Bmc Public Health
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Review Meta Analysis
Effectiveness of interventions to screen and manage infections during pregnancy on reducing stillbirths: a review.
Infection is a well acknowledged cause of stillbirths and may account for about half of all perinatal deaths today, especially in developing countries. This review presents the impact of interventions targeting various important infections during pregnancy on stillbirth or perinatal mortality. ⋯ The clearest evidence of impact in stillbirth reduction was found for adequate prevention and treatment of syphilis infection and possibly malaria. At present, large gaps exist in the growing list of stillbirth risk factors, especially those that are infection related. Potential causes of stillbirths including HIV and TORCH infections need to be investigated further to help establish the role of prevention/treatment and its subsequent impact on stillbirth reduction.
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Review Meta Analysis
Effect of case management on neonatal mortality due to sepsis and pneumonia.
Each year almost one million newborns die from infections, mostly in low-income countries. Timely case management would save many lives but the relative mortality effect of varying strategies is unknown. We have estimated the effect of providing oral, or injectable antibiotics at home or in first-level facilities, and of in-patient hospital care on neonatal mortality from pneumonia and sepsis for use in the Lives Saved Tool (LiST). ⋯ This work was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through a grant to the US Fund for UNICEF, and to Saving Newborn Lives Save the Children, through Save the Children US.
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Review Meta Analysis
Clean birth and postnatal care practices to reduce neonatal deaths from sepsis and tetanus: a systematic review and Delphi estimation of mortality effect.
Annually over 520,000 newborns die from neonatal sepsis, and 60,000 more from tetanus. Estimates of the effect of clean birth and postnatal care practices are required for evidence-based program planning. ⋯ According to expert opinion, clean birth and particularly postnatal care practices are effective in reducing neonatal mortality from sepsis and tetanus. Further research is required regarding optimal implementation strategies.
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Review Meta Analysis
Rotavirus vaccine and diarrhea mortality: quantifying regional variation in effect size.
Diarrhea mortality remains a leading cause of child death and rotavirus vaccine an effective tool for preventing severe rotavirus diarrhea. New data suggest vaccine efficacy may vary by region. ⋯ Vaccine trials have not measured the effect of vaccine on diarrhea mortality. The overall quality of the evidence and consistency observed across studies suggests that estimating mortality based on a severe morbidity reduction is highly plausible.
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Multicenter Study
Prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of stunting and thinness among Pakistani primary school children.
Child growth is internationally recognized as an important indicator of nutritional status and health in populations. Child under-nutrition is estimated to be the largest contributor to global burden of disease, and it clusters in South Asia but literature on under-nutrition among school-aged children is difficult to find in this region. The study aimed to assess the prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of stunting and thinness among Pakistani primary school children. ⋯ Relatively low prevalence of stunting and thinness depicted an improvement in the nutritional status of school-aged children in Pakistan. However, the inequities between the poorest and the richest population groups were marked with significantly higher prevalence of stunting and thinness among the rural and the urban poor, the least educated, the residents of low-income neighborhoods and those having crowded houses. An increasing trend with age was observed in prevalence of stunting and thinness. Smoking in living place was associated with stunting. Findings suggest the need to implement evidence-based child health policy and strategies, prioritizing the poor and socially disadvantaged population.