Trends in and Correlates of Short-Acting Contraceptive Stock-Outs: Multicountry Analysis of Performance Monitoring for Action Agile Platform Data.

Understanding trends in contraceptive stock-outs, as well as their structural and demand-side correlates, is critical for policymakers and program managers to identify strategies to further anticipate, reduce, and prevent stock-outs. We analyzed trends as well as supply- and demand-side correlates of short-acting contraceptive method stock-outs by using data from multiple rounds of Performance Monitoring for Action Agile surveys. These data longitudinally measured contraceptive availability over 2 years (between November 2017 and January 2020) across 2,134 public and private service delivery points (SDPs) from urban areas of 5 countries (Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC], India, Kenya, and Nigeria).

The role of selected pre-match covariates on the outcome of One-day International (ODI) cricket matches.

Background: The identification of key factors that systematically influence a team's success is important and has led to the application of statistical models in sport. Predicting the outcome of a One Day International (ODI) cricket match, using only pre-match covariates, has been minimally investigated.

Objectives: This research sought to investigate the impact that venue, toss outcome, toss decision, and match type have on the chances of winning an ODI match.

Down But Not Out: Vasectomy Is Faring Poorly Almost Everywhere-We Can Do Better To Make It A True Method Option.

Introduction: Demand for vasectomy-1 of 2 contraceptive methods for men-has been low, with deep-seated myths, misconceptions, and provider bias against it widespread. Programmatic attention and donor funding have been limited and sporadic.

Methods: We analyzed vasectomy use in 84 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) plus the 11 high-income countries with vasectomy prevalence above 1%.

Can Military Role 1 Practitioners Maintain Their Skills Working at Civilian Level 1 Trauma Centers: A Retrospective, Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Introduction: Military Role 1 practitioners have difficulty maintaining skill competency by working solely in military medical treatment facilities. Recognizing this, the Army Medical Department has renewed focus on physician specialty-specific Individual Critical Task Lists (ICTL) and is increasing the number of military-civilian partnerships, wherein small military treatment teams work full-time in civilian trauma centers. Yet, data to validate this approach is lacking.

Implementation of respondent driven sampling in Nairobi, Kenya, for tracking key family planning indicators among adolescents and youth: lessons learnt.

Objective: Adolescents and youth constitute a significant proportion of the population in developing nations. Conventional survey methods risk missing adolescents/youth because their family planning/contraception (FP/C) behavior is hidden. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS), a modified chain-referral recruitment sampling approach, was used to reach unmarried adolescents/youth aged 15-24 in Nairobi, Kenya to measure key FP/C indicators.

Males' Awareness of Female and Male Contraception Methods, Information, Outreach, and Acquisition Locations in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, Nairobi, Kenya, and Lagos, Nigeria.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to describe modern female and male method awareness, information sources, outreach exposures, and acquisition source awareness among young men aged 15-24 by sexual behavior status in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: Cross-sectional surveys were conducted with unmarried, young men aged 15-24 recruited via respondent-driven sampling in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (n = 1,028), Nairobi, Kenya (n = 691), and Lagos, Nigeria (n = 706). Descriptive statistics characterized contraception awareness of male and female methods and information sources, outreach exposures, acquisition source awareness, and preferred contraception source.

Up in Flames: The Safety of Electrocautery Trephination of Subungual Hematomas with Acrylic Nails.

Introduction: Subungual hematomas are fingertip injuries, generally secondary to blunt trauma, that cause pain due to an accumulation of blood under the fingernail. It is generally considered standard of practice to relieve this accumulation by means of trephination with a hollow tip needle, a heated paper clip, or electrocautery. It has been assumed that due to the flammable properties of acrylic, trephination via electrocautery has the potential to ignite acrylic nails and cause burns and other potentially serious injury, making electrocautery contraindicated in patients with acrylic nails.

Missed opportunities for family planning counselling among postpartum women in eleven counties in Kenya.

Background: Mothers may access medical facilities for their babies and miss opportunities to access family planning (FP) services. This study was undertaken to describe missed opportunities for FP among women within the extended (0-11 months) postpartum period from counties participating in Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020) surveys.

Design And Setting: This study analysed cross-sectional household survey data from 11 counties in Kenya between 2014 and 2018.

The wealth gradient and the effect of COVID-19 restrictions on income loss, food insecurity and health care access in four sub-Saharan African geographies.

Introduction: While there has been considerable analysis of the health and economic effects of COVID-19 in the Global North, representative data on the distribution and depth of social and economic impacts in Africa has been more limited.

Methods: We analyze household data collected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and during the first wave of COVID in four African countries. We evaluate the short-term changes to household economic status and assess women's access to health care during the first wave of COVID-19 in nationally representative samples of women aged 15-49 in Kenya and Burkina Faso, and in sub-nationally representative samples of women aged 15-49 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Lagos, Nigeria.

Gendered power dynamics and threats to sexual and reproductive autonomy among adolescent girls and young adult women: A cross-sectional survey in three urban settings.

Background: Gendered economic and social systems can enable relational power disparities for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), and undercut autonomy to negotiate sex and contraceptive use. Less is known about their accumulation and interplay. This study characterizes relationship power imbalances (age disparity, intimate partner violence [IPV], partner-related fear, transactional sex, and transactional partnerships), and evaluates associations with modern contraceptive use, and sexual/reproductive autonomy threats (condom removal/"stealthing", reproductive coercion, ability to refuse sex, and contraceptive confidence).

Is Client Reporting on Contraceptive Use Always Accurate? Measuring Consistency and Change with a Multicountry Study.

The consistency of self-reported contraceptive use over short periods of time is important for understanding measurement reliability. We assess the consistency of and change in contraceptive use using longitudinal data from 9,390 urban female clients interviewed in DR Congo, India, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso. Clients were interviewed in-person at a health facility and four to six months later by phone.

Demand satisfied by modern contraceptive among married women of reproductive age in Kenya.

Background: Demand for family planning met/satisfied with modern contraceptive methods (mDFPS) has been proposed to track progress in Family Planning (FP) programs for Sustainable Development Goals. This study measured mDFPS among married women of reproductive age (MWRA) in Kenya to identify which groups were not being reached by FP programs.

Materials And Methods: Performance, Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020) survey data from 2014-2018 was used.

Characteristics associated with use of subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) in Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.

Objectives: To what extent is DMPA-SC reaching new users versus encouraging method switching among existing users? Though increasingly-popular, little is known about characteristics of women using DMPA-SC in SSA. We compared characteristics of women using DMPA-SC with those of other modern methods, and identified the extent to which women using DMPA-SC switched from another method or are first-time users of contraception.

Study Design: We used data collected by the Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) Project between 2016 and 2019 from three countries, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.

Modern contraceptive availability and stockouts: a multi-country analysis of trends in supply and consumption.

Approximately 214 million women of reproductive age lack adequate access to contraception for their family planning needs, yet patterns of contraceptive availability have seldom been examined. With growing demand for contraceptives in some areas, low contraceptive method availability and stockouts are thought to be major drivers of unmet need among women of reproductive age, though evidence for this is limited. In this research, we examined trends in stockouts, method availability and consumption of specific contraceptive methods in urban areas of four sub-Saharan African countries (Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Nigeria) and India.

Performance monitoring and accountability: The Agile Project's protocol, record and experience.

The Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020) project implemented a multi-country sub-project called PMA Agile, a system of continuous data collection for a probability sample of urban public and private health facilities and their clients that began November 2017 and concluded December 2019.  The objective was to monitor the supply, quality and consumption of family planning services.  In total, across 14 urban settings, nearly 2300 health facilities were surveyed three to six times in two years and a total sample of 48,610 female and male clients of childbearing age were interviewed in Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Kenya, Niger and Nigeria.

The prevalence of schistosomiasis in Uganda: A nationally representative population estimate to inform control programs and water and sanitation interventions.

Background: To improve schistosomiasis control programs in Uganda, where intestinal schistosomiasis is a widespread public health problem, a country-wide assessment of the disease prevalence among all age ranges is needed. Few studies have aimed to quantify the relationships between disease prevalence and water and sanitation characteristics across Uganda to understand the potential to interrupt disease transmission with an integrated package of interventions.

Methodology/principal Findings: A nationally representative survey was undertaken that included a household and individual questionnaire followed by disease testing based on detection of worm antigens (circulating cathodic antigen-CCA), diagnosis and treatment.

Schistosomiasis infection in pre-school aged children in Uganda: a qualitative descriptive study to identify routes of exposure.

Background: Prevalence of schistosomiasis is high among children under five years in Uganda. Schistosomiasis control efforts over time have included periodic mass treatments in endemic areas for adults and school going children aged 5 years and above. This study explores behaviour practices of children age 2-4 years that increase the risk of schistosomiasis infection in this age group.

Reporting sterilization as a current contraceptive method among sterilized women: lessons learned from a population with high sterilization rates, Rajasthan, India.

Objective: Measuring current use of contraception relies on self-reported responses from survey respondents. Reporting validity may be affected by women's interpretation of the question and may vary by background characteristics of women. The study aims to understand levels and patterns of underreporting of female sterilization in a population with high sterilization rates.

Nectar secretion dynamics of : A melliferous species of dry land ecosystems.

Nectar is used as raw material for the production of honey and as significant reward in the relationship between bees and plants during pollination. Therefore, it is important to investigate its abundance, dynamics and associated governing factors. Weather conditions are known to influence nectar production, and predicted climate changes may be responsible for future declining in total yield from beekeeping activities.

Correction: Does proximity of women to facilities with better choice of contraceptives affect their contraceptive utilization in rural Ethiopia?

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Rapid Uptake of the Subcutaneous Injectable in Burkina Faso: Evidence From PMA2020 Cross-Sectional Surveys.

The subcutaneous (SC) injectable, widely known by its commercial name Sayana Press, has potential to improve access to contraceptive methods. In Burkina Faso, SC-injectables were first piloted in select regions in 2014 and introduced nationally in 2016. PMA2020 is the first national survey to track programmatic progress of SC-injectable introduction at both population and health facility levels in the country across 2 rounds of data collection: March-May 2016 and November 2016-January 2017.