Kishwar Azad, Sarah Barnett, B Banerjee, Sanjit Kumer Shaha et al.
Background Two recent trials have shown that women's groups can reduce neonatal mortality in poor communities. We assessed the effectiveness of a scaled-up development programme with women's groups to address maternal and neonatal care in three rural districts of Bangladesh. Methods 18 clusters (wit...
Melissa Neuman, Glyn Alcock, Kishwar Azad, Abdul Kuddus et al.
OBJECTIVES: To describe the prevalence and determinants of births by caesarean section in private and public health facilities in underserved communities in South Asia. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: 81 community-based geographical clusters in four locations in Bangladesh, India and Nepal (...
Edward Fottrell, Kishwar Azad, Abdul Kuddus, Layla Younes et al.
IMPORTANCE: Community-based interventions can reduce neonatal mortality when health systems are weak. Population coverage of target groups may be an important determinant of their effect on behavior and mortality. A women's group trial at coverage of 1 group per 1414 population in rural Bangladesh s...
Christina Pagel, Audrey Prost, Sonia Lewycka, Sushmita Das et al.
BACKGROUND: Public health interventions are increasingly evaluated using cluster-randomised trials in which groups rather than individuals are allocated randomly to treatment and control arms. Outcomes for individuals within the same cluster are often more correlated than outcomes for individuals in...
Nadine Seward, David Osrin, Leah Li, Anthony Costello et al.
BACKGROUND: Sepsis accounts for up to 15% of an estimated 3.3 million annual neonatal deaths globally. We used data collected from the control arms of three previously conducted cluster-randomised controlled trials in rural Bangladesh, India, and Nepal to examine the association between clean delive...
Nadine Seward, Melissa Neuman, Tim Colbourn, David Osrin et al.
BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization recommends participatory learning and action (PLA) in women's groups to improve maternal and newborn health, particularly in rural settings with low access to health services. There have been calls to understand the pathways through which this community inte...
Jeneviève Mannell, Hattie Lowe, Laura J. Brown, Reshmi Mukerji et al.
INTRODUCTION: Violence against women (VAW) affects one in three women globally. In some countries, women are at much higher risk. We examined risk factors for VAW in countries with the highest 12-month prevalence estimates of intimate partner violence (IPV) to develop understanding of this increased...
Edward Fottrell, David Osrin, Glyn Alcock, Kishwar Azad et al.
OBJECTIVE: Understanding the causes of death is key to tackling the burden of three million annual neonatal deaths. Resource-poor settings lack effective vital registration systems for births, deaths and causes of death. We set out to describe cause-specific neonatal mortality in rural areas of Mala...
Leila Younes, Tanja A. J. Houweling, Kishwar Azad, Abdul Kuddus et al.
BACKGROUND: Despite efforts to reduce under-5 mortality rates worldwide, an estimated 6.6 million under-5 children die every year. Community mobilisation through participatory women's groups has been shown to improve maternal and newborn health in rural settings, but little is known about the potent...
Christina Pagel, Audrey Prost, Munir Hossen, Kishwar Azad et al.
BACKGROUND: Provision of essential newborn care (ENC) can save many newborn lives in poor resource settings but coverage is far from universal and varies by country and place of delivery. Understanding gaps in current coverage and where coverage is good, in different contexts and places of delivery,...
Tanja A. J. Houweling, Caspar W.N. Looman, Kishwar Azad, Sushmita Das et al.
BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic inequalities in neonatal mortality are substantial in many developing countries. Little is known about how to address this problem. Trials in Asia and Africa have shown strong impacts on neonatal mortality of a participatory learning and action intervention with women's gro...
Tasmin Nahar, Kishwar Azad, Bedowra Haq Aumon, Layla Younes et al.
BACKGROUND: Program coverage is likely to be an important determinant of the effectiveness of community interventions to reduce neonatal mortality. Rigorous examination and documentation of methods to scale-up interventions and measure coverage are scarce, however. To address this knowledge gap, thi...
Matthew Ellis, Kishwar Azad, B Banerjee, Sanjit Kumer Shaha et al.
OBJECTIVE: Using a low-cost community surveillance system, we aimed to estimate intrapartum stillbirth and intrapartum-related neonatal death rates for a low-income community setting. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From 2005 to 2008, information on all deliveries in 18 unions of 3 districts of Bangladesh was...
the PCP study team, Tanja A. J. Houweling, Kishwar Azad, Layla Younes et al.
BACKGROUND: Progress on neonatal survival has been slow in most countries. While there is evidence on what works to reduce newborn mortality, there is limited knowledge on how to deliver interventions effectively when health systems are weak. Cluster randomized trials have shown strong reductions in...
Catherine Griffiths, Graham Hart, Audrey Prost
People from minority ethnic groups forming approximately 8% (4.6 million people) of the population in the UK are at a disproportionate risk of social exclusion and health inequality. The reproductive and sexual health of some of these groups has been identified as a particular area of concern becaus...
Anni‐Maria Pulkki‐Brännström, Hassan Haghparast‐Bidgoli, Neha Batura, Tim Colbourn et al.
WHO recommends participatory learning and action cycles with women's groups as a cost-effective strategy to reduce neonatal deaths. Coverage is a determinant of intervention effectiveness, but little is known about why cost-effectiveness estimates vary significantly. This article reanalyses primary ...
Kelly Clarke, Kishwar Azad, Abdul Kuddus, Sanjit Kumer Shaha et al.
BACKGROUND: Perinatal common mental disorders (PCMDs) are a major cause of disability among women and disproportionately affect lower income countries. Interventions to address PCMDs are urgently needed in these settings, and group-based and peer-led approaches are potential strategies to increase a...
Nadine Seward, Audrey Prost, Andrew Copas, Marine Corbin et al.
BACKGROUND: Globally, puerperal sepsis accounts for an estimated 8-12% of maternal deaths, but evidence is lacking on the extent to which clean delivery practices could improve maternal survival. We used data from the control arms of four cluster-randomised controlled trials conducted in rural India...
Sonya Crowe, Audrey Prost, Munir Hossen, Kishwar Azad et al.
BACKGROUND: Delivery of essential newborn care is key to reducing neonatal mortality rates, yet coverage of protective birth practices remains incomplete and variable, with or without skilled attendance. Evidence of changes over time in newborn care provision, disaggregated by care practice and deli...
Azusa Iwamoto, Nadine Seward, Audrey Prost, Matthew Ellis et al.
BACKGROUND: Approximately 1.2 million stillbirths occur in the intrapartum period, and a further 717,000 annual neonatal deaths are caused by intrapartum events, most of which occur in resource poor settings. We aim to test the 'double-hit' hypothesis that maternal infection in the perinatal period ...