Published in BMJ open
The COVID-19 outbreak has posed a major challenge to healthcare providers. Due to its communicable nature, very stringent public health interventions have been put in place worldwide; yet, it still poses new emerging challenges, one of the most recent being a multisystem inflammatory condition with clinical features resembling Kawasaki-like disease...
Published in BMJ open
Childhood and adolescence are crucial life stages for health trajectories and the development of health inequalities in later life. The relevance of schools for health and well-being of children and adolescents has long been recognised, and there is some research regarding the association of contextual and compositional characteristics of schools a...
Published in BMJ open
To assess trends in inequalities in Children Looked After (CLA) in England between 2004 and 2019, after controlling for unemployment, a marker of recession and risk factor for child maltreatment. Longitudinal local area ecological analysis. 150 English upper-tier local authorities. Children under the age of 18 years. The annual age-standardised rat...
Published in BMJ open
We report the effectiveness of a mentoring approach to improve health workers' (HWs') knowledge, attitudes and confidence with counselling on HIV and infant feeding. Quasi-experimental controlled before-after study. Randomly selected primary healthcare clinics (n=24 intervention, n=12 comparison); two districts, South Africa. All HWs providing infa...
Published in BMJ open
This study is concerned with helping to improve the health and care of newborn babies in Bangladesh by exploring adverse maternal circumstances and assessing whether these are contributing towards low birth weight (LBW) in neonates. Data were drawn and analysed from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2014. Any association between LBW and...
Published in BMJ open
To investigate mothers' knowledge and utilisation of antenatal and perinatal support services as well as predictors of knowledge and service utilisation. Cross-sectional study. Prospective birth cohort in Regensburg, Eastern Bavaria, Germany. 2455 mothers after delivery. Participants' knowledge of distinct antenatal and perinatal support services (...
Published in BMJ Open
Introduction While several perinatal factors have been linked to the risk of developing asthma and allergy in childhood, the role of maternal age at delivery remains uncertain. Some studies suggest that young maternal age at delivery may increase the risk, while other studies suggested a reduced risk. To provide a clearer appreciation of the underl...
Published in BMJ Open
Introduction Nodding syndrome ( NS ) is an encephalopathy of unknown origin that affects children aged between 3 and 15 years old. Cases have been reported since the 1950 in Tanzania and South Sudan, the most heavily affected population is the Acholi community in Uganda. In response to the high incidence of the disease, the Ugandan Government has d...
Published in BMJ Open
Objectives Monitoring and addressing unnecessary and avoidable differences in child vaccination is a critical global concern. This study aimed to assess socioeconomic inequalities in basic vaccination coverage among children aged 12–23 months in Ethiopia. Design, setting and participants Secondary analyses of cross-sectional data from the two most ...
Published in BMJ open
Tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) has considerable adverse respiratory health impact among children. Smoke-free policies covering enclosed public places are known to reduce child TSE and benefit child health. An increasing number of jurisdictions are now expanding smoke-free policies to also cover outdoor areas and/or (semi)private spaces (indoor and/or...
