Comparative analysis of 2 approaches to monitor countries' progress towards full and equal access to sexual and reproductive health care, information, and education in 75 countries: An observational validation study.

Background: Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 5.6.2 is the "Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information, and education.

Incidence, risk factors for metabolic syndrome and health systems capacity for its management amongst people living with HIV, Accra-Ghana: A study protocol.

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) refers to the clustering of three or more metabolic disorders including high blood pressure, glucose impairment, abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, and low high-density lipoproteins. MetS is increasingly being considered an epidemic among People Living With HIV (PLWH) with reports of association between HIV infection and/or antiretroviral therapy (ART) usage and development of MetS. MetS predisposes PLWH to the development of cardiovascular, kidney diseases and diabetes, decreases the quality of life, and burdens the health system.

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Variants Imported Through Land Borders at the Height of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ghana, 2022.

Background The World Health Organization recommends surveillance of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) at points of entry to systematically collect and analyze data to inform decisions about the effective and appropriate use of resources needed for interventions. This study sought to determine the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants imported into Ghana by travelers entering the country via land borders from February to July 2022. Methods A cross-sectional approach was employed, where recruited participants consented to the collection of oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal samples.

Validating the indicator "maternal death review coverage" to improve maternal mortality data: A retrospective analysis of district, facility, and individual medical record data.

Background: Understanding causes and contributors to maternal mortality is critical from a quality improvement perspective to inform decision making and monitor progress toward ending preventable maternal mortality. The indicator "maternal death review coverage" is defined as the percentage of maternal deaths occurring in a facility that are audited. Both the numerator and denominator of this indicator are subject to misclassification errors, underreporting, and bias.

Validating the implementation of an indicator reporting policies and laws on free public maternal health-related services in the era of universal health coverage: A multi-country cross-sectional study.

Background: The concept of universal health coverage (UHC) encompasses both access to essential health services and freedom from financial harm. The World Health Organization's Maternal Newborn Child and Adolescent Health (MNCAH) Policy Survey collects data on policies that have the potential to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. The indicator, "Are the following health services provided free of charge at point-of-use in the public sector for women of reproductive age?", captures the free provision of 13 key categories of maternal health-related services, to measure the success of UHC implementation with respect to maternal health.

Validation of a measure to assess decision-making autonomy in family planning services in three low- and middle-income countries: The Family Planning Autonomous Decision-Making scale (FP-ADM).

Background: Integrating measures of respectful care is an important priority in family planning programs, aligned with maternal health efforts. Ensuring women can make autonomous reproductive health decisions is an important indicator of respectful care. While scales have been developed and validated in family planning for dimensions of person-centered care, none focus specifically on decision-making autonomy.

Validating indicators for monitoring availability and geographic distribution of emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmoNC) facilities: A study triangulating health system, facility, and geospatial data.

Availability of emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) is a strong supply side measure of essential health system capacity that is closely and causally linked to maternal mortality reduction and fundamentally to achieving universal health coverage. The World Health Organization's indicator "Availability of EmONC facilities" was prioritized as a core indicator to prevent maternal death. The indicator focuses on whether there are sufficient emergency care facilities to meet the population need, but not all facilities designated as providing EmONC function as such.

Validating midwifery professionals' scope of practice and competency: A multi-country study comparing national data to international standards.

Background: There is a global shortage of midwives, whose services are essential to meet the healthcare needs of pregnant women and newborns. Evidence suggests that if enough midwives, trained and regulated to global standards, were deployed worldwide, maternal, and perinatal mortality would decline significantly. Health workforce planning estimates the number of midwives needed to achieve population coverage of midwifery interventions.

Authorization of midwives to perform basic emergency obstetric and newborn care signal functions in Argentina, Ghana, and India: A multi-country validation study of a key global maternal and newborn health indicator.

Background: Midwives' authorization to deliver the seven basic emergency obstetric and newborn care (BEmONC) functions is a core policy indicator in global monitoring frameworks, yet little evidence supports whether such data are captured accurately, or whether authorization demonstrates convergence with midwives' skills and actual provision of services. In this study, we aimed to validate the data reported in global monitoring frameworks (criterion validity) and to determine whether a measure of authorization is a valid indicator for BEmONC availability (construct validity).

Methods: We conducted a validation study in Argentina, Ghana, and India.

Measuring adequacy of the midwifery workforce using standards of competency and scope of work: Exploring the density and distribution of midwives in three low- and middle-income countries using cross-sectional and geospatial data.

Background: A global midwifery shortage hampers the goal of ending preventable maternal/newborn mortality and stillbirths. Whether current measures of midwifery workforce adequacy are valid is unknown. We compare two measures of density and distribution of midwifery professionals to assess their consistency, and explore how incorporating midwifery scope, competency, and the adjusting reference population impacts this critical metric.

Urogenital schistosomiasis outbreak in a basic school, Volta Region, Ghana: a case-control study.

Introduction: schistosomiasis is a neglected parasitic infection caused by nematode worms. It affects approximately 200 million people globally. Prevalence in Ghana is 23.

Adherence to the test, treat and track strategy for malaria control among prescribers, Mfantseman Municipality, Central Region, Ghana.

Background: The test, treat, and track (T3) strategy is directed at ensuring diagnosis and prompt treatment of uncomplicated malaria cases. Adherence to T3 strategy reduces wrong treatment and prevents delays in treating the actual cause of fever that may otherwise lead to complications or death. Data on adherence to all three aspects of the T3 strategy is sparse with previous studies focusing on the testing and treatment aspects.

Improving measures of access to legal abortion: A validation study triangulating multiple data sources to assess a global indicator.

Background: Global mechanisms have been established to monitor and facilitate state accountability regarding the legal status of abortion. However, there is little evidence describing whether these mechanisms capture accurate data. Moreover, it is uncertain whether the "legal status of abortion" is a valid proxy measure for access to safe abortion, pursuant to the global goals of reducing preventable maternal mortality and advancing reproductive rights.

Hand hygiene and face mask wearing practices for COVID-19 prevention: a non-intrusive observation of patrons of community convenience shops in Accra, Ghana.

Introduction: in the absence of a vaccine and definitive treatment, non-pharmacological measures of physical distancing, regular hand hygiene and wearing of face covering remain the mainstays of mitigating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In Ghana, these measures are mandatory in public places and underpin COVID-19 infection prevention and control (IPC). We assessed adherence and appropriate performance of these measures among patrons of community convenience shops in selected hotspots.

Multisite, mixed methods study to validate 10 maternal health system and policy indicators in Argentina, Ghana and India: a research protocol.

Introduction: Most efforts to assess maternal health indicator validity focus on measures of service coverage. Fewer measures focus on the upstream enabling environment, and such measures are typically not research validated. Thus, methods for validating system and policy-level indicators are not well described.

Analysis of snakebite data in Volta and Oti Regions, Ghana, 2019.

Introduction: globally about 5.4 million people are affected by snakebite annually leading to 2.7 million cases of snakebite envenoming and 81,000-138,000 deaths.

Epidemiology of COVID-19 outbreak in Ghana, 2020.

Objective: Describe the epidemiology of COVID-19 cases detected in the first four months of the pandemic in Ghana by person, place and time to provide an understanding of the local epidemiology of the disease.

Methods: We conducted an exploratory descriptive study of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ghana from March 12 to June 30, 2020. Data was merged from the country's electronic databases, cleaned and summarized using medians, proportions and geospatial analysis.

Are people most in need utilising health facilities in post-conflict settings? A cross-sectional study from South Kivu, eastern DR Congo.

: The disruptive effect of protracted socio-political instability and conflict on the health systems is likely to exacerbate inequities in health service utilisation in conflict-recovering contexts.: To examine whether the level of healthcare need is associated with health facility utilisation in post-conflict settings.: We conducted a cross-sectional study among adults with diabetes, hypertension, mothers of infants with acute malnutrition, informal caregivers (of participants with diabetes and hypertension) and helpers of mothers of children acutely malnourished, and randomly selected neighbours in South Kivu province, eastern DR Congo.

Retention of HIV infected pregnant and breastfeeding women on option B+ in Gomba District, Uganda: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Lifelong antiretroviral therapy for HIV infected pregnant and lactating women (Option B+) has been rapidly scaled up but there are concerns about poor retention of women initiating treatment. However, facility-based data could underestimate retention in the absence of measures to account for self-transfers to other facilities. We assessed retention-in-care among women on Option B+ in Uganda, using facility data and follow-up to ascertain transfers to other facilities.