Scoping review to identify and map the health personnel considered skilled birth attendants in low-and-middle income countries from 2000-2015.

INTRODUCTION: The "percentage of births attended by a skilled birth attendant" (SBA) is an indicator that has been adopted by several global monitoring frameworks, including the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) agenda for regular monitoring as part of target 3.1 for reducing maternal mortality by 2030. However, accurate and consistent measurement is challenged by contextual differences between and within countries on the definition of SBA, including the education, training, competencies, and functions they are qualified to perform. This scoping review identifies and maps the health personnel considered SBA in low-to-middle-income-countries (LMIC). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A search was conducted inclusive to the years 2000 to 2015 in PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL Complete, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, POPLINE and the World Health Organization Global Index Medicus. Original primary source research conducted in LMIC that evaluated the skilled health personnel providing interventions during labour and childbirth were considered for inclusion. All studies reported disaggregated data of SBA cadres and were disaggregated by country. RESULTS: The search of electronic databases identified a total of 23,743 articles. Overall, 70 articles were included in the narrative synthesis. A total of 102 unique cadres names were identified from 36 LMIC countries. Of the cadres included, 16% represented doctors, 16% were nurses, and 15% were midwives. We found substantial heterogeneity between and within countries on the reported definition of SBA and the education, training, skills and competencies that they were able to perform. CONCLUSION: The uncertainty and diversity of reported qualifications and competency of SBA within and between countries requires attention in order to better ascertain strategic priorities for future health system planning, including training and education. These results can inform recommendations around improved coverage measurement and monitoring of SBA moving forward, allowing for more accurate, consistent, and timely data able to guide decisions and action around planning and implementation of maternal and newborn health programmes.

Protocol for a scoping review to identify and map the global health personnel considered skilled attendants at birth in low and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2015.

INTRODUCTION: Despite progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), maternal mortality remains high in countries where there are shortages of skilled personnel able to manage and provide quality care during pregnancy and childbirth. The 'percentage of births attended by skilled health personnel' (SAB, skilled attendants at birth) was a key indicator for tracking progress since the MDGs and is part of the Sustainable Development Goal agenda. However, due to contextual differences between and within countries on the definition of SAB, a lack of clarity exists around the training, competencies, and skills they are qualified to perform. In this paper, we outline a scoping review protocol that poses to identify and map the health personnel considered SAB in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A search will be conducted for the years 2000-2015 in PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL Complete, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, POPLINE and the WHO Global Health Library. A manual search of reference lists from identified studies or systematic reviews and a hand search of the literature from international partner organisations will be done. Original studies conducted in LMIC that assessed health personnel (paid or voluntary) providing interventions during the intrapartum period will be considered for inclusion. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: A scoping review is a secondary analysis of published literature and does not require ethics approval. This scoping review proposes to synthesise data on the training, competency and skills of identified SAB and expands on other efforts to describe this global health workforce. The results will inform recommendations around improved coverage measurement and reporting of SAB moving forward, allowing for more accurate, consistent and timely data able to guide decisions and action around planning and implementation of maternal and newborn health programme globally. Data will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed manuscript, conferences and to key stakeholders within international organisations.

Effect of oral vitamin D analogs on mortality and cardiovascular outcomes among adults with chronic kidney disease: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and has been associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in observational studies. However, evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) supporting vitamin D supplementation is lacking. We sought to assess whether vitamin D supplementation alters the relative risk (RR) of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, as well as serious adverse cardiovascular events, in patients with CKD, compared with placebo. METHODS: PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and selected nephrology journals and conference proceedings were searched in October 2013. RCTs considered for inclusion were those that assessed oral vitamin D supplementation versus placebo in adults with CKD (≤60 mL/min/1.73 m(2)), including end-stage CKD requiring dialysis. We calculated pooled RR of mortality (all-cause and cardiovascular) and that of cardiovascular events and stratified by CKD stage, vitamin D analog and diabetes prevalence. RESULTS: The search identified 4246 articles, of which 13 were included. No significant treatment effect of oral vitamin D on all-cause mortality (RR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.47, 1.52), cardiovascular mortality (RR: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.26, 2.28) or serious adverse cardiovascular events (RR: 1.20; 95% CI: 0.49, 2.99) was observed. The pooled analysis demonstrated large variation in trials with respect to dosing (0.5 ug-200 000 IU/week) and duration (3-104 weeks). CONCLUSIONS: Current RCTs do not provide sufficient or precise evidence that vitamin D supplementation affects mortality or cardiovascular risk in CKD. While its effect on biochemical endpoints is well documented, the results demonstrate a lack of appropriate patient-level data within the CKD literature, which warrants larger trials with clinical primary outcomes related to vitamin D supplementation.