BACKGROUND At any point in time, an average 8 million Indian children suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM). OBJECTIVE This article assesses the effectiveness of an integrated model for the management of SAM (IM-SAM) in India comprising facility- and community-based care and using locally adapted protocols. DESIGN Children (n = 2740) were randomly sampled from the 44,017 children aged...

Background Studies in adults suggest that early initiation of anti-retroviral therapy (ART), during treatment of those presenting with opportunistic infections, results in better outcomes than deferred treatment. However, data on the effects of early treatment of children are sparse. Kilifi district hospital (KDH) serves a population of over 250,000. It provides HIV services and ART. All childr...

BACKGROUND The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of alternative training strategies for increasing access to emergency obstetric care in Burkina Faso. METHODS Case extraction forms were used to record data on 2305 caesarean sections performed in 2004 and 2005 in hospitals in six out of the 13 health regions of Burkina Faso. Main effectiveness outcomes ...

OBJECTIVE To assess maternal and neonatal health services in 49 developing countries. METHODS The services were rated on a scale of 0 to 100 by 10 - 25 experts in each country. The ratings covered emergency and routine services, including family planning, at health centres and district hospitals, access to these services for both rural and urban women, the likelihood that women would receive ...

INTRODUCTION It is well-recognised that medical students whose training exposure is largely limited to tertiary-level training hospitals may be inappropriately equipped to deal with the most relevant health issues affecting rural communities. This article evaluated the perceived educational value of a 2 week clinical rotation undertaken by senior undergraduate medical students at rural district...

BACKGROUND As the overwhelming surgical burden of injury and disease steadily increases, disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income countries, adequate surgical and trauma care systems are essential. Yet, little is known about the emergency and essential surgical care (EESC) capacity of facilities in many African countries. The objective of this study was to assess the EESC capacity in...

INTRODUCTION The availability of antidotes may be considered essential and lifesaving in the management of certain poisonings. Surveys carried out in a number of countries have demonstrated inadequate availability of a variety of poisoning antidotes. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to determine the availability of antidote stocking at hospitals, based on published guidelines for anti...