Introduction Comprehensive local data on adolescent health are often lacking, particularly in lower resource settings. Furthermore, there are knowledge gaps around which interventions are effective to support healthy behaviours. This study generates health information for students from cities in four middle-income countries to plan, implement and subsequently evaluate a package of interventions to improve health outcomes. Methods and analysis We will conduct a cluster randomised controlled trial in schools in Fez, Morocco; Jaipur, India; Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica; and Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana. In each city, approximately 30 schools will be randomly selected and assigned to the control or intervention arm. Baseline data collection includes three components. First, a Global School Health Policies and Practices Survey (G-SHPPS) to be completed by principals of all selected schools. Second, a Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) to be administered to a target sample of n=3
Aita Signorell and colleagues assess compliance with recommended treatments for severe malaria in children under 5 years of age in the DRC, Nigeria, and Uganda.
Prophylactic antibiotic use during delivery is common in routine obstetric practice to prevent infection globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In China, however, little is currently known about the national estimates for prophylactic antibiotic use during delivery. Therefore, we aimed to describe the prevalence of prophylactic antibiotic use and guideline adherence using national data in China. This cross-sectional study analyzed a national dataset from the China Labor and Delivery Survey in 2015–2016. The primary outcomes were prophylactic antibiotic use and clinician adherence to WHO recommendations for the prevention and treatment of maternal peripartum infections. We estimated the weighted prevalence of the outcomes with Taylor series linearization and investigated the associated factors of the outcomes with logistic regression. Of the 72,519 deliveries, the prevalence of antibiotic prophylaxis was 52.0%, varying from 92.8% in Shanxi to 17.3% in Hainan. Th
Christopher R. Sudfeld and colleagues evaluate the benefit of multiple micronutrient supplementation and medium‐quantity lipid‐based nutrient supplementation in pregnancy on child development in rural Niger.