The forgotten girls: the state of evidence for health interventions for pregnant adolescents and their newborns in low-income and middle-income countries.

Every year, an estimated 21 million girls aged 15-19 years become pregnant in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Policy responses have focused on reducing the adolescent birth rate whereas efforts to support pregnant adolescents have developed more slowly. We did a systematic review of interventions addressing any health-related outcome for pregnant adolescents and their newborn babies in LMICs and mapped its results to a framework describing high-quality health systems for pregnant adolescents.

Maternal healthcare coverage for first pregnancies in adolescent girls: a systematic comparison with adult mothers in household surveys across 105 countries, 2000-2019.

Background: Effective maternal service delivery for adolescent mothers is essential in achieving the targets for maternal mortality under the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet little is known about levels of maternal service coverage in adolescents compared with adult mothers.

Method: We used data from 283 Demographic and Health Surveys or Multiple Cluster Indicator Surveys for 105 countries between 2000 and 2019 to estimate the levels and trends of inequality in coverage of five maternal health services between adolescent girls (aged 15-19) and adult mothers (aged 20-34), including receiving four or more antenatal care visits, delivering with skilled birth attendants and receiving a postnatal check-up within 24 hours of delivery.

The influence of gender on clinical examination skills of medical students in Jordan: a cross-sectional study.

Background: A graduating medical doctor is expected to be competent in physical examinations across all systems. The exploration of how gender affects the development of clinical skills has not been explored in an Arab context, despite cultural restrictions that make it more difficult for students and doctors to examine the opposite sex.

Methods: A cross sectional survey was undertaken of graduating final year medical students in Northern Jordan.

Contraceptive Use in Adolescent Girls and Adult Women in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Importance: Preventing unwanted pregnancy through adequate use of contraceptives among adolescent girls is essential for improving maternal and child health and social well-being.

Objective: To estimate the levels and trends of contraceptive use in adolescent girls (age 15-19 years) compared with adult women (age 20-34 years).

Design, Setting, And Participants: This survey study used data from 261 Demographic and Health Surveys or Multiple Cluster Indicator Surveys conducted in 103 low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017.

Low birthweight and subsequent emotional and behavioural outcomes in 12-year-old children in Soweto, South Africa: findings from Birth to Twenty.

Background: The fetal origins hypothesis suggests that an adverse prenatal environment, indexed by low birthweight (LBW), may increase the risk of developing later disease. Recently the hypothesis has been extended to psychological outcomes, especially depression. The aim of this analysis was to test, for the first time in a developing country setting, the association between LBW and psychological symptoms, in Soweto, South Africa.