The influence of travel time to health facilities on stillbirths: A geospatial case-control analysis of facility-based data in Gombe, Nigeria.

Access to quality emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC); having a skilled attendant at birth (SBA); adequate antenatal care; and efficient referral systems are considered the most effective interventions in preventing stillbirths. We determined the influence of travel time from mother's area of residence to a tertiary health facility where women sought care on the likelihood of delivering a stillbirth. We carried out a prospective matched case-control study between 1st January 2019 and 31st December 2019 at the Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe (FTHG), Nigeria. All women who experienced a stillbirth after hospital admission during the study period were included as cases while controls were consecutive age-matched (ratio 1:1) women who experienced a live birth. We modelled travel time to health facilities. To determine how travel time to the nearest health facility and the FTHG were predictive of the likelihood of stillbirths, we fitted a conditional logistic regression model. A total of 318 women, including 159 who had stillborn babies (cases) and 159 age-matched women who had live births (controls) were included. We did not observe any significant difference in the mean travel time to the nearest government health facility for women who had experienced a stillbirth compared to those who had a live birth [9.3 mins (SD 7.3, 11.2) vs 6.9 mins (SD 5.1, 8.7) respectively, p = 0.077]. However, women who experienced a stillbirth had twice the mean travel time of women who had a live birth (26.3 vs 14.5 mins) when measured from their area of residence to the FTHG where deliveries occurred. Women who lived farther than 60 minutes were 12 times more likely of having a stillborn [OR = 12 (1.8, 24.3), p = 0.011] compared to those who lived within 15 minutes travel time to the FTHG. We have shown for the first time, the influence of travel time to a major tertiary referral health facility on the occurrence of stillbirths in an urban city in, northeast Nigeria.

Applying the WHO ICD-PM classification system to stillbirths in a major referral Centre in Northeast Nigeria: a retrospective analysis from 2010-2018.

BACKGROUND: Lack of a unified and comparable classification system to unravel the underlying causes of stillbirth hampers the development and implementation of targeted interventions to reduce the unacceptably high stillbirth rates (SBR) in sub-Saharan Africa. Our aim was to track the SBR and the predominant maternal and fetal causes of stillbirths using the WHO ICD-PM Classification system. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational study in a major referral centre in northeast Nigeria between 2010 and 2018. Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists assigned causes of stillbirths after an extensive audit of available stillbirths' records. Cause of death was assigned via consensus using the ICD-PM classification system. RESULTS: There were 21,462 births between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2018 in our study setting; of these, 1177 culminated in stillbirths with a total hospital SBR of 55 per 1000 births (95% CI: 52, 58). There were two peaks of stillbirths in 2012 [62 per 1000 births (95% CI: 53, 71)], and 2015 [65 per 1000 births (95% CI, 55, 76)]. Antepartum and intrapartum stillbirths were almost equally prevalent (48% vs 52%). Maternal medical and surgical conditions (M4) were the commonest (69.3%) cause of antepartum stillbirths while complications of placenta, cord and membranes (M3) accounted for the majority (45.8%) of intrapartum stillbirths and the trends were similar between 2010 and 2018. Antepartum and intrapartum fetal causes of stillbirths were mainly due to prematurity which is a disorder of fetal growth (A5 and I6). CONCLUSIONS: Most causes of stillbirths in our setting are due to preventable causes and the trends have remained unabated between 2010 and 2018. Progress toward global SBR targets are off-track, requiring more interventions to halt and reduce the high SBR.

Access to skilled attendant at birth and the coverage of the third dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine across 14 West African countries - an equity analysis.

BACKGROUND: Universal Health Coverage (UHC) remains a critical public health goal that continues to elude many countries of the global south. As countries strive for its attainment, it is important to track progress in various subregions of the world to understand current levels and mechanisms of progress for shared learning. Our aim was to compare multidimensional equity gaps in access to skilled attendant at birth (SAB) and coverage of the third dose of Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (DTP3) across 14 West African countries. METHODS: The study was a cross sectional comparative analysis that used publicly available, nationally representative health surveys. We extracted data from Demographic and Health Surveys, and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys conducted between 2010 and 2017 in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d' Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. The World Health Organization's Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT Plus) software was used to evaluate current levels of intra-country equity in access to SAB and DTP3 coverage across four equity dimensions (maternal education, location of residence, region within a country and family wealth status). RESULTS: There was a general trend of higher levels of coverage for DTP3 compared to access to SAB in the subregion. Across the various dimensions of equity, more gaps appear to have been closed in the subregion for DTP3 compared to SAB. The analysis revealed that countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana have made substantial progress towards equitable access for the two outcomes compared to others such as Nigeria, Niger and Guinea. CONCLUSION: In the race towards UHC, equity should remain a priority and comparative progress should be consistently tracked to enable the sharing of lessons. The West African subregion requires adequate government financing and continued commitment to move toward UHC and close health equity gaps.