The silent burden: a landscape analysis of common perinatal mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries.

Background: Mental health has long fallen behind physical health in attention, funding, and action-especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It has been conspicuously absent from global reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (MNCAH) programming, despite increasing awareness of the intergenerational impact of common perinatal mental disorders (CPMDs). However, the universal health coverage (UHC) movement and COVID-19 have brought mental health to the forefront, and the MNCAH community is looking to understand how to provide women effective, sustainable care at scale.

Analysis of maternal and newborn training curricula and approaches to inform future trainings for routine care, basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care in the low- and middle-income countries: Lessons from Ethiopia and Nepal.

Program managers routinely design and implement specialised maternal and newborn health trainings for health workers in low- and middle-income countries to provide better-coordinated care across the continuum of care. However, in these countries details on the availability of different training packages, skills covered in those training packages and the gaps in their implementation are patchy. This paper presents an assessment of maternal and newborn health training packages to describe differences in training contents and implementation approaches used for a range of training packages in Ethiopia and Nepal.

"It might be a statistic to me, but every death matters.": An assessment of facility-level maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response systems in four sub-Saharan African countries.

Background: Maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response (MPDSR) systems aim to understand and address key contributors to maternal and perinatal deaths to prevent future deaths. From 2016-2017, the US Agency for International Development's Maternal and Child Survival Program conducted an assessment of MPDSR implementation in Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.

Methods: A cross-sectional, mixed-methods research design was used to assess MPDSR implementation.

A practice improvement package at scale to improve management of birth asphyxia in Rwanda: a before-after mixed methods evaluation.

Background: Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) is a competency-based educational method for an evidence-based protocol to manage birth asphyxia in low resource settings. HBB has been shown to improve health worker skills and neonatal outcomes, but studies have documented problems with skills retention and little evidence of effectiveness at large scale in routine practice. This study examined the effect of complementing provider training with clinical mentorship and quality improvement as outlined in the second edition HBB materials.

Tracking facility-based perinatal deaths in Tanzania: Results from an indicator validation assessment.

Background: Globally, an estimated 2.7 million babies die in the neonatal period annually, and of these, about 0.7 million die from intrapartum-related events.

Cross-sectional observational assessment of quality of newborn care immediately after birth in health facilities across six sub-Saharan African countries.

Objective: To present information on the quality of newborn care services and health facility readiness to provide newborn care in 6 African countries, and to advocate for the improvement of providers' essential newborn care knowledge and skills.

Design: Cross-sectional observational health facility assessment.

Setting: Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Promoting Healthy Behaviors among Egyptian Mothers: A Quasi-Experimental Study of a Health Communication Package Delivered by Community Organizations.

Decisions made at the household level, for example, to seek antenatal care or breastfeed, can have a direct impact on the health of mothers and newborns. The SMART Community-based Initiatives program in Egypt worked with community development associations to encourage better household decision-making by training community health workers to disseminate information and encourage healthy practices during home visits, group sessions, and community activities with pregnant women, mothers of young children, and their families. A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the program, with household surveys conducted before and after the intervention in intervention and comparison areas.

The three waves in implementation of facility-based kangaroo mother care: a multi-country case study from Asia.

Background: Kangaroo mother care has been highlighted as an effective intervention package to address high neonatal mortality pertaining to preterm births and low birth weight. However, KMC uptake and service coverage have not progressed well in many countries. The aim of this case study was to understand the institutionalisation processes of facility-based KMC services in three Asian countries (India, Indonesia and the Philippines) and the reasons for the slow uptake of KMC in these countries.

Equity improvements in maternal and newborn care indicators: results from the Bardiya district of Nepal.

Community-based maternal and newborn care interventions have been shown to improve neonatal survival and other key health indicators. It is important to evaluate whether the improvement in health indicators is accompanied by a parallel increase in the equitable distribution of the intervention activities, and the uptake of healthy newborn care practices. We present an analysis of equity improvements after the implementation of a Community Based Newborn Care Package (CB-NCP) in the Bardiya district of Nepal.

Implementation of the Every Newborn Action Plan: Progress and lessons learned.

Progress in reducing newborn mortality has lagged behind progress in reducing maternal and child deaths. The Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) was launched in 2014, with the aim of achieving equitable and high-quality coverage of care for all women and newborns through links with other global and national plans and measurement and accountability frameworks. This article aims to assess country progress and the mechanisms in place to support country implementation of the ENAP.

Newborn survival in Nepal: a decade of change and future implications.

Nepal is on target to meet the Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child health despite high levels of poverty, poor infrastructure, difficult terrain and recent conflict. Each year, nearly 35,000 Nepali children die before their fifth birthday, with almost two-thirds of these deaths occurring in the first month of life, the neonatal period. As part of a multi-country analysis, we examined changes for newborn survival between 2000 and 2010 in terms of mortality, coverage and health system indicators as well as national and donor funding.

Community health workers can identify and manage possible infections in neonates and young infants: MINI--a model from Nepal.

The mortality rates of infants and children aged less than five years are declining globally and in Nepal but less among neonates. Most deliveries occur at home without skilled attendants, and most neonates may not receive appropriate care through the existing medical systems. So, a community-based pilot programme-Morang Innovative Neonatal Intervention (MINI) programme-was implemented in Morang district of Nepal to see the feasibility of bringing the management of sick neonates closer to home.

Are birth-preparedness programmes effective? Results from a field trial in Siraha district, Nepal.

The birth-preparedness package (BPP) promotes active preparation and decision-making for births, including pregnancy/postpartum periods, by pregnant women and their families. This paper describes a district-wide field trial of the BPP implemented through the government health system in Siraha, Nepal, during 2003-2004. The aim of the field trial was to determine the effectiveness of the BPP to positively influence planning for births, household-level behaviours that affect the health of pregnant and postpartum women and their newborns, and their use of selected health services for maternal and newborn care.