Who are dying and why? A case series study of maternal deaths in Nepal.

Objectives: To identify delays and associated factors for maternal deaths in Nepal.

Design: A cross-sectional case series study of maternal deaths. An integrated verbal and social autopsy tool was used to collect quantitative and qualitative information regarding three delays.

Health management committee strengthening and community mobilisation through women's groups to improve trained health worker attendance at birth in rural Nepal: a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: Engaging citizens and communities to make services accountable is vital to achieving health development goals. Community participation in health management committees can increase public accountability of health services. We conducted a cluster randomised controlled trial to test the impact of strengthened health management committees (HMCs) and community mobilisation through women's groups on institutional deliveries and deliveries by trained health workers in rural Nepal.

Sustainability of community-based women's groups: reflections from a participatory intervention for newborn and maternal health in Nepal.

Participatory community-based women's group interventions have been successful in improving maternal and newborn survival. In rural Makwanpur, Nepal, exposure to these Participatory Learning and Action groups resulted in a thirty-percent reduction in neonatal mortality rate and significantly fewer maternal deaths. It is often theorised that participatory approaches are more likely to be sustained than top-down approaches, but this is rarely evaluated after the withdrawal of external support.

The Estimated Prevalence of Autism in School-Aged Children Living in Rural Nepal Using a Population-Based Screening Tool.

Few data exist on the prevalence of autism in low-income countries. We translated, adapted and tested the acceptability of a Nepali-language version of a screening tool for autism (Autism Quotient-10). Using this tool, we estimated autism prevalence in 4098 rural Nepali children aged 9-13 years.

The long-term impact of community mobilisation through participatory women's groups on women's agency in the household: A follow-up study to the Makwanpur trial.

Women's groups practicing participatory learning and action (PLA) in rural areas have been shown to improve maternal and newborn survival in low-income countries, but the pathways from intervention to impact remain unclear. We assessed the long-term impact of a PLA intervention in rural Nepal on women's agency in the household. In 2014, we conducted a follow-up study to a cluster randomised controlled trial on the impact of PLA women's groups from 2001-2003.

Prenatal and perinatal risk factors for disability in a rural Nepali birth cohort.

Background: Improving newborn health remains a global health priority. Little however is known about the neurodevelopmental consequences for survivors of complications in pregnancy, labour and the neonatal period in in low-income countries outside of small selective and typically urban facility studies. We ask which antenatal, birth and neonatal factors are associated with disability in childhood in a large community birth cohort from rural Nepal.

Understanding parents' and professionals' knowledge and awareness of autism in Nepal.

Autism is a global phenomenon. Yet, there is a dearth of knowledge of how it is understood and its impact in low-income countries. We examined parents' and professionals' understanding of autism in one low-income country, Nepal.

Cause-specific neonatal mortality: analysis of 3772 neonatal deaths in Nepal, Bangladesh, Malawi and India.

Objective: Understanding the causes of death is key to tackling the burden of three million annual neonatal deaths. Resource-poor settings lack effective vital registration systems for births, deaths and causes of death. We set out to describe cause-specific neonatal mortality in rural areas of Malawi, Bangladesh, Nepal and rural and urban India using verbal autopsy (VA) data.

Disabled women׳s maternal and newborn health care in rural Nepal: a qualitative study.

Objective: there is little evidence about disabled women׳s access to maternal and newborn health services in low-income countries and few studies consult disabled women themselves to understand their experience of care and care seeking. Our study explores disabled women׳s experiences of maternal and newborn care in rural Nepal.

Design: we used a qualitative methodology, using semi-structured interviews.

Exploring the first delay: a qualitative study of home deliveries in Makwanpur district Nepal.

Background: In many low-income countries women tend to deliver at home, and delays in receiving appropriate maternal care can be fatal. A contextual understanding of these delays is important if countries are to meet development targets for maternal health. We present qualitative research with women who delivered at home in rural Nepal, to gain a contemporary understanding of the context where we are testing the effectiveness of an intervention to increase institutional deliveries.

Community mobilisation and health management committee strengthening to increase birth attendance by trained health workers in rural Makwanpur, Nepal: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: Birth attendance by trained health workers is low in rural Nepal. Local participation in improving health services and increased interaction between health systems and communities may stimulate demand for health services. Significant increases in birth attendance by trained health workers may be affected through community mobilisation by local women's groups and health management committee strengthening.

Utilization and management of maternal and child health funds in rural Nepal.

Maternal and neonatal mortality rates are highest in the poorest countries, and financial barriers impede access to health care. Community loan funds can increase access to cash in rural areas, thereby reducing delays in care seeking. As part of a participatory intervention in rural Nepal, community women's groups initiated and managed local funds.

Behaviour change in perinatal care practices among rural women exposed to a women's group intervention in Nepal [ISRCTN31137309].

Background: A randomised controlled trial of participatory women's groups in rural Nepal previously showed reductions in maternal and newborn mortality. In addition to the outcome data we also collected previously unreported information from the subgroup of women who had been pregnant prior to study commencement and conceived during the trial period. To determine the mechanisms via which the intervention worked we here examine the changes in perinatal care of these women.

Effect of a participatory intervention with women's groups on birth outcomes in Nepal: cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Background: Neonatal deaths in developing countries make the largest contribution to global mortality in children younger than 5 years. 90% of deliveries in the poorest quintile of households happen at home. We postulated that a community-based participatory intervention could significantly reduce neonatal mortality rates.

Implementing a community-based participatory intervention to improve essential newborn care in rural Nepal.

The persistence of high perinatal and neonatal mortality rates in many developing countries make efforts to improve perinatal care in the home and at local health facilities important public health concerns. We describe a study which aims to evaluate a community-level participatory intervention in rural Nepal. The effectiveness of community-based action research interventions with mothers and other key members of the community in improving perinatal health outcomes is being examined using a cluster randomized, controlled trial covering a population of 28,000 married women of reproductive age.

Cross sectional, community based study of care of newborn infants in Nepal.

Objective: To determine home based newborn care practices in rural Nepal in order to inform strategies to improve neonatal outcome.

Design: Cross sectional, retrospective study using structured interviews.

Setting: Makwanpur district, Nepal.