Provision of emergency obstetric care at secondary level in a conflict setting in a rural area of Afghanistan - is the hospital fulfilling its role?

Background: Provision of Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (EmONC) reduces maternal mortality and should include three components: Basic Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (BEmONC) offered at primary care level, Comprehensive EmONC (CEmONC) at secondary level and a good referral system in-between. In a conflict-affected province of Afghanistan (Khost), we assessed the performance of an Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) run CEmONC hospital without a primary care and referral system. Performance was assessed in terms of hospital utilisation for obstetric emergencies and quality of obstetric care.

Patients struggle to access effective health care due to ongoing violence, distance, costs and health service performance in Afghanistan.

Background: The Afghan population suffers from a long standing armed conflict. We investigated patients' experiences of their access to and use of the health services.

Methods: Data were collected in four clinics from different provinces.

Lessons and challenges for measles control from unexpected large outbreak, Malawi.

Despite high reported coverage for routine and supplementary immunization, in 2010 in Malawi, a large measles outbreak occurred that comprised 134,000 cases and 304 deaths. Although the highest attack rates were for young children (2.3%, 7.