BACKGROUND Adolescent girls aged 15-19 bear a disproportionate burden of negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Research from several high-income countries suggests that early age at menarche is an important determinant of sexual and reproductive health. We conducted this systematic review to better understand whether and how early menarche is asso...

BACKGROUND Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. The World Health Organisation (WHO) collects mortality data coded using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) code. METHODS We analysed IHD deaths world-wide between 1995 and 2009 and used the UN population database to calculate age-specific and directly and indirectly age-standardised I...

This study examines the impact of political decentralization on an essential public service provided in almost all countries: childhood immunization. The relationship is examined empirically using a time-series data set of 140 low- and middle-income countries from 1980 to 1997. The study finds that decentralization has different effects in low- and middle-income countries. In the low-income gro...

BACKGROUND We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis, the first to our knowledge, summarizing and quantifying the published evidence on associations between type 2 diabetes incidence and socio-economic position (SEP) (measured by educational level, occupation and income) worldwide and when sub-divided into high-, middle- and low-income countries. METHODS Relevant case-control and coh...

Telemedicine is the delivery of healthcare services using information and communication technologies (ICT) to its users. Mobile communications in telemedicine or health (mHealth) most commonly accepted mode low- middle-income countries (LMICs) due affordability user-friendly features. may be used treat, prevent monitor conditions; as well promote educate clients. Access medical rehabilitation L...

Middle-income countries are currently undergoing massive structural changes towards more industrialized economies. In this paper, we carefully examine the impact of these transformations on the environmental quality of middle-income countries. Specifically, we examine the role of sector value addition to GDP on CO2 emission nexus for middle-income economies controlling for the effects of popula...