MyMedR

Fulltext Maternal, neonatal, and child health in southeast Asia: towards greater regional collaboration

Acuin CS, Khor GL, Liabsuetrakul T, Achadi EL, Htay TT, Firestone R, et al.

Lancet, 2011 Feb 05;377(9764):516-25.

PMID: 21269675 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62049-1

Although maternal and child mortality are on the decline in southeast Asia, there are still major disparities, and greater equity is key to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We used comparable cross-national data sources to document mortality trends from 1990 to 2008 and to assess major causes of maternal and child deaths. We present inequalities in intervention coverage by two common measures of wealth quintiles and rural or urban status. Case studies of reduction in mortality in Thailand and Indonesia indicate the varying extents of success and point to some factors that accelerate progress. We developed a Lives Saved Tool analysis for the region and for country subgroups to estimate deaths averted by cause and intervention. We identified three major patterns of maternal and child mortality reduction: early, rapid downward trends (Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand); initially high declines (sustained by Vietnam but faltering in the Philippines and Indonesia); and high initial rates with a downward trend (Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar). Economic development seems to provide an important context that should be coupled with broader health-system interventions. Increasing coverage and consideration of the health-system context is needed, and regional support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations can provide increased policy support to achieve maternal, neonatal, and child health goals.

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services

Child health in Malaysia

Ariffin W

Arch Dis Child, 1994 Nov;71(5):452-6.

PMID: 7826121

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services/organization & administration*

Primary health care for the children of Sarawak

Benster R, Stanton J

Br J Hosp Med, 1989 Dec;42(6):488-90.

PMID: 2611474

Rosalind Benster and Judith Stanton went to Sarawak to study child health care. Their aim was to highlight areas of most need so that the tiny health budget could be channelled in the relevant directions. They found cultural and environmental differences to account for significant differences in the nutritional status of children from different tribes. They suggest remedies to this situation.

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services/standards*

Volunteer service abroad: nurse in Sarawak

Burke S

N Z Nurs J, 1977 Oct;70(10):14-16.

PMID: 271909

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services*

Attendance at a child health clinic in Malaysia

Chen PC

J Trop Med Hyg, 1975 Jan;78(1):6-12.

PMID: 1121041

One hundred and ninety-nine children brought by 181 adults to a child health clinic based in a rural health sub-centre in Peninsular Malaysia are studied. It is noted that the families from which they come are relatively poor, with a large number of children, and that they are fairly highly motivated. Forty-four per cent of children attending the clinic at the time of the study are symptomatic indicating the need to organise the child health clinic on a "preventive-curative" basis. It is also noted that the young child is initially seen in early infancy but is lost to the clinic when he is older making it judicious to formulate immunization schedules that take this into account.

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services/utilization*

Providing maternal and child care in rural Malaysia

Chen PC

Trop Geogr Med, 1977 Dec;29(4):441-8.

PMID: 610030

Since Independence, gained in 1957, major changes have occurred in the rural areas of Malaysia not least amongst which has been the provision of maternal and child care services to hitherto neglected areas. In the first part of this paper, the demographic and disease patterns are described. The second part outlines the general development efforts and describes in greater detail the rural health services that have been organized in Malaysia. In the concluding section, changes in mortality and morbidity are examined.

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services/manpower*

Fulltext Child health delivery in Asia

Chen PCY

Med J Malaysia, 1986 Mar;41(1):93-8.

PMID: 3796358

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services*

Fulltext Child health in Malaysia: 1870-1985

Chen PCY

Med J Malaysia, 1985 Sep;40(3):165-76.

PMID: 3916210

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services/history*

Paediatric palliative care in the Asia Pacific region: where are we now?

Chong PH, Hamsah E, Goh C

BMJ Support Palliat Care, 2017 Mar;7(1):17-22.

PMID: 26338851 DOI: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2014-000812

Paediatric palliative care services have increased both in numbers and capacity around the world in response to the needs of children living with life-limiting conditions. Members of the Asia Pacific Hospice Network, who render care to children, have increasingly realised the need to map existing services for enhanced collaborative, educational and advocacy efforts. An online survey was conducted over 2 months among professionals in the region to document current service provision, and at the same time to explore individual training needs and practice challenges. A questionnaire crafted through consensus by members of a new special interest group within the network was used to collect data. 59 distinct responses from 16 countries were obtained to build a directory, which has already been circulated. Content analyses of narrative responses yield further findings. Half of these services catered to adults as well as to children. Staffing and service provision varied across the region but most members worked in teams consisting of multidisciplinary professionals. Numerous service and funding models were found, reflecting wide differences in local conditions and responses to diverse patient populations unique to paediatric palliative care. The highest training needs centred around bereavement and spiritual care. Capacity and funding issues were expected, but significant lack of support by paediatricians was found to be alarming and warrants further study. Amid the heterogeneity, these services share common struggles and face similar needs. Identifying individual profiles of different services potentially helps to draw everyone together, towards a common vision, and towards creating opportunities for sharing of expertise and experience.

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services/standards; Child Health Services/statistics & numerical data*

Speech and hearing services in Malaysia

Curtis NW

ASHA, 1973 Nov;15(11):645-6.

PMID: 4757313

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services*

The "built-in failure-rate" of immunisation at infant-health clinics

Dugdale AE

Lancet, 1969 Feb 22;1(7591):409-11.

PMID: 4179241 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(69)91371-3

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services*

Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Infant Temperament

Edhborg M, E-Nasreen H, Kabir ZN

J Interpers Violence, 2020 11;35(21-22):4779-4795.

PMID: 29294818 DOI: 10.1177/0886260517717489

Intimate partner violence (IPV) during the first year postpartum is common in Bangladesh, and many infants are exposed to hostile and aggressive environment. The aim of the current study was to investigate how IPV (physical, emotional, and sexual) impacts on the mother's perception of her infant's temperament 6 to 8 months postpartum, and whether maternal depressive symptom at 6 to 8 months postpartum is a mediator in this association. A total of 656 rural Bangladeshi women and their children 6 to 8 months postpartum were included in this study. Data were collected by structured interviews. The women were asked about physical, sexual, and emotional IPV; depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depressive Symptoms [EPDS]); and their perception of infant temperament assessed by the Infant Characteristic Questionnaire (ICQ). Descriptive analyses were conducted for prevalence of IPV and maternal depressive symptoms. Mediation analysis was conducted with a series of linear regressions with types of IPV as independent variables, ICQ including its subscales as dependent variables and maternal depressive symptoms as potential mediator. All the analyses were adjusted for the woman's and her husband's ages and number of children of the couple. Nearly 90% of the mothers reported some kind of IPV at 6 to 8 months postpartum. All types of IPV were directly associated with the mother's perception of her infant as unadaptable. Maternal depressive symptom was a mediating factor between physical IPV and the ICQ subscales fussy-difficult and unpredictable. In addition, depressive symptoms mediated between sexual and emotional IPV, and the mother's perception of the infant as unpredictable. The results showed that IPV influenced how mothers perceived their infant's temperament. It is important that health care professionals at maternal and child health services enquire about IPV with possibilities to refer the family or the mother and infant for appropriate support.

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services

Integrating health interventions for women, newborn babies, and children: a framework for action

Ekman B, Pathmanathan I, Liljestrand J

Lancet, 2008 Sep 13;372(9642):990-1000.

PMID: 18790321 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61408-7

For women and children, especially those who are poor and disadvantaged, to benefit from primary health care, they need to access and use cost-effective interventions for maternal, newborn, and child health. The challenge facing weak health systems is how to deliver such packages. Experiences from countries such as Iran, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and China, and from projects in countries like Tanzania and India, show that outcomes in maternal, newborn, and child health can be improved through integrated packages of cost-effective health-care interventions that are implemented incrementally in accordance with the capacity of health systems. Such packages should include community-based interventions that act in combination with social protection and intersectoral action in education, infrastructure, and poverty reduction. Interventions need to be planned and implemented at the district level, which requires strengthening of district planning and management skills. Furthermore, districts need to be supported by national strategies and policies, and, in the case of the least developed countries, also by international donors and other partners. If packages for maternal, newborn and child health care can be integrated within a gradually strengthened primary health-care system, continuity of care will be improved, including access to basic referral care before and during pregnancy, birth, the postpartum period, and throughout childhood.

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services/organization & administration*; Child Health Services/trends

Realizing the promise of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

Fassil H, Borrazzo J, Greene R, Jacobs T, Norton M, Stanton ME, et al.

Health Policy Plan, 2017 Sep 01;32(7):1072-1076.

PMID: 28407108 DOI: 10.1093/heapol/czx018

Reflecting on Storeng and Béhague ("Lives in the balance": the politics of integration in the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. Health Policy and Planning Storeng and Béhague (2016).) historical ethnography of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH), this commentary provides a more current account of PMNCH's trajectory since its inception in 2005. It highlights PMNCH's distinct characteristics and how it is positioned to play an instrumental role in the current global health landscape.

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services/organization & administration*

eRegistries: indicators for the WHO Essential Interventions for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health

Flenady V, Wojcieszek AM, Fjeldheim I, Friberg IK, Nankabirwa V, Jani JV, et al.

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth, 2016 Sep 30;16(1):293.

PMID: 27716088

BACKGROUND: Electronic health registries - eRegistries - can systematically collect relevant information at the point of care for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH). However, a suite of process and outcome indicators is needed for RMNCH to monitor care and to ensure comparability between settings. Here we report on the assessment of current global indicators and the development of a suite of indicators for the WHO Essential Interventions for use at various levels of health care systems nationally and globally.

METHODS: Currently available indicators from both household and facility surveys were collated through publicly available global databases and respective survey instruments. We then developed a suite of potential indicators and associated data points for the 45 WHO Essential Interventions spanning preconception to newborn care. Four types of performance indicators were identified (where applicable): process (i.e. coverage) and outcome (i.e. impact) indicators for both screening and treatment/prevention. Indicators were evaluated by an international expert panel against the eRegistries indicator evaluation criteria and further refined based on feedback by the eRegistries technical team.

RESULTS: Of the 45 WHO Essential Interventions, only 16 were addressed in any of the household survey data available. A set of 216 potential indicators was developed. These indicators were generally evaluated favourably by the panel, but difficulties in data ascertainment, including for outcome measures of cause-specific morbidity and mortality, were frequently reported as barriers to the feasibility of indicators. Indicators were refined based on feedback, culminating in the final list of 193 total unique indicators: 93 for preconception and antenatal care; 53 for childbirth and postpartum care; and 47 for newborn and small and ill baby care.

CONCLUSIONS: Large gaps exist in the availability of information currently collected to support the implementation of the WHO Essential Interventions. The development of this suite of indicators can be used to support the implementation of eRegistries and other data platforms, to ensure that data are utilised to support evidence-based practice, facilitate measurement and accountability, and improve maternal and child health outcomes.

Matched MeSH terms: Maternal-Child Health Services/statistics & numerical data*

Utilization of maternal and child health facilities by the urban poor of Kuala Lumpur

Gan CY, Yusof K

Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 1993 Jun;24(2):302-6.

PMID: 8266233

A survey conducted to assess the extent which the urban poor in rapidly expanding Kuala Lumpur utilize maternal and child health services available to them. The sample consisted of 1,380 households with children below 6 years and yielded 1,233 children below 6 years of age. 74% of the children had been delivered in government hospitals and 86% of the pregnancies had antenatal care in governmental establishments. 89.2% had BCG immunization before they were 1 year old but 13.3% had not received DPT by that age. Immunization was mainly done in government clinics. The overall immunization coverage for the whole of Kuala Lumpur is expected to be higher than these figures limited to the urban poor. Health planners should increase health facilities in the city to accommodate the expanding population. There is a need to continually campaign for immunization to improve coverage among the urban poor.

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services/utilization*

Grandmothers as gatekeepers? The role of grandmothers in influencing health-seeking for mothers and newborns in rural northern Ghana

Gupta ML, Aborigo RA, Adongo PB, Rominski S, Hodgson A, Engmann CM, et al.

Glob Public Health, 2015 Oct;10(9):1078-91.

PMID: 25635475 DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2014.1002413

Previous research suggests that care-seeking in rural northern Ghana is often governed by a woman's husband or compound head. This study was designed to explore the role grandmothers (typically a woman's mother-in-law) play in influencing maternal and newborn healthcare decisions. In-depth interviews were conducted with 35 mothers of newborns, 8 traditional birth attendants and local healers, 16 community leaders and 13 healthcare practitioners. An additional 18 focus groups were conducted with stakeholders such as household heads, compound leaders and grandmothers. In this region, grandmothers play many roles. They may act as primary support providers to pregnant mothers, care for newborns following delivery, preserve cultural traditions and serve as repositories of knowledge on local medicine. Grandmothers may also serve as gatekeepers for health-seeking behaviour, especially with regard to their daughters and daughters-in-law. This research also sheds light on the potential gap between health education campaigns that target mothers as autonomous decision-makers, and the reality of a more collectivist community structure in which mothers rarely make such decisions without the support of other community members.

Matched MeSH terms: Maternal-Child Health Services/utilization*

Fulltext Optimising reproductive and child health outcomes by building evidence-based research and practice in South East Asia (SEA-ORCHID): study protocol

Henderson-Smart DJ, Lumbiganon P, Festin MR, Ho JJ, Mohammad H, McDonald SJ, et al.

BMC Med Res Methodol, 2007;7:43.

PMID: 17892586

Disorders related to pregnancy and childbirth are a major health issue in South East Asia. They represent one of the biggest health risk differentials between the developed and developing world. Our broad research question is: Can the health of mothers and babies in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia be improved by increasing the local capacity for the synthesis of research, implementation of effective interventions, and identification of gaps in knowledge needing further research?

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services/standards*

Fulltext Child health strategies in primary health care

Jelliffee DB

Med J Malaysia, 1986 Mar;41(1):84-7.

PMID: 3796356

Various key aspects needing consideration in primary health care services for children are described. These include the need for basic curative facilities, a dyodic approach, concentration on major issues, use of appropriate technology and cultural appropriateness.

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services*

Fulltext WHO in the 1970s and 1980s--a user's view

Karim R

World Health Forum, 1998;19(4):365-8.

PMID: 10050161

The author reflects on 24 years of involvement in WHO activities, and their effect on her own life and on the maternal and child health services in Malaysia.

Matched MeSH terms: Child Health Services/trends

Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 41 in total