Systematic review of intervention functions, theoretical constructs and cultural adaptations of school-based smoking prevention interventions in low-income and middle-income countries.

Objective: To identify the approaches and strategies used for ensuring cultural appropriateness, intervention functions and theoretical constructs of the effective and ineffective school-based smoking prevention interventions that were implemented in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Data Sources: Included MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, PsycINFO, Web of Science and grey literature which were searched through August 2022 with no date limitations.

Eligibility Criteria: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with ≥6 months follow-up assessing the effect of school-based interventions on keeping pupils never-smokers in LMICs; published in English or Arabic.

Role of trust in sustaining provision and uptake of maternal and child healthcare: Evidence from a national programme in Nigeria.

Despite increasing attention to implementation research in global health, evidence from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) using realist evaluations, in understanding how complex health programmes work remains limited. This paper contributes to bridging this knowledge gap by reporting how, why and in what circumstances, the implementation and subsequent termination of a maternal and child health programme affected the trust of service users and healthcare providers in Nigeria. Key documents were reviewed, and initial programme theories of how context triggers mechanisms to produce intended and unintended outcomes were developed.

Tracing theories in realist evaluations of large-scale health programmes in low- and middle-income countries: experience from Nigeria.

Realist evaluations (RE) are increasingly popular in assessing health programmes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This article reflects on processes of gleaning, developing, testing, consolidating and refining two programme theories (PTs) from a longitudinal mixed-methods RE of a national maternal and child health programme in Nigeria. The two PTs, facility security and patient-provider trust, represent complex and diverse issues: trust is all encompassing although less tangible, while security is more visible.

Which mechanisms explain motivation the of primary health workers? Insights from the realist evaluation of a maternal and child health programme in Nigeria.

Introduction: Well-trained, adequately skilled and motivated primary healthcare (PHC) workers are essential for attaining universal health coverage (UHC). While there is abundant literature on the drivers of workforce motivation, published knowledge on the mechanisms of motivation within different contexts is limited, particularly in resource-limited countries. This paper contributes to health workforce literature by reporting on how motivation works among PHC workers in a maternal and child health (MCH) programme in Nigeria.

Our Blind Spots in the Fight Against Health Systems Corruption Comment on "We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems".

The health sector often appears prominent in surveys of perceived corruption, because citizens experience the symptoms of systemic corruption most distressingly during their interaction with frontline health workers. However, the underlying drivers of systemic corruption in society may be located in other social systems with the health system demonstrating the symptoms but not the path how to exit the situation. We need to understand the mechanisms of systemic corruption including the role of corrupt national and international leaders, the role of transnational corporations and international financial flows.

Admitting women in active labour: A randomised controlled trial about the effects of protocol use on childbirth method and interventions.

Aim: To determine the effects of protocol of admitting women in active labour on childbirth method and interventions during labour and childbirth.

Methods: This single-blind randomised clinical trial was conducted in a public hospital in Mazandaran province (Iran) in 2017. Two hundred nulliparous low-risk women were randomly assigned into intervention and control groups.

Association of serum vitamin D levels and urinary tract infection in pregnant women: A case control study.

Objective: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is common during pregnancy and can cause serious complications for the mother and fetus. Vitamin D, is known to have an effect on the urothelium, with immunomodulatory capacity against bacterial infection. This study explored the association between serum vitamin D levels and urinary tract infections in pregnant women.

Dealing with context in logic model development: Reflections from a realist evaluation of a community health worker programme in Nigeria.

Logic models (LMs) have been used in programme evaluation for over four decades. Current debate questions the ability of logic modelling techniques to incorporate contextual factors into logic models. We share experience of developing a logic model within an ongoing realist evaluation which assesses the extent to which, and under what circumstances a community health workers (CHW) programme promotes access to maternity services in Nigeria.

Strengthening health district management competencies in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda: lessons from using action research to improve health workforce performance.

Background: To achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC), more health workers are needed; also critical is supporting optimal performance of existing staff. Integrated human resource management (HRM) strategies, complemented by other health systems strategies, are needed to improve health workforce performance, which is possible at district level in decentralised contexts. To strengthen the capacity of district management teams to develop and implement workplans containing integrated strategies for workforce performance improvement, we introduced an action-research-based management strengthening intervention (MSI).

Women's experiences of routine care during labour and childbirth and the influence of medicalisation: A qualitative study from Iran.

Objective: to understand women's experiences of routine care during labor and childbirth in a medicalised context.

Design: twenty-six in-depth interviews were conducted during the late postpartum period and thematic analysis was applied.

Setting: four public hospitals in Tehran with a high rate of births, providing services to low and middle income families.

Study protocol: realist evaluation of effectiveness and sustainability of a community health workers programme in improving maternal and child health in Nigeria.

Background: Achievement of improved maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes continues to be an issue of international priority, particularly for sub-Saharan African countries such as Nigeria. Evidence suggests that the use of Community Health Workers (CHWs) can be effective in broadening access to, and coverage of, health services and improving MCH outcomes in such countries.

Methods/design: In this paper, we report the methodology for a 5-year study which aims to evaluate the context, processes, outcomes and longer-term sustainability of a Nigerian CHW scheme.

An evaluation of the quality of care for women with low risk pregnanacy: The use of evidence-based practice during labour and childbirth in four public hospitals in Tehran.

Objective: there is a consensus that the adoption of evidence-based practice contributes to the improvement of maternity care. Iranian National Guidelines for Normal Childbirth included evidence-based practice and were disseminated to hospitals in 2006 but little is known about the success of implementation. This study investigates the provision of care during labour and childbirth in comparison with national guidelines in four public hospitals in Tehran.