Improvements in Obstetric and Newborn Health Information Documentation following the Implementation of the Safer Births Bundle of Care at 30 Facilities in Tanzania.

This paper examines changes in the completeness of documentation in clinical practice before and during the implementation of the Safer Births Bundle of Care (SBBC) project. This observational study enrolled parturient women with a gestation age of at least 28 weeks at the onset of labour. Data collectors extracted information from facility registers and then a central data manager summarised and reported weekly statistics. Variables of clinical significance for CQI were selected, and the proportion of non-documentation was analysed over time. A Pearson chi-square test was used to test for significant differences in non-documentation between the periods. Between 1 March 2021 and 31 July 2022, a total of 138,442 deliveries were recorded. Overall, 75% of all patient cases had at least one missing variable among the selected variables across both periods. A lack of variable documentation occurred more frequently at the district hospital level (81% of patient cases) and health centres (74%) than at regional referral hospitals (56%) (p < 0.001). Non-documentation decreased significantly from 79% to 70% after the introduction of the SBBC (p < 0.001). A tendency towards negative correlations was noted for most variables. We noted an increased attention to data quality and use which may have a positive impact on the completeness of documentation. However, halfway through the project's implementation, the completeness of documentation was still low. Our findings support the recommendation to establish short-spaced feedback loops of locally collected data using one data platform.

Impact of azithromycin and nitazoxanide on the enteric infections and child growth: Findings from the Early Life Interventions for Childhood Growth and Development in Tanzania (ELICIT) trial.

BACKGROUND: Early childhood enteric infection with Shigella/EIEC, enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), Campylobacter, and Giardia has been associated with reduced child growth, yet a recent randomized trial of antimicrobial therapy to reduce these infections did not improve growth outcomes. To interrogate this discrepancy, we measured the enteric infections from this study. METHODS: We leveraged the Early Life Interventions for Childhood Growth and Development in Tanzania (ELICIT) trial, a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of antimicrobial therapy with azithromycin and nitazoxanide provided quarterly to infants from 6 to 15 months of age. We tested 5,479 stool samples at time points across the study for 34 enteropathogens using quantitative PCR. RESULTS: There was substantial carriage of enteropathogens in stool. Azithromycin administration led to reductions in Campylobacter jejuni/coli, enteroaggregative E. coli, and Shigella/EIEC (absolute risk difference ranged from -0.06 to 0.24) 2 weeks after treatment however there was no effect after 3 months. There was no difference in Giardia after nitazoxanide administration (ARR 0.03 at the 12 month administration). When examining the effect of azithromycin versus placebo on the subset of children infected with specific pathogens at the time of treatment, a small increase in weight-for-age Z score was seen only in those infected with Campylobacter jejuni/coli (0.10 Z score, 95% CI -0.01-0.20; length-for-age Z score 0.07, 95% CI -0.06-0.20). CONCLUSION: The antimicrobial intervention of quarterly azithromycin plus or minus nitazoxanide led to only transient decreases in enteric infections with Shigella/EIEC, enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), Campylobacter, and Giardia. There was a trend towards improved growth in children infected with Campylobacter that received quarterly azithromycin.

"Safer Births Bundle of Care" Implementation and Perinatal Impact at 30 Hospitals in Tanzania-Halfway Evaluation.

Safer Births Bundle of Care (SBBC) consists of innovative clinical and training tools for improved labour care and newborn resuscitation, integrated with new strategies for continuous quality improvement. After implementation, we hypothesised a reduction in 24-h newborn deaths, fresh stillbirths, and maternal deaths by 50%, 20%, and 10%, respectively. This is a 3-year stepped-wedged cluster randomised implementation study, including 30 facilities within five regions in Tanzania. Data collectors at each facility enter labour and newborn care indicators, patient characteristics and outcomes. This halfway evaluation reports data from March 2021 through July 2022. In total, 138,357 deliveries were recorded; 67,690 pre- and 70,667 post-implementations of SBBC. There were steady trends of increased 24-h newborn and maternal survival in four regions after SBBC initiation. In the first region, with 13 months of implementation (n = 15,658 deliveries), an estimated additional 100 newborns and 20 women were saved. Reported fresh stillbirths seemed to fluctuate across time, and increased in three regions after the start of SBBC. Uptake of the bundle varied between regions. This SBBC halfway evaluation indicates steady reductions in 24-h newborn and maternal mortality, in line with our hypotheses, in four of five regions. Enhanced focus on uptake of the bundle and the quality improvement component is necessary to fully reach the SBBC impact potential as we move forward.

Multiple micronutrients fortified salt: consumers' acceptability survey, Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Food fortification with micronutrients is an insufficiently used technology in developing countries. Salt is consumed in small, constant daily amounts by most people globally. Salt has been instrumental in delivering iodine to a wide population globally through fortification. There is a proven effective technology for fortifying iodinated salt with iron, folate, and Vitamin B12. Findings have shown that both Double (Iodine and iron) fortified salt (DFS) and quadruple (iron, iodine, folate, and vitamin B12) fortified salt (QFS) are effective in raising hemoglobin levels. AIM: To assess the acceptability and gauge consumers' willingness to use double-fortified and quadruple-fortified salt formulations. METHODS: We conducted an observational study involving 300 households at Haydom Lutheran Hospital catchment area in Northern rural Tanzania between October 2021 and April 2022. Each household was supplied with one type of salt (iodized salt (IS), DFS or QFS) for cooking common family dishes for one week. Thereafter, at least two adult members of the family who used the dishes cooked with study salt were interviewed using the adopted 5-point Hedonic scale. RESULTS: A total of 899 individuals were interviewed after using study salt for one week: 286 IS, 305 DFS, and 308 QFS. The overall acceptability for the salts was QFS (82%), DFS (78%), and IS (79%). The mean sensory (taste, color and appearance) scores of the QFS (1.7) and DFS (1.7) were comparable to standard iodized salt (1.6). CONCLUSION: Quadruple-fortified salt and double-fortified salt are equally acceptable and have similar sensory scores as standard iodized salt when used to cook commonly eaten dishes in the study population.

Burden, Clinical Characteristics, Risk Factors, and Seasonality of Adenovirus 40/41 Diarrhea in Children in Eight Low-Resource Settings.

Background: The application of molecular diagnostics has identified enteric group adenovirus serotypes 40 and 41 as important causes of diarrhea in children. However, many aspects of the epidemiology of adenovirus 40/41 diarrhea have not been described. Methods: We used data from the 8-site Etiology, Risk Factors, and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development Project birth cohort study to describe site- and age-specific incidence, risk factors, clinical characteristics, and seasonality. Results: The incidence of adenovirus 40/41 diarrhea was substantially higher by quantitative polymerase chain reaction than enzyme immunoassay and peaked at ∼30 episodes per 100 child-years in children aged 7-15 months, with substantial variation in incidence between sites. A significant burden was also seen in children 0-6 months of age, higher than other viral etiologies with the exception of rotavirus. Children with adenovirus 40/41 diarrhea were more likely to have a fever than children with norovirus, sapovirus, and astrovirus (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.62; 95% CI, 1.16-2.26) but less likely than children with rotavirus (aOR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.49-0.91). Exclusive breastfeeding was strongly protective against adenovirus 40/41 diarrhea (hazard ratio, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.48-0.85), but no other risk factors were identified. The seasonality of adenovirus 40/41 diarrhea varied substantially between sites and did not have clear associations with seasonal variations in temperature or rainfall. Conclusions: This study supports the situation of adenovirus 40/41 as a pathogen of substantial importance, especially in infants. Fever was a distinguishing characteristic in comparison to other nonrotavirus viral etiologies, and promotion of exclusive breastfeeding may reduce the high observed burden in the first 6 months of life.

Beyond research: improved perinatal care through scale-up of a Moyo fetal heart rate monitor coupled with simulation training in northern Tanzania for helping babies breathe.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this project was to improve perinatal survival by introducing Moyo Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) Monitor coupled with neonatal resuscitation simulation training. METHODS: The implementation was done at three district hospitals. We assessed health care workers' (HCW's) skills and perinatal death trends during implementation. Baseline data were collected from the hospitals before implementation. Newborn resuscitation (NR) skills were assessed before and after simulation training. Assessment of perinatal outcomes was done over 2 years of implementation. We used descriptive analysis; a t-test (paired and independent two-sample) and a one-way Anova test to report the findings. RESULTS: A total of 107 HCW's were trained on FHR monitoring using Moyo and NR knowledge and skills using NeoNatalie simulators. The knowledge increased post-training by 13.6% (p <  0.001). Skills score was increased by 25.5 and 38.2% for OSCE A and B respectively (p <  0.001). The overall fresh stillbirths rate dropped from 9 to 5 deaths per 1000 total births and early neonatal deaths at 7 days from 5 to 3 (p <  0.05) deaths per 1000 live births over 2 years of implementation. CONCLUSION: There was a significant improvement of newborn resuscitation skills among HCW's and neonatal survival at 2 years. Newborn resuscitation training coupling with Moyo FHR monitor has shown potential for improving perinatal survival. However, further evaluation is needed to explore the full potential of the package.

Perinatal mortality audit in a rural referral hospital in Tanzania to inform future interventions: A descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Clear evidence exists that perinatal audit and feedback can lead to important improvements in practice. The death audit can lead to the identification of existing potential delays which are the decision to seek medical care, reaching an appropriate facility, and receiving timely adequate care at the facility. Such an audit potentially initiates a positive discussion, which may foster the implementation of changes that aims at saving more lives. OBJECTIVE: To review the perinatal deaths case notes and identify potential gaps in care provision and health-seeking behavior to foster best practice. METHODS: The stillbirths and neonatal death case notes that occurred between January 2019 and May 2020 at the hospital were reviewed using an adapted WHO checklist. The completed review case notes were entered into an electronic system and a quality control check-up was done. Data were analysed descriptively, and findings were presented in tables. RESULTS: There were 4,898 births, and 1,175 neonatal admissions, out of these there were 135 recorded stillbirths (2.8%) and 201(4.1% of the total hospital births) early neonatal deaths. Out of the 1,175 neonates, 635 (54%) were born within the hospital and 540 (46%) were admitted from other facilities and home deliveries. In total 86 stillbirths and 140 early neonatal deaths case notes were retrieved and audited. Out of 86 stillbirths' case notes audited, 30 (34.9%) seemed to have died during labor, and of these 5 had audible fetal heart rate during admission. Apgar scores less than 7 at 5 minutes, prematurity, and meconium aspiration were the top three recorded causes of neonatal deaths. Inadequate/late antenatal care visits and home delivery were the maternal factors likely to have contributed to perinatal deaths. Inadequate labor monitoring (12%) and documentation (62%) were among the providers' factors likely to have contributed to perinatal deaths. CONCLUSION: This audit shows that there are high rates of preventable intrapartum stillbirths and early neonatal deaths. Both women and providers' factors were found to have contributed to the stillbirths and neonatal deaths. There is a need to encourage women to adequately attend antenatal care, utilize health facilities during birth, and improve maternity and neonatal care at the health facilities.

Etiology of severe invasive infections in young infants in rural settings in sub-Saharan Africa.

BACKGROUND: Serious invasive infections in newborns are a major cause of death. Lack of data on etiological causes hampers progress towards reduction of mortality. This study aimed to identify pathogens responsible for such infections in young infants in sub-Saharan Africa and to describe their antibiotics resistance profile. METHODS: Between September 2016 and April 2018 we implemented an observational study in two rural sites in Burkina Faso and Tanzania enrolling young infants aged 0-59 days old with serious invasive infection. Blood samples underwent blood culture and molecular biology. RESULTS: In total 634 infants with clinical diagnosis of serious invasive infection were enrolled and 4.2% of the infants had a positive blood culture. The most frequent pathogens identified by blood culture were Klebsiella pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus, followed by Escherichia coli. Gram-negative isolates were only partially susceptible to first line WHO recommended treatment for neonatal sepsis at community level. A total of 18.6% of the infants were PCR positive for at least one pathogen and Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were the most common bacteria detected. Among infants enrolled, 60/634 (9.5%) died. Positive blood culture but not positive PCR was associated with risk of death. For most deaths, no pathogen was identified either by blood culture or molecular testing, and hence a causal agent remained unclear. Mortality was associated with low body temperature, tachycardia, respiratory symptoms, convulsions, history of difficult feeding, movement only when stimulated or reduced level of consciousness, diarrhea and/or vomiting. CONCLUSION: While Klebsiella pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus, as well as Escherichia coli were pathogens most frequently identified in infants with clinical suspicion of serious invasive infections, most cases remain without definite diagnosis, making more accurate diagnostic tools urgently needed. Antibiotics resistance to first line antibiotics is an increasing challenge even in rural Africa.

Midwives' and Women's Perception on Moyo Fetal Heart Rate Monitor for Intrapartum Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring; A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: The annual global neonatal mortality stands at 2.5 million deaths, 1 million of them dying within the first day of life. An additional 2.6 million are stillborn globally, the majority of them due to intrapartum events. Optimal fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring has the potential to timely detect fetuses at risk and, if coupled with timely obstetric responses may save more newborns. Moyo is a new Doppler with nine crystals capable of monitoring FHR both intermittently and continuously. AIM: To assess women's and midwives' opinions on the use of Moyo for intrapartum FHR monitoring. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study using a structured questionnaire to assess women's and midwives' perception. Women who gave birth at the hospital who used Moyo were interviewed using a questionnaire immediately before discharge from the hospital. Twenty-eight midwives who have been using Moyo for more than 6 months were also interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using excel and result presented in figures. RESULTS: In total 113 postpartum women who were monitored using Moyo were interviewed before discharge. Out of these, 46 (40.7%) were first-time mothers and the rest were multipara. In total, 95 women (84.1%) used Moyo and other devices for FHR monitoring, 81 (72%) said Moyo was better than Fetoscopes and handheld Doppler, two-third 75 (66.4%) felt that Moyo was comfortable and 93 (82.3%) would like Moyo to be used on them in the future. Out of 28 midwives, 11 (39.3%) used Moyo continuous only, 3 (10.7%) used Moyo intermittently only and 14 (50.0%) used both intermittent and continuous. Thirteen (46.4%) midwives prefer to use Moyo both intermittent and continuous. Sixteen (55.6%) said Moyo was effective, 21 (75%) felt comfortable to use Moyo, and 13 (46.4%) said Moyo was easy to use. CONCLUSION: The majority of midwives and women who used Moyo felt that Moyo was comfortable for intrapartum FHR monitoring. Moyo can be used both intermittently and continuously depending on the user's preferences.

Introducing a drift and diffusion framework for childhood growth research.

Background: Growth trajectories are highly variable between children, making epidemiological analyses challenging both to the identification of malnutrition interventions at the population level and also risk assessment at individual level. We introduce stochastic differential equation (SDE) models into child growth research. SDEs describe flexible dynamic processes comprising: drift - gradual smooth changes - such as physiology or gut microbiome, and diffusion - sudden perturbations, such as illness or infection. Methods: We present a case study applying SDE models to child growth trajectory data from the Haydom, Tanzania and Venda, South Africa sites within the MAL-ED cohort. These data comprise n=460 children aged 0-24 months. A comparison with classical curve fitting (linear mixed models) is also presented. Results: The SDE models offered a wide range of new flexible shapes and parameterizations compared to classical additive models, with performance as good or better than standard approaches. The predictions from the SDE models suggest distinct longitudinal clusters that form distinct 'streams' hidden by the large between-child variability. Conclusions: Using SDE models to predict future growth trajectories revealed new insights in the observed data, where trajectories appear to cluster together in bands, which may have a future risk assessment application. SDEs offer an attractive approach for child growth modelling and potentially offer new insights.