Tranexamic Acid for Postpartum Hemorrhage Treatment in Low-Resource Settings: A Rapid Scoping Review.

Tranexamic acid (TXA) effectively reduces bleeding in women with postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in hospital settings. To guide policies and practices, this rapid scoping review undertaken by two reviewers aimed to examine how TXA is utilized in lower-level maternity care settings in low-resource settings. Articles were searched in EMBASE, MEDLINE, Emcare, the Maternity and Infant Care Database, the Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-Based Practice Database, and the Cochrane Library from January 2011 to September 2021.

Implementing Heat-Stable Carbetocin for Postpartum Haemorrhage Prevention in Low-Resource Settings: A Rapid Scoping Review.

Heat-stable carbetocin (HSC), a long-acting oxytocin analogue that does not require cold-chain transportation and storage, is effective in preventing postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) in vaginal and caesarean deliveries in tertiary-care settings. We aimed to identify literature documenting how it is implemented in resource-limited and lower-level maternity care settings to inform policies and practices that enable its introduction in these contexts. A rapid scoping review was conducted with an 8-week timeframe by two reviewers.

Promoting adolescent health through integrated human papillomavirus vaccination programs: The experience of Togo.

The introduction of the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has shown potential to not only prevent cervical cancer but also drive adolescents' access to other health care services, even in low-income countries. Few studies have been conducted to date to identify best practices and estimate the acceptance, operational challenges and benefits of including broader adolescent health interventions into immunization efforts, knowledge which is essential to supporting widespread integration. In this paper we review the efforts undertaken by the government of Togo to integrate adolescent health programming with the HPV vaccination roll out.

Categorising interventions to levels of inpatient care for small and sick newborns: Findings from a global survey.

Background: In 2017, 2.5 million newborns died, mainly from prematurity, infections, and intrapartum events. Preventing these deaths requires health systems to provide routine and emergency care at birth, and quality inpatient care for small and sick newborns.

Monitoring and evaluation of disaster response efforts undertaken by local health departments: a rapid realist review.

Background: Local health departments are often at the forefront of a disaster response, attending to the immediate trauma inflicted by the disaster and also the long term health consequences. As the frequency and severity of disasters are projected to rise, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) efforts are critical to help local health departments consolidate past experiences and improve future response efforts. Local health departments often conduct M&E work post disaster, however, many of these efforts fail to improve response procedures.

The Impact of Healthcare Insurance on the Utilisation of Facility-Based Delivery for Childbirth in the Philippines.

Objectives: In recent years, the government of the Philippines embarked upon an ambitious Universal Health Care program, underpinned by the rapid scale-up of subsidized insurance coverage for poor and vulnerable populations. With a view of reducing the stubbornly high maternal mortality rates in the country, the program has a strong focus on maternal health services and is supported by a national policy of universal facility-based delivery (FBD). In this study, we examine the impact that recent reforms expanding health insurance coverage have had on FBD.

Utilisation of health services and the poor: deconstructing wealth-based differences in facility-based delivery in the Philippines.

Background: Despite achieving some success, wealth-related disparities in the utilisation of maternal and child health services persist in the Philippines. The aim of this study is to decompose the principal factors driving the wealth-based utilisation gap.

Methods: Using national representative data from the 2013 Philippines Demographic and Health Survey, we examine the extent overall differences in the utilisation of maternal health services can be explained by observable factors.

Overcoming Stagnation in the Levels and Distribution of Child Mortality: The Case of the Philippines.

Background: Health-related within-country inequalities continue to be a matter of great interest and concern to both policy makers and researchers. This study aims to assess the level and the distribution of child mortality outcomes in the Philippines across geographical and socioeconomic indicators.

Methodology: Data on 159,130 children ever borne were analysed from five waves of the Philippine Demographic and Health Survey.

Cord blood chemerin: differential effects of gestational diabetes mellitus and maternal obesity.

Objective: Chemerin is a novel adipokine implicated in inflammation and obesity. We hypothesized that foetal chemerin would be elevated in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and correlate with foetal and maternal adiposity.

Design: Observational, longitudinal study.

Quality of caesarean delivery services and documentation in first-line referral facilities in Afghanistan: a chart review.

Background: Increasing appropriate use and documentation of caesarean section (CS) has the potential to decrease maternal and perinatal mortality in settings with low CS rates. We analyzed data collected as part of a comprehensive needs assessment of emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) facilities in Afghanistan to gain a greater understanding of the clinical indications, timeliness, and outcomes of CS deliveries.

Methods: Records were reviewed at 78 government health facilities expected to function as EmONC providers that were located in secure areas of the country.

Matching diagnosis and management of diabetes in pregnancy to local priorities and resources: an international approach.

The International Association of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups' (IADPSG) criteria for the diagnosis and classification of hyperglycemia in pregnancy are described and application of these in differing healthcare contexts on a worldwide basis is reported. Existing local protocols and known epidemiologic and clinical data regarding the detection and management of overt diabetes and gestational diabetes in the context of human pregnancy are considered. Although the IADPSG criteria are uniform, their introduction poses a variety of practical and technical challenges in differing healthcare contexts, both between and within countries.

Patient-reported outcomes and urinary continence five years after the tension-free vaginal tape operation.

Aims: To evaluate patient-reported outcomes and continence rates 5 years after the tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) operation and to compare these with subjective and objective cure rates.

Methods: A total of 101 patients underwent clinical and urodynamic assessment and completed the Incontinence Outcome Questionnaire (IOQ) 5 years after the retropubic TVT operation. The IOQ results were compared with the subjective and objective cure rates.

Comparison of obstetrical risk in adolescent primiparas at tertiary referral centres in Tanzania and Austria.

Purpose: Adolescent childbearing is most prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa. Deliveries in adolescent primiparas at an Austrian and an East African tertiary referral centre were compared to reveal differences in obstetric outcome.

Methods: A total of 186 primiparas delivering at an age of 17 or less between 1999 and 2005 at the Austrian centre were compared with 209 adolescent primiparas who delivered between 2005 and 2007 at the African centre.

Management of the placenta in advanced abdominal pregnancies at an East african tertiary referral center.

Objective: To review the diagnosis and treatment of 9 advanced abdominal pregnancies in a low-resource setting of a developing country, focusing on the management of the placenta.

Methods: Abdominal pregnancies occurring between 1999 and 2007 were identified from hospital records in Tanzania. All patients were followed up for a median of 6 months after surgery (range 5-9 months).

Delivery of a live newborn in a triplet pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia after intrauterine demise of two and expulsion of one triplet: a case report.

Delayed interval delivery in twin pregnancies is an unusual occurrence, even more so in triplet pregnancies. We report on a delayed interval delivery in a dichorionic triamniotic triplet pregnancy after in vitro fertilization (IVF). Because of severe twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), two fetuses demised at 22 weeks of gestation.