Background: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is a group of heterogeneous primary immunodeficiencies characterised by a dysregulated and impaired immune response. In addition to an increased susceptibility to infection, it is also associated with noninfectious autoimmune and lymphoproliferative complications. CVID is rarely associated with neurological complications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReducing inequalities in health service coverage is central to achieving the larger goal of universal health coverage. Reproductive health services are part of evidence-based health interventions that comprise a minimum set of essential health interventions that all countries should be able to provide. This paper shows patterns in inequalities in three essential reproductive health services that span a continuum of care-contraceptive use, antenatal care during pregnancy and delivery at a health facility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEstimates of the potential impacts of contraceptive use on averting unintended pregnancies, total and unsafe abortions, maternal deaths, and newborn, infant, and child deaths provide evidence of the value of investments in family planning programs and thus are critically important for policy makers, donors, and advocates alike. Several research teams have independently developed mathematical models that estimate the number of adverse health outcomes averted due to contraceptive use. However, each modeling approach was designed for different purposes, and as such the methodological assumptions, data inputs, and mathematical algorithms initially used in each model differed; consequently, the models did not produce comparable estimates for the same outcome indicators.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF