The cost-efficiency of vitamin A supplementation services in Kenya: An assessment of a Malezi Bora event in Kenya.

Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) remains a cornerstone of global child survival programs. As available funding declines, countries are seeking alternative delivery platforms. We examine a VAS-deworming delivery event in 2019 in Kenya, called Malezi Bora (MB), that employed four delivery platforms: health clinics, Early Childhood Development centers, community distribution points, and home visits.

Neurological Impact of Slower Rewarming during Bypass Surgery in Infants.

Background:  Hypothermia is a neuroprotective strategy during cardiopulmonary bypass. Rewarming entailing a rapid rise in cerebral metabolism might lead to secondary neurological sequelae. In this pilot study, we aimed to validate the hypothesis that a slower rewarming rate would lower the risk of cerebral hypoxia and seizures in infants.

Adherence and acceptability of multiple micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy: Study protocol for a cluster-randomized non-inferiority trial in Cambodia.

Background: Iron and folic acid (IFA) supplements are currently provided to Cambodian women during pregnancy. However, recent research has found benefits of a multiple micronutrient supplement (MMS) over just IFA alone on several outcomes of perinatal and infant health. The Ministry of Health in Cambodia has proposed a transition from IFA to MMS but to effectively guide this transition requires implementation research on the acceptability and adherence to MMS (over IFA).

Impact of Suaahara, an integrated nutrition programme, on maternal and child nutrition at scale in Nepal.

Suaahara was an innovative, complex, multi-sectoral, large-scale, nutrition programme in Nepal to increase exposure to nutrition-related information and services, improve nutrition-related knowledge and practices among pregnant women and mothers of infants and young children, and improve their nutrition. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Suaahara to improve nutrition and nutrition-related practices by comparing changes over 10 years between intervention and comparison districts. The samples of households at baseline in 2012 and endline in 2022 were 2040 and 2480, respectively, from 120 old wards.

Model-driven survival prediction after congenital heart surgery.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to improve postoperative risk assessment in congenital heart surgery by developing a machine-learning model based on readily available peri- and postoperative parameters.

Methods: Our bicentric retrospective data analysis from January 2014 to December 2019 of established risk parameters for dismal outcome was used to train and test a model to predict postoperative survival within the first 30 days. The Freiburg training data consisted of 780 procedures; the Heidelberg test data comprised 985 procedures.

Outcomes of a food voucher program and factors associated with the recovery rate of children with moderate acute malnutrition in Far North Cameroon.

Background: Research on moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) is limited, despite its high prevalence. This study examined outcomes of bi-weekly locally available foods provided via a food voucher program (FVP) on nutritional recovery [mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) ≥ 125 mm] from MAM (defined as MUAC between 115 and 124 mm) and identified the factors associated with recovery rate in Kaélé health district, Far North Region of Cameroon.

Methods: This was a prospective study with 474 MAM children aged 6-59 months.

Engaging men in maternal, infant and young child nutrition in rural Tanzania: Outcomes from a cluster randomized control trial and qualitative study.

There is growing recognition that engaging men in maternal, infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN) interventions can benefit child health and disrupt harmful gender norms. We conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Tanzania, which engaged men and women in behaviour change via mobile messaging (short message service [SMS]) and traditional interpersonal communication (IPC), separately and in combination. Here, we evaluate intervention effects on individual-level men's MIYCN knowledge and discuss barriers to male engagement.

Season of Data Collection of Child Dietary Diversity Indicators May Affect Conclusions About Longer-Term Trends in Peru, Senegal, and Nepal.

Background: The WHO-UNICEF minimum dietary diversity (MDD) indicator for children aged 6-23 mo is a global monitoring indicator used to track multi-year population-level changes in dietary quality, but the influence of seasonality on MDD estimates remains unclear.

Objectives: To examine how seasonality of data collection may influence population-level MDD estimates and inferences about MDD changes over multiple survey years.

Methods: We selected countries with 3 or more consecutive years of MDD data collection, including continuous national Demographic Health Surveys in Senegal (2012-2017;  = 12,183) and Peru (2005-2016;  = 35,272) and the Policy and Science for Health, Agriculture, and Nutrition sentinel site seasonal surveys (covering 3 seasons/y) in Nepal (2013-2016;   = 1309).

The Risk Factors for Child Anemia Are Consistent across 3 National Surveys in Nepal.

Background: Anemia is an etiologically heterogeneous condition affecting over half of preschool-aged children in South Asia. An urgent need exists to elucidate context-specific causes of anemia to effectively address this issue.

Objectives: This study investigated national trends and stability in the prevalence of child anemia and associated risk factors from 2013 to 2016 in Nepal.

Micronutrient Powders for Infants and Young Children.

Providing standalone micronutrient products for household use is not an easy strategy, but under the right conditions, it can work. To be effective, micronutrient powder programs require robust commodity logistics and support of uptake and adherence.

Between the city and the farm: food environments in artisanal mining communities in Upper Guinea.

Objective: Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a widespread livelihood in low- and middle-income countries; however, many in ASM communities face high levels of poverty and malnutrition. The food environments in ASM communities have non-agricultural rural characteristics that differ from those in urban and agricultural rural areas examined in much existing food environment literature.

Design: We examine these complex external and personal food environments in ASM communities via a study using qualitative and quantitative methods.

"If you don't find anything, you can't eat" - Mining livelihoods and income, gender roles, and food choices in northern Guinea.

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) continues to grow as a viable economic activity in sub-Saharan Africa. The health and environmental impacts of the industry, notably linked to the use of potentially toxic chemicals, has been well documented. What has not been explored to the same extent is how pressures associated with ASM affect food choices of individuals and families living in mining camps.

A longitudinal impact evaluation of a comprehensive nutrition program for reducing stunting among children aged 6-23 months in rural Malawi.

Background: Growth failure in sub-Saharan Africa leads to a high prevalence of child stunting starting in infancy, and is attributed to dietary inadequacy, poor hygiene, and morbidity.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of a program in Malawi providing a lipid-based nutrient supplement to infants from 6-23 months of age, accompanied by a social and behavior change communication intervention to optimize caregiver feeding and handwashing practices.

Methods: This impact evaluation was a quasi-experimental, longitudinal study with 1 program and 1 comparison district.

Assessing the challenges to women's access and implementation of text messages for nutrition behaviour change in rural Tanzania.

Objective: This process evaluation aimed to understand factors affecting the implementation of a government-sponsored short message service (SMS) programme for delivering nutrition information to rural populations, including message access, acceptability and putting messages into action.

Design: The study was nested within a larger randomised controlled trial. Cross-sectional data collection included structured surveys and in-depth interviews.

Impact Evaluation of a Comprehensive Nutrition Program for Reducing Stunting in Children Aged 6-23 Months in Rural Malawi.

Background: The prevalence of stunting in central rural Malawi is ∼50%, which prompted a multipronged nutrition program in 1 district from 2014 to 2016. The program distributed a daily, fortified, small-quantity lipid-based nutritional supplement, providing 110 kcal and 2.6 g of protein to children aged 6-23 mo, and behavior change messages around optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Refocusing vitamin A supplementation programmes to reach the most vulnerable.

WHO recommends vitamin A supplementation (VAS) programmes for children 6-59 months where vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem. However, resources for VAS are falling short of current needs and programme coverage is suffering. The authors present the case for considering the options for shifting efforts and resources from a generalised approach, to prioritising resources to reach populations with continued high child mortality rates and high vitamin A deficiency prevalence to maximise child survival benefits .

Letter to the Editor of the Journal of Artificial Organs: The flaws in the detail of describing methods, comparing patient cohorts and interpreting results.

We read with great interest the article written by Murphy et al. (J Artif Organs 22:286-293, 2019). We acknowledge the authors contribution.

Preschool Child Nutritional Status in Nepal in 2016: A National Profile and 40-Year Comparative Trend.

Background: Preschool child anthropometric status has been assessed nationally in Nepal since 1975, with semi-decadal surveys since 1996, plus several recent, short-interval surveys to track progress toward achieving a World Health Assembly (WHA) goal to reduce stunting to 24% by 2025.

Objective: We report prevalence of preschool child stunting and wasting from a national survey in 2016 and place findings into the context of national trends and alignment for Nepal to attain its WHA 2025 goal.

Methods: A representative, midyear Policy and Science for Health, Agriculture and Nutrition (PoSHAN) survey was conducted in 2016 on 5479 children <60 months in 4051 households in 21 village development committees.

Food Security in Artisanal Mining Communities: An Exploration of Rural Markets in Northern Guinea.

The number of people engaged in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) has grown rapidly in the past twenty years, but they continue to be an understudied population experiencing high rates of malnutrition, poverty, and food insecurity. This paper explores how characteristics of markets that serve ASM populations facilitate and pose challenges to acquiring a nutritious and sustainable diet. The study sites included eight markets across four mining districts in the Kankan Region in the Republic of Guinea.

Thinness and fecundability: Time to pregnancy after adolescent marriage in rural Bangladesh.

Undernutrition may affect fecundability, but few studies have quantified this relationship. In rural Bangladesh, where newlywed couples face strong pressures to become pregnant, we assessed fecundability, estimated by time to pregnancy (TTP), and its association with preconceptional thinness among nulligravid, newlywed female adolescents. During 2001-2002, 5,516 newlywed women aged 12-19 years participated in a home-based, 5-weekly surveillance system for 5-6 years to enrol pregnant women into an antenatal vitamin A or β-carotene supplementation trial.

Maternal nutritional status mediates the linkage between household food insecurity and mid-infancy size in rural Bangladesh.

Household food insecurity (HFI) is a major concern in South Asia. The pathways by which HFI may reduce child growth remain inadequately understood. In a cohort study of 12 693 maternal-infant dyads in rural Bangladesh, we examined association and likely explanatory pathways linking HFI, assessed using a validated nine-item perception-based index, to infant size at 6 months.

Correction: Prevalence of damaged and missing teeth among women in the southern plains of Nepal: Findings of a simplified assessment tool.

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

Prevalence of damaged and missing teeth among women in the southern plains of Nepal: Findings of a simplified assessment tool.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of missing and damaged teeth among women in the rural southern plains of Nepal using an interviewer-administered tooth assessment module.

Setting: 21wards in seven Village Development Committees across the Tarai of Nepal in 2015.

Participants: Resident, married women of children less than 5 years of age or those married in the 2 years prior to the survey, 14 to 49 years of age participating in a mid-year nutrition and health survey in the Tarai region of Nepal.