Articles: health.
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A national survey of health-care providers in Bangladesh identified 298 women who died from pregnancy-related tetanus. Immunising all girls with tetanus toxoid and providing safe menstrual regulation services would prevent such deaths.
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Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand · Aug 1999
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialEffectiveness of primary level antenatal care in decreasing anemia at term in Tanzania.
In Tanzania the prevalence of anemia in pregnancy is high inspite of a high antenatal attendance and an established national policy of routine hematinic supplementation and malaria chemosuppression to all pregnant women, free of cost in all antenatal clinics. ⋯ Ensuring an adequate supply of drugs seems to be the most important activity to achieve safe hemoglobin levels in pregnant women, but even an active antenatal program has a limited effect when anemia is highly prevalent and booking is late.
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Information on the cost-effectiveness of malaria control is needed for the WHO Roll Back Malaria campaign, but is sparse. We used mathematical models to calculate cost-effectiveness ratios for the main prevention and treatment interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. ⋯ Cost-effective interventions are available. A package of interventions to decrease the bulk of the malaria burden is not, however, affordable in very-low-income countries. Coverage of the most vulnerable groups in Africa will require substantial assistance from external donors.
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Prevalence of malnutrition among pre-school children can be used to determine the need for nutrition surveillance, nutritional care, or appropriate nutritional intervention programmes. Such data also indicate the target groups and where interventions are required. ⋯ These results show that malnutrition is still a serious public health problem in Kenya and requires urgent attention. The problem since the first survey in 1977 shows an upward trend, suggesting deterioration over the years. Well thought out and targeted intervention programmes are long overdue. The results of this survey and others emphasize the importance of having a well established surveillance system which would ensure necessary and timely action.
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Family planning has been delivered through dual provision by general practice and community based clinics since its inception. This may be perceived as duplication of services and can be regarded as an area of possible disinvestment in a climate of rising health care costs. ⋯ An understanding of the complementary nature of the services in primary care and community FP clinics was achieved and agreement was reached that disinvestment in clinics locally was not appropriate. The need to raise public awareness of availability of all contraceptive services was identified. Services in general practice and community clinics are complementary and need to develop a joint strategy to ensure an effective, comprehensive service. Quality of care needs to be examined in future work.