Effectiveness of interventions to reduce child marriage and teen pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review of quantitative evidence

IntroductionChild marriage and teen pregnancy have negative health, social and development consequences. Highest rates of child marriage occur in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and 40% of women in Western and Central Africa got married before the age of 18. This systematic review was aimed to fill a gap in evidence of effectiveness to reduce teen pregnancy and child marriage in SSA.MethodsWe considered studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa that reported on the effect of interventions on child marriage and teen pregnancy among adolescent girls for inclusion. We searched major databses and grey literature sources.ResultsWe included 30 articles in this review. We categorized the interventions reported in the review into five general categories: (a) Interventions aimed to build educational assets, (b) Interventions aimed to build life skills and health assets, (c) Wealth building interventions, and (d) Community dialogue. Only few interventions were consistently effective across the studies included in the review. The provision of scholarship and systematically implemented community dialogues are consistently effective across settings.ConclusionProgram designers aiming to empower adolescent girls should address environmental factors, including financial barriers and community norms. Future researchers should consider designing rigorous effectiveness and cost effectiveness studies to ensure sustainability.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier: CRD42022327397

Maternal Death Review at a Tertiary Hospital in Ethiopia

BACKGROUND፡ There is conflicting data on the rate and trends of maternal mortality in Ethiopia. There is no previous study done on the magnitude and trends of maternal death at Saint Paul's Hospital, an institution providing the largest labor and delivery services in Ethiopia. The objective of this study is to determine the magnitude, causes and contributing factors for maternal deaths in the institution.METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of maternal deaths from January 2016 to December 2017. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.RESULTS: The maternal mortality ratio of the institution was 228.3 per 100,000 live births. Direct maternal death accounted for 90% (n=36) of the deceased. The leading causes of the direct maternal deaths were hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (n=13,32.5%), postpartum hemorrhage (n=10, 25%), sepsis (n=4, 10%), pulmonary thromboembolism (n=3, 7.5%) and amniotic fluid embolism (n=3, 7.5%).CONCLUSION: The maternal mortality ratio was lower than the ratios reported from other institutions in Ethiopia. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and malaria were the leading cause of direct and indirect causes of maternal deaths respectively. Embolism has become one of the top causes of maternal death in a rate like the developed nations. This might show the double burden of embolism and other causes of maternal mortality that developing countries might be facing

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Mitigation Measures: The Case of Ethiopia

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Effectiveness of utilizing the WHO safe childbirth checklist on improving essential childbirth practices and maternal and perinatal outcome: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

IntroductionThe World Health Organization (WHO) Safe Childbirth Checklist (SCC) is a 29-item checklist based on essential childbirth practices to help health-care workers to deliver consistently high quality maternal and perinatal care. The Checklist was intended to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality and address the primary cause of maternal death, intrapartum stillbirth, and early neonatal death. The objective of this review was to locate international literature reporting on the effectiveness of utilizing the WHO safe childbirth checklist on improving essential childbirth practices, early neonatal death, stillbirth, maternal mortality, and morbidity.MethodsWe searched MEDLINE, google scholar, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), met-Register of Controlled Trials (m-RCT) (www.controlled-trials.com), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov) and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (www.who.int/stop/search/en) to retrieve all available comparative studieshttp://www.opengrey.eu/ published in English after 2008. Two reviewers did study selection, critical appraisal, and data extraction independently. We did a random or fixed-effect meta-analysis to pool studies together and effect estimates were expressed as an odds ratio. Quality of evidence for major outcomes was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, development, and evaluation(GRADE).ResultsWe retained three cluster randomized trials and six pre-and-post intervention studies reporting on WHO SCC's. The WHO SCC utilization improved quality of preeclampsia management(moderate quality of evidence) (OR = 7.05 [95% CI 2.34-21.29]), maternal infection management(moderate quality of evidence) (OR = 7.29[95%CI 2.29-23.27]), Partograph utilization(moderate quality of evidence) (OR = 3.81 [95% 1.72-8.43]), postpartum counselling(low quality of evidence) (RR = 132.51[95% 49.27-356.36]) and still birth(moderate quality of evidence) (OR = 0.92[95% CI 0.87-0.96]). However, the utilization of the checklist had no impact on early neonatal death (very low quality of evidence) (OR = 1.07[95%CI [1.01-1.13]) and maternal death (low quality of evidence) (OR = 1.06[95% CI 0.77-1.45]).ConclusionsModerate quality of evidence indicates that WHO SCC utilization is effective in reducing stillbirth and Improving preeclampsia management, maternal infection management and partograph utilization Low quality of evidence indicates that WHO SCC is effective in enhancing postpartum danger sign counseling. Low and very low quality of evidence suggests that WHO SCC has no impact on maternal and early neonatal death, respectively

Maternal and perinatal outcome of preeclampsia without severe feature among pregnant women managed at a tertiary referral hospital in urban Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND:Preeclampsia refers to the new onset of hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation in a previously normotensive woman. Pregnant women with preeclampsia are at an increased risk of adverse maternal, fetal and neonatal complications. The objective of the study is, therefore, to determine the maternal and perinatal outcome of preeclampsia without severity feature among women managed at a tertiary referral hospital in urban Ethiopia. METHODS:A hospital-based prospective observational study was conducted to evaluate the maternal and perinatal outcome of pregnant women who were on expectant management with the diagnosis of preeclampsia without severe feature at a referral hospital in urban Ethiopia from August 2018 to January 2019. RESULTS:There were a total of 5400 deliveries during the study period, among which 164 (3%) women were diagnosed with preeclampsia without severe features. Fifty-one (31.1%) patients with preeclampsia without severe features presented at a gestational age between 28 to 33 weeks plus six days, while 113 (68.9%) presented at a gestational age between 34 weeks to 36 weeks. Fifty-two (31.7%) women had maternal complication of which, 32 (19.5%) progressed to preeclampsia with severe feature Those patients with early onset of preeclampsia without severe feature were 5.22 and 25.9 times more likely to develop maternal and perinatal complication respectively compared to late-onset after 34 weeks with P-value of <0.0001, (95% CI 2.01-13.6) and <0.0001(95% CI 5.75-115.6) respectively. CONCLUSION:In a setting where home-based self-care is poor expectant outpatient management of preeclampsia without severe features with a once per week visit is not adequate. It's associated with an increased risk of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Our findings call for special consideration and close surveillance of those women with early-onset diseases

Perinatal outcome of growth restricted fetuses with abnormal umbilical artery Doppler waveforms compared to growth restricted fetuses with normal umbilical artery Doppler waveforms at a tertiary referral hospital in urban Ethiopia.

BackgroundIntrauterine growth restriction is defined as a fetal weight below the 10th percentile for a given gestational age and can be identified using umbilical artery Doppler velocimetry which is a non-invasive technique. The objective of this study was to determine the perinatal outcome of growth-restricted fetuses with abnormal umbilical artery Doppler study compared to those with normal umbilical artery Doppler waveforms at a tertiary referral hospital in Ethiopia.MethodsA prospective cohort study was conducted among pregnant mothers with fetal growth restriction admitted for labour and delivery from September 2018-February 2019. The data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 23. After conducting descriptive analysis, exploring the entire data, and checking for, statistical associations between abnormal umbilical artery Doppler and outcome variables, multiple logistic regression was conducted to control for confounders.ResultsA total of 170 pregnant mothers complicated with growth-restricted fetuses were included in the study, among which 133 were with normal umbilical artery Doppler studies and 37 were with abnormal umbilical artery Doppler studies. Four (3%) of normal and 9(24.3%) of abnormal umbilical artery Doppler studies ended in perinatal death-value = 0.001. Twenty (15%) of normal and 24(64.9%) of abnormal umbilical artery Doppler study neonates required neonatal intensive care admission-value = 0.002. Growth restricted fetuses complicated with abnormal Doppler were two times more likely to require neonatal intensive care unit admissions compared to growth-restricted fetuses with normal umbilical artery Doppler flow, P-value 0.002, (OR = 2.059,95%CI 1.449-2.926). Growth restricted fetuses complicated with abnormal Doppler were four times more likely to end in early neonatal death compared to growth-restricted fetuses with normal umbilical artery Doppler flow, P-value 0.001, (OR = 4.136, 95%CI 3.423-4.998). However, the study is unmatched and there is a possibility of gestational age confounding the result and should be seen with the context of preterm morbidity and mortality.ConclusionThe abnormal umbilical artery Doppler waveform is associated with cesarean section delivery, neonatal intensive care unit admission, respiratory distress syndrome, neonatal sepsis, neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, and early neonatal death compared to normal umbilical artery Doppler flow

Table1_Effectiveness of interventions to reduce child marriage and teen pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review of quantitative evidence.docx

IntroductionChild marriage and teen pregnancy have negative health, social and development consequences. Highest rates of child marriage occur in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and 40% of women in Western and Central Africa got married before the age of 18. This systematic review was aimed to fill a gap in evidence of effectiveness to reduce teen pregnancy and child marriage in SSA.MethodsWe considered studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa that reported on the effect of interventions on child marriage and teen pregnancy among adolescent girls for inclusion. We searched major databses and grey literature sources.ResultsWe included 30 articles in this review. We categorized the interventions reported in the review into five general categories: (a) Interventions aimed to build educational assets, (b) Interventions aimed to build life skills and health assets, (c) Wealth building interventions, and (d) Community dialogue. Only few interventions were consistently effective across the studies included in the review. The provision of scholarship and systematically implemented community dialogues are consistently effective across settings.ConclusionProgram designers aiming to empower adolescent girls should address environmental factors, including financial barriers and community norms. Future researchers should consider designing rigorous effectiveness and cost effectiveness studies to ensure sustainability.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier: CRD42022327397.</p

A randomized controlled trial of sequential vs simultaneous use of Foley balloon catheter and oxytocin for induction of labor in nulliparous pregnant womenAJOG MFM at a Glance

BACKGROUND: Although recent evidence suggests the simultaneous approach use of oxytocin for induction of labor in nullipara, there is limited data from low-income settings that support this. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine whether induction of labor with simultaneous use of oxytocin and a Foley balloon catheter decreases the induction of labor to delivery interval in nulliparous women, compared with sequential use of a Foley balloon catheter followed by oxytocin. STUDY DESIGN: This was a randomized controlled trial of nulliparous women with singleton pregnancies presenting for induction of labor at >28 weeks of gestation at St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia). The participants were randomly assigned to either the simultaneous group (the use of oxytocin and a Foley balloon catheter for induction of labor) or the sequential group (overnight intracervical Foley balloon catheter placement followed by the use of oxytocin the next morning). The primary outcome was induction of labor to delivery interval. Comparisons between the groups were made using the Student t test or Wilcoxon rank-sum test and chi-square test on Stata (version 15; StataCorp LLC, College Station, TX). This study is registered with the Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (identifier: PACTR201709002509200). RESULTS: From November 2019 to March 2020, a total of 140 women were randomly assigned to the simultaneous group (70 women) or the sequential group (70 women). The median oxytocin initiation to delivery intervals were 6.09 hours (range, 4.03–10.7) in the sequential group and 8.1 hours (range, 4.7–11.6) in the simultaneous group (P=.46). The mean Foley balloon catheter insertion to delivery intervals were 16.09±5.7 hours in the sequential group and 8.06±4.2 hours in the simultaneous group (P<.001). Cesarean delivery rate, composite neonatal outcomes, and chorioamnionitis were not different between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: In nulliparous pregnant women, induction of labor using the simultaneous approach did not shorten the oxytocin initiation to delivery interval compared with the sequential approach. Moreover, both approaches showed no difference in the rates of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes