Publications by authors named "Reuben Mbewe"

Background: Neonatal infection, a leading cause of neonatal death in low- and middle-income countries, is often caused by pathogens acquired during childbirth. Clean delivery kits (CDKs) have shown efficacy in reducing infection-related perinatal and neonatal mortality. However, there remain gaps in our current knowledge, including the effect of individual components, the timeline of protection, and the benefit of CDKs in home and facility deliveries.

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Background: Chlorhexidine umbilical cord washes reduce neonatal mortality in south Asian populations with high neonatal mortality rates and predominantly home-based deliveries. No data exist for sub-Saharan African populations with lower neonatal mortality rates or mostly facility-based deliveries. We compared the effect of chlorhexidine with dry cord care on neonatal mortality rates in Zambia.

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Objective: To evaluate the capacity of health facilities in Southern Province, Zambia, to perform routine obstetric care and emergency obstetric and neonatal care (EmONC).

Methods: Surveys were completed at 90 health centers and 10 hospitals between September 1, 2011, and February 28, 2012. An expanded set of signal functions for routine care and EmONC was used to assess the facilities' capacity to provide obstetric and neonatal care.

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Background: A critical shortage of doctors, nurses, and midwives in many sub-Saharan African countries inhibits efforts to expand access to family planning services, especially in rural areas. One way to fill this gap is for community health workers (CHWs) to provide injectable contraceptives, an intervention for which there is growing evidence and international support. In 2009, with approval from the Government of Zambia (GoZ), FHI 360 collaborated with ChildFund Zambia to design and implement such an intervention as part of its existing CHW family planning program.

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HIV-infected women in sub-Saharan Africa are at substantial risk of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Linkages between HIV and reproductive health services are advocated. We describe implementation of a reproductive health counseling intervention in 16 HIV clinics in Lusaka, Zambia.

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Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the rates and determinants of stillbirth in an urban African obstetric population.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we reviewed vital outcomes of newborns whose mothers received antenatal care, delivery care, or both antenatal and delivery care in the Lusaka, Zambia, public sector between February 2006 and March 2009. We excluded newborns weighing less than 1,000 g, those whose mothers died before delivery, and those born outside Lusaka.

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Background: Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) is underused in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Many previous attempts to increase uptake of this important class of contraception have not been successful.

Study Design: This program in Zambia employed 18 dedicated providers of LARC, placed them in high volume public sector facilities and collected routine, anonymous information over a 14-month period.

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Objectives: Indicators of health-system outputs, such as Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC) density, have been proposed for monitoring progress towards reducing maternal mortality, but are currently underused. We seek to promote them by demonstrating their use at subnational level, evaluating whether they differentiate between a high-maternal-mortality country (Zambia) and a low-maternal-mortality country (Sri Lanka) and assessing whether benchmarks are set at the right level.

Methods: We compared national and subnational density of health facilities, EmOC facilities and health professionals against current benchmarks for Zambia and Sri Lanka.

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Objective: To characterize prenatal and delivery care in an urban African setting.

Methods: The Zambia Electronic Perinatal Record System (ZEPRS) was implemented to record demographic characteristics, past medical and obstetric history, prenatal care, and delivery and newborn care for pregnant women across 25 facilities in the Lusaka public health sector.

Results: From June 1, 2007, to January 31, 2010, 115552 pregnant women had prenatal and delivery information recorded in ZEPRS.

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Introduction: Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of pregnancy-related mortality (cited at 591 per 100,000 Zambian women), and is responsible for up to 60% of maternal deaths in developing countries. Active management of the third stage of labor (AMTSL) has been endorsed as a means of reducing the risk of PPH. The Ministry of Health/Zambia has incorporated the use of AMTSL into its reproductive health guidelines.

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