Forget Me Not: Promoting the Utilization of Antenatal Care Services by Providing Reminder Text Messages and Transportation Fare

Background: Global infant mortality rates remain extremely high. This is especially the case in developing countries, such as Kenya, where antenatal care (ANC) is greatly lacking and rarely sought out by women. The World Health Organization recommends that women attend a minimum of four antenatal visits during their pregnancy, but this is often unrealized due to circumstantial factors, such as limited access to health care facilities, cost of transportation, or lack of access to information about the importance of ANC utilization throughout pregnancy. The psychology of scarcity suggests that, in the context of poverty, individuals may suffer from mental and money scarcity that reduces an individual’s cognitive capacity because poverty-related concerns and stressors consume an individual’s mental resources and hinder them from attending to important matters, such as ANC visits. Objective: This study addresses mental and money scarcity by determining whether providing poor pregnant women with cash payments for transportation fare or sending reminder text messages about meeting ANC requirements could (1) increase ANC utilization and (2) improve maternal and neonatal outcomes. Methods: A randomized control trial was conducted with pregnant mothers upon their first antenatal visit at Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: control, reminder text message only, reminder text message and transportation fare, or transportation fare only. Reminders and transportation fare were sent at four distinct time points during the pregnancy. Upon delivery, data was collected on the number of ANC visits attended, birth outcome, birth weight, and location of delivery. Results: There were no significant differences in the number of ANC visits that mothers attended across all treatment conditions (mean number of visits = 4.52, p = 0.91). There were no significant differences in the birth weights of the children across all treatment conditions (mean birth weight = 3.18 kg, p = 0.30). All live birth deliveries occurred within a health institution. Conclusion: There may need to be a shift in the goal of ANC utilization in urban health settings in the developing world towards that of the developed world. Limitations and suggestions for future work are also discussed

Forget Me Not: Promoting the Utilization of Antenatal Care Services by Providing Reminder Text Messages and Transportation Fare

Background: Global infant mortality rates remain extremely high. This is especially the case in developing countries, such as Kenya, where antenatal care (ANC) is greatly lacking and rarely sought out by women. The World Health Organization recommends that women attend a minimum of four antenatal visits during their pregnancy, but this is often unrealized due to circumstantial factors, such as limited access to health care facilities, cost of transportation, or lack of access to information about the importance of ANC utilization throughout pregnancy. The psychology of scarcity suggests that, in the context of poverty, individuals may suffer from mental and money scarcity that reduces an individual’s cognitive capacity because poverty-related concerns and stressors consume an individual’s mental resources and hinder them from attending to important matters, such as ANC visits. Objective: This study addresses mental and money scarcity by determining whether providing poor pregnant women with cash payments for transportation fare or sending reminder text messages about meeting ANC requirements could (1) increase ANC utilization and (2) improve maternal and neonatal outcomes. Methods: A randomized control trial was conducted with pregnant mothers upon their first antenatal visit at Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: control, reminder text message only, reminder text message and transportation fare, or transportation fare only. Reminders and transportation fare were sent at four distinct time points during the pregnancy. Upon delivery, data was collected on the number of ANC visits attended, birth outcome, birth weight, and location of delivery. Results: There were no significant differences in the number of ANC visits that mothers attended across all treatment conditions (mean number of visits = 4.52, p = 0.91). There were no significant differences in the birth weights of the children across all treatment conditions (mean birth weight = 3.18 kg, p = 0.30). All live birth deliveries occurred within a health institution. Conclusion: There may need to be a shift in the goal of ANC utilization in urban health settings in the developing world towards that of the developed world. Limitations and suggestions for future work are also discussed

Forget Me Not: Promoting the Utilization of Antenatal Care Services by Providing Reminder Text Messages and Transportation Fare

Background: Global infant mortality rates remain extremely high. This is especially the case in developing countries, such as Kenya, where antenatal care (ANC) is greatly lacking and rarely sought out by women. The World Health Organization recommends that women attend a minimum of four antenatal visits during their pregnancy, but this is often unrealized due to circumstantial factors, such as limited access to health care facilities, cost of transportation, or lack of access to information about the importance of ANC utilization throughout pregnancy. The psychology of scarcity suggests that, in the context of poverty, individuals may suffer from mental and money scarcity that reduces an individual’s cognitive capacity because poverty-related concerns and stressors consume an individual’s mental resources and hinder them from attending to important matters, such as ANC visits. Objective: This study addresses mental and money scarcity by determining whether providing poor pregnant women with cash payments for transportation fare or sending reminder text messages about meeting ANC requirements could (1) increase ANC utilization and (2) improve maternal and neonatal outcomes. Methods: A randomized control trial was conducted with pregnant mothers upon their first antenatal visit at Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: control, reminder text message only, reminder text message and transportation fare, or transportation fare only. Reminders and transportation fare were sent at four distinct time points during the pregnancy. Upon delivery, data was collected on the number of ANC visits attended, birth outcome, birth weight, and location of delivery. Results: There were no significant differences in the number of ANC visits that mothers attended across all treatment conditions (mean number of visits = 4.52, p = 0.91). There were no significant differences in the birth weights of the children across all treatment conditions (mean birth weight = 3.18 kg, p = 0.30). All live birth deliveries occurred within a health institution. Conclusion: There may need to be a shift in the goal of ANC utilization in urban health settings in the developing world towards that of the developed world. Limitations and suggestions for future work are also discussed

Identification of the Key Causes and Measures to Prevent Building Collapses in Nigeria

Buildings collapse in the Nigerian major urban cities continues to engender an excessive number of fatalities, injuries and property damage. The collapse of building infrastructure, though prominent in developing economies, is a worldwide issue. Building developments collapse at the construction stages and in some cases after commissioning. Examples abound in recent times in Abuja and Lagos. The major problem is the unquantifiable resources wasted when building construction development collapses. If the answer to this endemic problem is proper project management, it becomes imperative to institutionalize its activities in Nigeria. Building Collapse is an occurrence that has been notorious over the decades. It is caused by many factors which have their great impact on the lives and properties of man. This study reviews current causes in the building industry. In view of this development, this study is aimed at demonstrating how real estate project management strategy helps in building collapse. Data from the primary source were basically from the designed instrument, which were distributed to the population of 100 professionals in the building industries. In this paper, it was concluded that the key causes of building collapse are weak/faulty foundations, inefficient stringent quality control in material utilization, and management, boycotting the professionals, absence of proper site investigation, the absence of proper site investigation and the engagement of inexperienced personnel. The aim of the study was to identify the factors influencing the occurrence of construction disasters in Nigeria in order to prevent them in the future. However, the analysis of the results gathered, reveal that, there was variance in opinions, as to the causes of building collapse among professionals in an attempt to exonerate themselves from the blame for building collapse. These were classified as the areas in the building sector that were prone to building collapse. Therefore, this study claims that the above-listed causes of building collapse are predominant in the Nigerian construction industry

Efficacy of zinc supplementation for the treatment of dysmenorrhoea: a double-blind randomised controlled trial

Objectives To determine the efficacy of zinc sulfate supplementation in managing dysmenorrhoea. Methods In total, 103 high school students were randomised into an experimental arm (52 students) and a control arm (51 students) and received 40-mg zinc sulfate or placebo, respectively, over three cycles. Primary outcome measures were the mean Visual Analogue Scale score, which measured pain over three cycles, and the frequency of nausea and vomiting. Secondary outcomes were the use of additional analgesics and the frequency of allergic reactions. Results Fifty participants were analysed in each group. Mean pain scores were not significantly different between the groups before administering zinc sulfate therapy. Following the intervention, the mean pain scores for the treatment (2.80 ± 2.28) and placebo (3.48 ± 2.85) groups were not significantly different in the first cycle; however, scores in the treatment group were significantly better in the second (2.56 ± 1.97 vs 3.80 ± 2.77) and third (1.95 ± 1.72 vs 3.95 ± 2.82) cycles. No significant differences were observed between the groups in the nausea and vomiting incidence and the requirement for additional analgesics. Conclusions Zinc sulfate reduces dysmenorrhoea severity with minimal or no adverse effects, especially with more than one cycle of usage. Trial Registration Number: PACTR202105843292338. The trial is publicly available and was registered at www.pactr.org on 25 May 2021