A cohort study of survival following discharge from hospital in rural Tanzanian children using linked data of admissions with community-based demographic surveillance.

Background: To illustrate the public health potential of linking individual bedside data with community-based household data in a poor rural setting, we estimated excess pediatric mortality risk after discharge from St Francis Designated District Hospital in Ifakara, Tanzania.

Methods: Linked data from demographic and clinical surveillance were used to describe post-discharge mortality and survival probability in children aged < 5 years, by age group and cause of admission. Cox regression models were developed to identify risk factors.

Setting priorities for knowledge translation of Cochrane reviews for health equity: Evidence for Equity.

Background: A focus on equity in health can be seen in many global development goals and reports, research and international declarations. With the development of a relevant framework and methods, the Campbell and Cochrane Equity Methods Group has encouraged the application of an 'equity lens' to systematic reviews, and many organizations publish reviews intended to address health equity. The purpose of the Evidence for Equity (E4E) project was to conduct a priority-setting exercise and apply an equity lens by developing a knowledge translation product comprising summaries of systematic reviews from the Cochrane Library.

The challenge to avoid anti-malarial medicine stock-outs in an era of funding partners: the case of Tanzania.

Background: Between 2007 and 2013, the Tanzanian public sector received 93.1 million doses of first-line anti-malarial artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) in the form of artemether-lumefantrine entirely supplied by funding partners. The introduction of a health facility ACT stock monitoring system using SMS technology by the National Malaria Control Programme in mid 2011 revealed a high frequency of stock-outs of ACT in primary care public health facilities.

When civil registration is inadequate: interim methods for generating vital statistics.

Comprehensive guidelines and tools to help countries rapidly improve their vital statistics systems, based on international best practice are now available. For many countries, however, attainment of timely, accurate statistics on births and deaths and causes of death will require years of strategic and prioritized investment, with technical assistance from WHO, the United Nations, and academia. In the meantime, however, countries will need accurate and unbiased data in order to measure progress with their health programs and broader development goals, such as the MDGs and the growing crisis of non-communicable diseases.

Quick wins versus sustainability: options for the upscaling of insecticide-treated nets.

A review of the main elements determining strategic choices for the large-scale distribution of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) clearly shows the need for multiple strategies. Mass distributions of free nets provide a unique opportunity to achieve quickly high coverage rates. However, there is also a need for additional approaches to 1) provide continuous provision of ITNs for newly pregnant women and their babies and 2) provide protection for the rest of the population.

Creating an "enabling environment" for taking insecticide treated nets to national scale: the Tanzanian experience.

Introduction: Malaria is the largest cause of health services attendance, hospital admissions and child deaths in Tanzania. At the Abuja Summit in April 2000 Tanzania committed itself to protect 60% of its population at high risk of malaria by 2005. The country is, therefore, determined to ensure that sustainable malaria control using insecticide-treated nets is carried out on a national scale.