Advancing scaling science in health and social care: a scoping review and appraisal of scaling frameworks.

Background: Scaling is typically discussed as a way to amplify or expand a health innovation. However, there is limited knowledge about the specific techniques that can enhance access to or improve the quality of innovations, aiming to increase their positive impacts for the public good. We sought to identify, compare, and contrast scaling frameworks to advance the science and practice of scaling.

Maternal trauma exposure is linked to adult offspring's cognitive functioning in the context of mass violence.

Objective: This study aimed to examine whether mothers' level of trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are related to their offspring's cognitive functioning.

Method: Mothers exposed to the 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi ( = 181) and one of their adult offspring were recruited in Rwanda. Mothers and their offspring answered questionnaires on sociodemographic information, the level of trauma exposure, and PTSD symptoms.

The impact of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Vectobac WDG) larvicide sprayed with drones on the bio-control of malaria vectors in rice fields of sub-urban Kigali, Rwanda.

Background: The core vector control tools used to reduce malaria prevalence are currently long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), and indoor residual spraying (IRS). These interventions are hindered by insecticide resistance and behavioural adaptation by malaria vectors. Thus, for effective interruption of malaria transmission, there is a need to develop novel vector control interventions and technologies to address the above challenges.

Gender and adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights in West and Central Africa: New evidence and emerging gaps.

The West and Central Africa (WCA) region is a natural resource-rich, 24-country, contiguous area with a population of nearly 500 million people. The median age for the region is currently 18 years and approximately one-third of its population is aged between 10 and 24 years. If current demographic trends in the region persist, its population will reach 1.

Financial protection in health revisited: Is catastrophic health spending underestimated for service- or disease-specific analysis?

Economists originally developed methods to assess financial catastrophe using total or aggregate out-of-pocket health spending. Aggregate out-of-pocket health spending is financially catastrophic when it exceeds a fixed proportion (i.e.

"A calf cannot fail to pick a colour from its mother": intergenerational transmission of trauma and its effect on reconciliation among post-genocide Rwandan youth.

Background: More than one million Rwandans were killed over a span of one hundred days during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis. Many adult survivors were severely traumatized by the events, and young people, including those who were born after the genocide, have experienced similar genocide-related trauma. Building on a growing body of research on the generational transmission of trauma, our study addressed the following questions: (1) what are the possible mechanisms of trauma transmission from older generation to post-genocide Rwandan youth, and (2) what are the effects of intergenerational trauma on reconciliation processes in Rwanda.

Predictors of physical violence against children in Rwanda: findings from a National Cross-Sectional Survey.

Background: To address the challenges of limited national data on the prevalence and nature of violence experienced by children, Rwanda conducted, in 2015-2016, the first National Survey on Violence among female and male children and youth aged 13-24 years. To further contribute to these efforts to fill existing data gaps, we used the Rwanda survey data to assess the prevalence and predictors of physical violence (PV) in children aged 13-17.

Methods: A nationally representative sample of 618 male and 492 female children were analysed.

Intergenerational transmission of trauma and its association with attitudes toward reconciliation.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the link between mothers' posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and their adult offspring's attitudes toward reconciliation and psychopathology among survivors of the 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda. We also sought to examine whether parenting styles mediate the relationship between mothers' PTSD symptoms and their adult offspring's psychopathology, if any.

Method: Mother-child dyads ( = 181) were recruited in Rwanda and completed measures of trauma exposure, PTSD, depression, attitudes toward reconciliation, and parenting styles.

Strengthening capacities and resource allocation for co-production of health research in low and middle income countries.

share experiences and ideas to strengthen capacity for health research co-production in low and middle income countries

Measuring socioeconomic and health financing inequality in maternal mortality in Colombia: a mixed methods approach.

Background: Understanding health financing reforms and means is key to evaluate how maternal health has improved. Problems related to health financing policies are contributing to inadequate quality of care and inequitable use of healthcare by pregnant women, resulting in poor maternal health outcomes. The purpose of the study was to measure socioeconomic and health financing related inequality in maternal mortality in Colombia as well as identifying potential epicenters of this inequality.

Smokers Awareness and Risk Perceptions of Filter Ventilation.

Objectives: The addition of tiny rows of holes in the tipping paper (filter ventilation) of cigarettes allows air to mix with the smoke, which can change risk perceptions. In this study, we examine smokers' knowledge and beliefs about filter ventilation.

Methods: Web-based panel surveys conducted in 2016 and 2017 of current adult cigarette smokers (N = 2355) provided data on awareness and understanding of filter vents in their cigarettes, whether they believed blocking the holes would change the taste of their cigarettes, and their perceptions about their future risk of being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Contracting non-state providers for universal health coverage: learnings from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.

Background: Formal engagement with non-state providers (NSP) is an important strategy in many low-and-middle-income countries for extending coverage of publicly financed health services. The series of country studies reviewed in this paper - from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda - provide a unique opportunity to understand the dynamics of NSP engagement in different contexts.

Methods: A standard template was developed and used to summarize the main findings from the country studies.

Moving towards universal health coverage: engaging non-state providers.

This editorial provides an overview of the special issue "Moving towards UHC: engaging non-state providers". It begins by describing the rationale underlying the Alliance's choice of a research program addressing issues of non-state providers and briefly discusses the research process this entailed. This is followed by a summary of the findings and key messages of each of the eight articles included in the issue.

An Implementation Research Approach to Evaluating Health Insurance Programs: Insights from India.

One of the distinguishing features of implementation research is the importance given to involve implementers in all aspects of research, and as users of research. We report on a recent implementation research effort in India, in which researchers worked together with program implementers from one of the longest serving government funded insurance schemes in India, the Rajiv Aarogyasri Scheme (RAS) in the state of undivided Andhra Pradesh, that covers around 70 million people. This paper aims to both inform on the process of the collaborative research, as well as, how the nature of questions that emerged out of the collaborative exercise differed in scope from those typically asked of insurance program evaluations.

Fibrous pseudotumor of the tunica vaginalis: contrast enhanced sonography with pathologic correlation.

We report the case of a 28-year-old man who presented at the emergency department with recent left painful scrotal swelling, without history of genitourinary infection or trauma. On physical examination, left scrotal swelling with nodular palpation was noted. Contrast enhanced sonography demonstrated nodular vascularized thickening of the tunica vaginalis.

User fee exemptions and excessive household spending for normal delivery in Burkina Faso: the need for careful implementation.

Background: In 2006, the Parliament of Burkina Faso passed a policy to reduce the direct costs of obstetric services and neonatal care in the country's health centres, aiming to lower the country's high national maternal mortality and morbidity rates. Implementation was via a "partial exemption" covering 80% of the costs. In 2008 the German NGO HELP launched a pilot project in two health districts to eliminate the remaining 20% of user fees.

Joining and leaving sex work: experiences of women in Kigali, Rwanda.

Although sex work can bring significant economic benefit there are serious downsides, not least vulnerability to adverse sexual health outcomes. Focus-groups discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted with 70 female sex workers to explore the context in which they started sex work, their motivations to leave, and their experiences of trying to leave. The pathway to becoming a sex worker was underscored by poverty, with disruptive events leading to increasing vulnerability and increasingly difficult life choices.

Soft tissue chondroma of Hoffa's fat pad.

We report mutimodal imaging findings of an extraskeletal chondroma of the Hoffa's fat pad. Plain radiographic or CT scan studies demonstrate a large soft tissue mass with calcifications and central ossification, characteristic features of these tumors. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging shows heterogeneous signal due to polymorphic histopathological appearance.

Ectopic infraorbital nerve in a maxillary sinus septum: another potentially dangerous variant for sinus surgery.

We report on two patients with ectopic infraorbital nerve and canal located in a maxillary sinus septum. This very rare anatomic variation may possibly generate complications during sinus surgery if it passes unnoticed during the preoperative CT work-up.