Understanding rapid implementation from discovery to scale: Rwanda's implementation of rotavirus vaccines and PMTCT in the quest to reduce under-5 mortality.

Background: Over the last eight decades, many evidence-based interventions (EBIs) have been developed to reduce amenable under-5 mortality (U5M). Implementation research can help reduce the lag between discovery and delivery, including as new EBIs emerge, or as existing ones are adapted based on new research. Rwanda was the first low-income African country to implement the rotavirus vaccine (RTV) and also adopted Option B+ for effective prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) before the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendation.

Implementation Research: An Efficient and Effective Tool to Accelerate Universal Health Coverage.

Success in the implementation of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) in different settings has had variable success. Implementation research offers the approach needed to understand the variability of health outcomes from implementation strategies in different settings and why interventions were successful in some countries and failed in others. When mastered and embedded into a policy and implementation framework, the application of implementation research by countries can provide policy-makers and implementers with the knowledge necessary to work towards universal health coverage (UHC) with the effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and fidelity needed to achieve sustainable positive health outcomes for all.

National policies and care provision in pregnancy and childbirth for twins in Eastern and Southern Africa: A mixed-methods multi-country study.

Background: High-risk pregnancies, such as twin pregnancies, deserve particular attention as mortality is very high in this group. With a view to inform policy and national guidelines development for the Sustainable Development Goals, we reviewed national training materials, guidelines, and policies underpinning the provision of care in relation to twin pregnancies and assessed care provided to twins in 8 Eastern and Southern African countries: Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Methods And Findings: We located policies and guidelines by reviewing national repositories and by contacting experts to systematically map country-level maternal and newborn training materials, guidelines, and policies.