Assessment of health professional education across five Asian countries-a protocol.

Background: There is an increasing consensus globally that the education of health professionals is failing to keep pace with scientific, social, and economic changes transforming the healthcare environment. This catalyzed a movement in reforming education of health professionals across Bangladesh, China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam who jointly volunteered to implement and conduct cooperative, comparative, and suitable health professional education assessments with respect to the nation's socio-economic and cultural status, as well as domestic health service system.

Methods: The 5C network undertook a multi-country health professional educational study to provide its countries with evidence for HRH policymaking.

Impact of integrating a postpartum family planning program into a community-based maternal and newborn health program on birth spacing and preterm birth in rural Bangladesh.

Background: Short birth intervals are associated with an increased risk of adverse perinatal outcomes. However, reduction of rates of short birth intervals is challenging in low-resource settings where majority of the women deliver at home with limited access to family planning services immediately after delivery. This study examines the feasibility of integrating a post-partum family planning intervention package within a community-based maternal and newborn health intervention package, and evaluates the impact of integration on reduction of rates of short birth intervals and preterm births.

Operations research to add postpartum family planning to maternal and neonatal health to improve birth spacing in Sylhet District, Bangladesh.

Background: Short birth intervals are associated with increased risk of adverse maternal and neonatal health (MNH) outcomes. Improving postpartum contraceptive use is an important programmatic strategy to improve the health and well-being of women, newborns, and children. This article documents the intervention package and evaluation design of a study conducted in a rural district of Bangladesh to evaluate the effects of an integrated, community-based MNH and postpartum family planning program on contraceptive use and birth-interval lengths.

The effect of cord cleansing with chlorhexidine on neonatal mortality in rural Bangladesh: a community-based, cluster-randomised trial.

Background: Up to half of neonatal deaths in high mortality settings are due to infections, many of which can originate through the freshly cut umbilical cord stump. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of two cord-cleansing regimens with the promotion of dry cord care in the prevention of neonatal mortality.

Design: We did a community-based, parallel cluster-randomised trial in Sylhet, Bangladesh.