Challenges and opportunities for neonatal respiratory support in Nigeria: a case for regionalisation of care

Background: Neonatal health appears not to have received the deserved attention in the context of the Child Survival Strategies and this must have contributed to the non-attainment of the MDG-4 in Nigeria. Neonatal mortality contributes 40% or more to the current rate of child deaths globally, with birth asphyxia, prematurity and its complications and severe infections as the leading causes. This emphasises the need to re-focus on neonatal health. Given the state of the economy in the low- and middle-income countries, Nigeria, like most of the other countries lack the resources required for efficient neonatal health care with minimal attention on the strategies needed to address the major causes of newborn death.Objectives: To assess the contemporary situation of neonatal care in Benin City, Nigeria and examine diverse approaches to be adopted to provide high level neonatal care services aimed at improving neonatal survival rates.Methods: The trends of neonatal morbidities and mortality over the period between 1974 and 2014 were studied by reviewing the hospital records covering admissions and weekly mortality records. The pattern of categories of babies and the causes of death were recorded. The information gathered identified the gaps in the management strategies for newborns over the years. Electronic databases such as the Medline and Pubmed were searched for relevant literatures published between 1960 and 2015 which might provide ideas required to fill the gaps.Results: In the 1974-1976 era, the major cause of neonatal mortality at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City, Nigeria, was birth asphyxia with an attendant perinatal mortality of 80.9/1000 births. The decline in the perinatal mortality to 33.4/1000 births between 1976 and 1980 was linked to the introduction of delivery room resuscitation with a reciprocal decline in the incidence of birth asphyxia. Thereafter, neonatal mortality rate has continued to increase. This increase could be attributed to a three-fold rise in the proportion of very preterm admissions from 6.5% in 1985 to 19.3% in 2013. This population of babies is predisposed to Respiratory Distress Syndrome and respiratory failure. Neonatal intensive care did not include respiratory supports until very recently (2013) when the facilities were provided but at high cost to the patient and the health system.Conclusion: The strategies required to address reduction in neonatal mortality rates should necessarily include neonatal resuscitation and mechanical ventilation, all within the context of Neonatal Intensive Care. In order to provide the full range of neonatal intensive care services in a resource- constrained setting such as Benin City, Nigeria, regionalisation of care in a stepwise manner is recommended, both for improved medical outcomes and economic realities.Keywords: Challenges, Neonatal ventilatory support, Regionalisation of car

Scientific Communication

What will it take to accelerate the rate of decline of neonatal mortality in West Africa

Mothers’ perception of the use of banked human milk for feeding of the infants

Background: Human breast milk is the most healthful form of milk for human babies. Every infant deserves the best possible start in life in terms of nutrition by breastfeeding or receiving donated human milk. Breast milk is very important for the infant’s growth and well-being that the non-availability of the mother should not deprive the infant from its benefits. To enhance the availability and use of human breast milk for hospitalized babies whose mothers may not have enough milk, there is the need to embark on human milk banking.Objective: To determine the perception of mothers towards breast milk banking in Benin City, Nigeria.Subjects and Methods: The study subjects included 198 mothers who brought their babies to Well Baby/Immunization Clinic of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City, Nigeria. A structured researcheradministered questionnaire was used to assess their biodata, awareness and perception of breast milk banking.Results: The mean age of the mothers was 29.8 ± 5.5 years with 46.5% having some form of tertiary education and 48.5% having secondary education. Only 51 (25.8%) of them had heard of breast milk banking; source of information being mainly from health workers (43.1%) and from friends (27.5%). Majority 168 (84.8%) of the mothers would not give their babies human milk donated by another nursing mother mainly because of fear of transmission of infections/diseases. Most 105 (53.0%) were also unwilling to donate breast milk to be used for other babies due to the fact that they disliked the idea (51.4%) and because of fear of not having enough for their own babies (16.1%). However, most (59.1%) strongly agreed that human milk banking would help assist mothers in need, orphans and abandoned babies.Conclusion/Recommendation: The awareness of human milk banking and its acceptance among mothers in Benin City is poor. The current findings strongly justify the need for public enlightenment on human milk banking and its benefits.Key words: Breast milk banking, mothers, Perceptio

Etiology of severe childhood pneumonia in the Gambia, West Africa, determined by conventional and molecular microbiological analyses of lung and pleural aspirate samples.

Molecular analyses of lung aspirates from Gambian children with severe pneumonia detected pathogens more frequently than did culture and showed a predominance of bacteria, principally Streptococcus pneumoniae, >75% being of serotypes covered by current pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. Multiple pathogens were detected frequently, notably Haemophilus influenzae (mostly nontypeable) together with S. pneumoniae

The effectiveness of conjugate Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine in The Gambia 14 years after introduction.

BACKGROUND: The Gambia was the first country in Africa to introduce conjugate Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine, which, as in other developing countries but unlike industrialized countries, is delivered as a 3-dose primary series with no booster. This study assessed its effectiveness 14 years after introduction. METHODS: Using methods standardized during >20 years in the study site, clinical and microbiological surveillance for invasive Hib disease (primarily meningitis) in the Western Region of The Gambia from 2007 to 2010 was complemented with studies of Hib carriage in children aged 1 to 99% of those surveyed, albeit with lower titers in older children; and coverage of conjugate Hib vaccination was high (91% having 3 doses at 1-2 years of age) using a schedule that was delivered at median ages of 2.6 months, 4.3 months, and 6 months for the first, second, and third doses, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Conjugate Hib vaccine was delivered on time in a 3-dose primary series without booster to a high proportion of eligible children and this was associated with effective disease control up to 14 years after introduction. It is important that surveillance continues in this first African country to introduce the vaccine to determine if effective control persists or if a booster dose becomes necessary as has been the case in industrialized countries

Discovery and validation of biomarkers to guide clinical management of pneumonia in African children.

BACKGROUND: Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children globally. Clinical algorithms remain suboptimal for distinguishing severe pneumonia from other causes of respiratory distress such as malaria or distinguishing bacterial pneumonia and pneumonia from others causes, such as viruses. Molecular tools could improve diagnosis and management. METHODS: We conducted a mass spectrometry-based proteomic study to identify and validate markers of severity in 390 Gambian children with pneumonia (n = 204) and age-, sex-, and neighborhood-matched controls (n = 186). Independent validation was conducted in 293 Kenyan children with respiratory distress (238 with pneumonia, 41 with Plasmodium falciparum malaria, and 14 with both). Predictive value was estimated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). RESULTS: Lipocalin 2 (Lpc-2) was the best protein biomarker of severe pneumonia (AUC, 0.71 [95% confidence interval, .64-.79]) and highly predictive of bacteremia (78% [64%-92%]), pneumococcal bacteremia (84% [71%-98%]), and "probable bacterial etiology" (91% [84%-98%]). These results were validated in Kenyan children with severe malaria and respiratory distress who also met the World Health Organization definition of pneumonia. The combination of Lpc-2 and haptoglobin distinguished bacterial versus malaria origin of respiratory distress with high sensitivity and specificity in Gambian children (AUC, 99% [95% confidence interval, 99%-100%]) and Kenyan children (82% [74%-91%]). CONCLUSIONS: Lpc-2 and haptoglobin can help discriminate the etiology of clinically defined pneumonia and could be used to improve clinical management. These biomarkers should be further evaluated in prospective clinical studies

Clinical Features and Outcome of Children Admitted with Rotavirus Diarrhoea at a Tertiary Health Facility in the Gambia

Background: Diarrhoea causes about 1.5 million deaths per year. Rotavirus causes 20% of these. We aimed to assess any changes in the clinical features and outcome of rotavirus diarrhoea (RD) at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH), since the last report 15 years ago. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, children aged < 5years, admitted with diarrhoea from 1st Jan-31st Mar 2006, had. Their clinical and laboratory features including rotavirus antigen test (RT) of stools using ELISA documented.Results: Of the 536 admissions, 187 had acute diarrhoea (AD) of whom 118( 89.7%) were <12months old. There were 37(25%) rotavirus- negative and 111(75%) positive cases, 90(81.1%) being <12months old. The major associated symptoms were fever (87.8%), vomiting (95.3%) and cough (62.8%). Vomiting and fever were significantly more prominent in rotavirus-positive cases (OR (95%CI): for vomiting = 0.12 (0.02- 0.63), p = <0.001 and for fever; 0.28(0.10 - 0.76), p = 0.01), as was dehydration (X2=4.24, p = 0.04). The predominant co-morbidities associated with rotavirus-diarrhoea were acute respiratory infections (ARI) and malaria. All ARI and malaria cases were < 24 months and 72.2% were <12months. Duration of Rotavrus diarrhoea was significantly shorter than diarrhoea from other causes - mean 7.21 days vrs 10.11 days (t = -3.91, p = <0.001). Fourteen (7.5%) off the 187 cases died. Mortality for both rotavirus-positive and rotavirus-negative cases was 3.4%. The case fatality rate for RD was 4.5%, all deaths occurring in infants aged 3-7months. The cause of death in 4(80%) of the rotavirus-positive deaths was severe dehydration and irreversible shock. Conclusion: Rotavirus remains a leading cause of diarrhoea disease in Gambia, especially in young infants. The significant clinical features are fever, vomiting and dehydration

Transthoracic lung aspiration for the aetiological diagnosis of pneumonia: 25 years of experience from The Gambia.

Pneumonia remains the leading cause of death in young children worldwide. Global pneumonia control depends on a good understanding of the aetiology of pneumonia. Percutaneous transthoracic aspiration culture is much more sensitive than blood culture in identifying the aetiological agents of pneumonia. However, the procedure is not widely practised because of lack of familiarity with it and concerns about potential adverse events. We review the diagnostic usefulness and safety of this procedure over 25 years of its use in research and routine practice at the UK Medical Research Council (MRC), The Gambia, and give a detailed description of the procedure itself. Published materials were identified from the MRC's publication database and systematic searches using the PubMed/Medline and Google search engines. Data from a current pneumonia aetiology study in the unit are included together with clinical experience of staff practising at the unit over the period covered in this review. A minimum of 500 lung aspirates were performed over the period of review. Lung aspiration produces a greater yield of diagnostic bacterial isolates than blood culture. It is especially valuable clinically when pathogens not covered by standard empirical antibiotic treatment, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Staphylococcus aureus, are identified. There have been no deaths following the procedure in our setting and a low rate of other complications, all transient. Lung aspiration is currently the most sensitive method for diagnosing pneumonia in children. With appropriate training and precautions it can be safely used for routine diagnosis in suitable referral hospitals

Discovery and validation of biomarkers to guide clinical management of pneumonia in African children

Background. Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children globally. Clinical algorithms remain suboptimal for distinguishing between severe pneumonia from other causes of respiratory distress like malaria, and between bacterial pneumonia and pneumonia from others causes such as viruses. Molecular tools could improve diagnosis and management.Methods. We conducted a mass spectrometry-based proteomic study to identify and validate markers of severity in 390 Gambian children with pneumonia (N=204) and age, sex and neighborhood-matched controls (N=186). Independent validation was conducted on 293 Kenyan children with respiratory distress (238 with pneumonia, 41 with P. falciparum malaria and 14 with both). Predictive value was estimated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC).Results. Lipocalin-2 (Lpc-2) was the best protein biomarker of severe pneumonia (AUROC: 0.71 [95% CI, 0.64-0.79]) and highly predictive of bacteremia (AUROC 78% [95% CI, 64-92%]); pneumococcal bacteremia (AUROC 84% [95% CI, 71-98%]); and ‘probable bacterial etiology’ (AUROC: 91% [95%CI 84-98]). These results were validated in Kenyan children with severe malaria and respiratory distress who also met the WHO definition of pneumonia. The combination of Lpc-2 and haptoglobin distinguished bacterial versus malaria origin of respiratory distress with high sensitivity and specificity in Gambian children (AUROC: 99% [95%CI 99-100%]) and in Kenyan children (AUROC: 82% [95% CI, 74-91%]).Conclusions. Lpc-2 and haptoglobin can help discriminate the etiology of clinically defined pneumonia, and could be used to improve clinical management. These biomarkers should be further evaluated in prospective clinical studies

Childhood pneumonia and crowding, bed-sharing and nutrition: a case-control study from The Gambia.

SETTING: Greater Banjul and Upper River Regions, The Gambia. OBJECTIVE: To investigate tractable social, environmental and nutritional risk factors for childhood pneumonia. DESIGN: A case-control study examining the association of crowding, household air pollution (HAP) and nutritional factors with pneumonia was undertaken in children aged 2-59 months: 458 children with severe pneumonia, defined according to the modified WHO criteria, were compared with 322 children with non-severe pneumonia, and these groups were compared to 801 neighbourhood controls. Controls were matched by age, sex, area and season. RESULTS: Strong evidence was found of an association between bed-sharing with someone with a cough and severe pneumonia (adjusted OR [aOR] 5.1, 95%CI 3.2-8.2, P < 0.001) and non-severe pneumonia (aOR 7.3, 95%CI 4.1-13.1, P < 0.001), with 18% of severe cases estimated to be attributable to this risk factor. Malnutrition and pneumonia had clear evidence of association, which was strongest between severe malnutrition and severe pneumonia (aOR 8.7, 95%CI 4.2-17.8, P < 0.001). No association was found between pneumonia and individual carbon monoxide exposure as a measure of HAP. CONCLUSION: Bed-sharing with someone with a cough is an important risk factor for severe pneumonia, and potentially tractable to intervention, while malnutrition remains an important tractable determinant