disease profiles and in which paediatric practice recommendations are based on WHO guidelines.”
Progression of the first stage of spontaneous labour: A prospective cohort study in two sub-Saharan African countries
“Cervical dilatation during labour in the slowest-yet-normal women can progress more slowly than the widely accepted benchmark of 1 cm/hour, irrespective of parity. Interventions to expedite labour to conform to a cervical dilatation threshold of 1 cm/hour may be inappropriate, especially when applied before 5 cm in nulliparous and multiparous women. Averaged labour curves may not truly reflect the variability associated with labour progression, and their use for decision-making in labour management should be de-emphasized.”
Blogs & Commentaries
Susie Gurzenda is a Master of Science Candidate in Global Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health currently on a month-long placement at the Makerere University Centre of Excellence for Maternal Newborn and Child Health. In her first blog she writes that a Ugandan district hospital embraces maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response.
Susie Gurzenda is a Master of Science Candidate in Global Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health currently on a month-long placement at the Makerere University Centre of Excellence for Maternal Newborn and Child Health. In her first blog she writes that a Ugandan district hospital embraces maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response.
Reports, Tools & Guidelines
This manual is targeted at healthcare professionals involved in the care of women admitted to deliver (e.g. obstetricians, nurses, midwives), as well as hospital managers and public health authorities.
Opportunities & Events
When Pregnant Women Use Alcohol and/or Drugs - a Dialogue
Please join us at the Preterm Birth Initiative's next Collaboratory- RSVP now! Date: Tuesday, January 23rd, 2018 Time: 4:30-5:00pm refreshments available 5:00-6:30pm presentation and discussion
Editor’s Note:For any comments or if you have any advice to us or information you would like to share on our email network of over 1300 stakeholders, send us an email oncmnhr.epost@gmail.comWe are open to collaborations and hosting post doc as well as masters students with interest in research on maternal and newborn health.
