Optimizing vaccine uptake in sub-Saharan Africa: a collaborative COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Madagascar using an adaptive approach.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for more effective immunization programs, including in limited resource settings. This paper presents outcomes and lessons learnt from a COVID-19 vaccination campaign (VC), which used a tailored adaptive strategy to optimise vaccine uptake in the Boeny region of Madagascar.

Methods: Guided by the Dynamic Sustainability Framework (DSF), the VC implementation was regularly reviewed through multi-sectoral stakeholder feedback, key informant interviews, problem-solving meetings, and weekly monitoring of outcome indicators to identify and apply key adaptations.

Drivers of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among rural populations in Madagascar: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The WHO set the global immunisation threshold for COVID-19 at 70% to achieve worldwide protection against the disease. To date, global COVID-19 vaccine coverage is still below this threshold, in particular in several sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, such as Madagascar. While factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy have been widely explored in the past few years, research on drivers of COVID-19 vaccine uptake remains scarce.

[Peripheral facial palsy in children: an unusual manifestation of foreign body in the ear].

Foreign bodies in the ear are common in children but they rarely lead to complications. We here report a rare case of homolateral facial palsy in a 4-year old female child that occurred 15 days after introduction of toxic foreign body (Abrus precatorius seed) in her ear. The patients had signs of local necrosis associated with external otitis, without systemic involvement.

Corynebacterium diphtheriae Infection in Mahajanga, Madagascar: First Case Report.

Diphtheria is an infection that has been unreported for more than two decades in Mahajanga. A child, aged 4, presented with a pseudomembranous pharyngitis was associated with a dysphagia. He was from a rural municipality of Ambato Boeny at Mahajanga province and was admitted to the Pediatric Unit of the University Hospital Center.

Seroprevalence of CMV, HSV-2 and HBV among HIV-Infected Malawian Children: A Cross-sectional Survey.

Background: Little is known about viral co-infections in African human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children. We examined the prevalence of seromarkers for cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections among HIV-infected, antiretroviral treatment (ART)-naïve children in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Methods: Ninety-one serum samples were tested for IgG and IgM antibodies to CMV, and IgG antibodies to HSV-2 and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg).

Long-term effects of earlier initiated continuous Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) for low-birth-weight (LBW) infants in Madagascar.

Aim: To examine the long-term effects of earlier initiated continuous Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) for relatively stable low-birth-weight (LBW) infants in a resource-limited country.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial with long-term follow-up was performed in LBW infants in Madagascar. Earlier continuous KMC (intervention group) was initiated as soon as possible within 24 h postbirth, and later continuous KMC (control group: conventional care) was initiated after complete stabilization.