Telephony and trade-offs in fieldwork with the 'unreached': on the conduct of telephonic interviews with indigenous study participants in southern India.

When COVID-19 hit India, a qualitative research study had been underway the southern state of Kerala, to understand the perspectives of the front-line health workers and the Kattunayakan tribal community towards health service utilisation. This community is relatively underserved, and a great deal of our emphasis was on understanding health system barriers experienced on both demand and supply side. COVID-19 showed us that these barriers pertain not just to heath systems, but also to the conduct of health research.

Why do strategies to strengthen primary health care succeed in some places and fail in others? Exploring local variation in the effectiveness of a community health worker managed digital health intervention in rural India.

Introduction: Digital health interventions (DHIs) have huge potential as support modalities to identify and manage cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in resource-constrained settings, but studies assessing them show modest effects. This study aims to identify variation in outcomes and implementation of SMARTHealth India, a cluster randomised trial of an ASHA-managed digitally enabled primary healthcare (PHC) service strengthening strategy for CVD risk management, and to explain how and in what contexts the intervention was effective.

Methods: We analysed trial outcome and implementation data for 18 PHC centres and collected qualitative data via focus groups with ASHAs (n=14) and interviews with ASHAs, PHC facility doctors and fieldteam mangers (n=12) Drawing on principles of realist evaluation and an explanatory mixed-methods design we developed mechanism-based explanations for observed outcomes.

Economics of healthcare access in low-income and middle-income countries: a protocol for a scoping review of the economic impacts of seeking healthcare on slum-dwellers compared with other city residents.

Introduction: People living in slums face several challenges to access healthcare. Scarce and low-quality public health facilities are common problems in these communities. Costs and prevalence of catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) have also been reported as high in studies conducted in slums in developing countries and those suffering from chronic conditions and the poorest households seem to be more vulnerable to financial hardship.

Developing Supportive Care Services for Patients with Kidney Failure: An Idea Whose Time Has Come.

The number of patients developing kidney failure is increasing globally including in India. Dialysis is not the most optimal treatment for a number of these patients such as the elderly, the frail and those with multiple comorbidities and limited life expectancy. Moreover, some patients may prefer not to undergo dialysis.

When technology precedes regulation: the challenges and opportunities of e-pharmacy in low-income and middle-income countries.

The recent growth of medicine sales online represents a major disruption to pharmacy markets, with COVID-19 encouraging this trend further. While e-pharmacy businesses were initially the preserve of high-income countries, in the past decade they have been growing rapidly in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Public health concerns associated with e-pharmacy include the sale of prescription-only medicines without a prescription and the sale of substandard and falsified medicines.

Mapping Trends in Drowning Research: A Bibliometric Analysis 1995-2020.

Drowning is public health issue requiring global, national and community responses. The multisectoral nature of drowning prevention reinforces the need for multidisciplinary research, which can play a key role in identifying patterns, factors and interventions and contributes to evidence-informed prevention. This study presents a biometric analysis of drowning research published in 1995-2020 and identifies temporal trends in research themes, journals, countries and authorship to assist in the planning of future research.

An electronic decision support-based complex intervention to improve management of cardiovascular risk in primary health care: a cluster randomised trial (INTEGRATE).

Objectives: To determine whether a multifaceted primary health care intervention better controlled cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in patients with high risk of CVD than usual care.

Design, Setting: Parallel arm, cluster randomised trial in 71 Australian general practices, 5 December 2016 - 13 September 2019.

Participants: General practices that predominantly used an electronic medical record system compatible with the HealthTracker electronic decision support tool, and willing to implement all components of the INTEGRATE intervention.

Media coverage and framing of road traffic safety in India.

Background: Media coverage of road traffic collisions (RTCs) may influence preventative action. India experiences some of the highest RTC mortality and morbidity rates globally, but advocacy and effective action to mitigate this has been limited. We conducted an analysis of Indian media in English to assess whether coverage met the WHO's guidelines for evidence-based reporting of RTCs.

Effects of a reduced-sodium added-potassium salt substitute on blood pressure in rural Indian hypertensive patients: a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial.

Background: High salt intake is a major modifiable risk factor of hypertension which is prevalent in India. It is not yet clear if salt substitutes reduce blood pressure (BP) among Indian hypertensive patients.

Objectives: Examine the acceptability, usage, and BP effects of a reduced-sodium and added-potassium salt substitute among hypertensive patients.

Implementing a crèche-based community drowning programme in rural Bangladesh: a process evaluation.

Background: Living and environmental conditions in rural Bangladesh expose children to drowning. The Anchal programme protects children through crèche-based supervision in an enclosed space run by locally recruited carers. It is unclear under what conditions the programme best operates to maximise protection.

Availability, coverage, and scope of health information systems for kidney care across world countries and regions.

Background: Health information systems (HIS) are fundamental tools for the surveillance of health services, estimation of disease burden and prioritization of health resources. Several gaps in the availability of HIS for kidney disease were highlighted by the first iteration of the Global Kidney Health Atlas.

Methods: As part of its second iteration, the International Society of Nephrology conducted a cross-sectional global survey between July and October 2018 to explore the coverage and scope of HIS for kidney disease, with a focus on kidney replacement therapy (KRT).

Interventions for Child Drowning Reduction in the Indian Sundarbans: Perspectives from the Ground.

Drowning is a leading cause of child death in the coastal Sundarbans region of India due to the presence of open water, lack of supervision and poor infrastructure, but no prevention programs are currently implemented. The World Health Organization has identified interventions that may prevent child drowning in rural low-and middle-income country contexts, including the provision of home-based barriers, supervised childcare, swim and rescue training and first responder training. Child health programs should consider the local context and identify barriers for implementation.

Impact of a rural drowning reduction programme in Bangladesh on gender equity, norms and behaviour: a mixed-method analysis.

Objectives: Community-based health programmes implemented in low-income and middle-income countries impact community gender norms and roles and relationships, which in turn affect individuals' health outcomes. Programmes should measure their effects on gender norms, roles and relationships in the communities in which they operate to respond to unexpected health consequences. We conducted a gender analysis on a drowning reduction programme in rural Bangladesh to identify its impacts on gendered roles and behaviours in the community.

Strategic plan for integrated care of patients with kidney failure.

There is a huge gap between the number of patients worldwide requiring versus those actually receiving safe, sustainable, and equitable care for kidney failure. To address this, the International Society of Nephrology coordinated the development of a Strategic Plan for Integrated Care of Patients with Kidney Failure. Implementation of the plan will require engagement of the whole kidney community over the next 5-10 years.

Ethics of kidney care in the era of COVID-19.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic presents significant challenges for health systems globally, including substantive ethical dilemmas that may pose specific concerns in the context of care for people with kidney disease. Ethical concerns may arise as changes in policy and practice affect the ability of all health professionals to fulfill their ethical duties toward their patients in providing best practice care. In this article, we briefly describe such concerns and elaborate on issues of particular ethical complexity in kidney care: equitable access to dialysis during pandemic surges; balancing the risks and benefits of different kidney failure treatments, specifically with regard to suspending kidney transplantation programs and prioritizing home dialysis, and barriers to shared decision-making; and ensuring ethical practice when using unproven interventions.

International consensus definitions of clinical trial outcomes for kidney failure: 2020.

Kidney failure is an important outcome for patients, clinicians, researchers, healthcare systems, payers, and regulators. However, no harmonized international consensus definitions of kidney failure and key surrogates of progression to kidney failure exist specifically for clinical trials. The International Society of Nephrology convened an international multi-stakeholder meeting to develop consensus on this topic.

Further evidence that methods based on spot urine samples should not be used to examine sodium-disease relationships from the Science of Salt: A regularly updated systematic review of salt and health outcomes (November 2018 to August 2019).

The aim of this eighth Science of Salt outcomes review is to identify, summarize, and critically appraise studies on dietary sodium and health outcomes published between November 1, 2018, and August 31, 2019, to extend this series published in the Journal since 2016. The standardized Science of Salt search strategy was conducted. Studies were screened based on a priori defined criteria to identify publications eligible for detailed critical appraisal.

Determining child drowning mortality in the Sundarbans, India: applying the community knowledge approach.

Background: The Sundarbans in India is a rural, forested region where children are exposed to a high risk of drowning due to its waterlogged geography. Current data collection systems capture few drowning deaths in this region.

Methods: A community-based survey was conducted in the Sundarbans to determine the drowning mortality rate for children aged 1 to 4 years and 5 to 9 years.