UK aid cuts threaten global child health: a call to rethink international assistance.

Recent reductions in UK aid have demonstrably harmed child health in low-income and middle-income countries. Increased child morbidity and mortality are directly linked to funding cuts impacting vaccination programmes, maternal and child health services and nutritional interventions, exacerbating the health crisis. This article analyses these impacts, criticises systemic flaws in the aid architecture, particularly the impact of the abolition of Department for International Development and advocates for a decolonised, localised and accountable aid system prioritising child health.

Country differences in transmissibility, age distribution and case-fatality of SARS-CoV-2: a global ecological analysis.

Objectives The first COVID-19 pandemic waves in many low-income countries appeared milder than initially forecasted. We conducted a country-level ecological study to describe patterns in key SARS-CoV-2 outcomes by country and region and explore associations with potential explanatory factors, including population age structure and prior exposure to endemic parasitic infections. Methods We collected publicly available data and compared them using standardisation techniques.

Healthcare governance during humanitarian responses: a survey of current practice among international humanitarian actors.

Background: Large international humanitarian actors support and directly deliver health services for millions of people in crises annually, and wield considerable power to decide which health services to provide, how and to whom, across a vast spectrum of health areas. Despite decades of reform aiming to improve accountability in the sector, public health practice among humanitarian actors is not heavily scrutinized in either the countries where they are headquartered or those where they provide healthcare. We surveyed current healthcare governance practice among large international humanitarian actors to better understand what organisations are doing to ensure oversight and accountability for health services in humanitarian responses.

Historical aspects of probiotic use to prevent necrotising enterocolitis in preterm babies.

Over the last few decades, numerous studies have evaluated probiotic use for the prevention of necrotising enterocolitis in preterm babies. Early 'proof of concept' studies evaluating whether probiotics are capable of colonising the preterm gut have translated into multiple observational studies, small and large randomised controlled trials. Some show evidence of benefit while others have produced disappointing results.

Early infant male circumcision for human immunodeficiency virus prevention: knowledge and attitudes of women attending a rural hospital in Swaziland, Southern Africa.

Swaziland has the highest prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the world at 26% of the adult population. Medical male circumcision (MMC) has been shown to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV from heterosexual sex by up to 60% and the Government of Swaziland has been promoting adult male circumcision. Infant circumcision commenced in 2013 so it is important to understand the knowledge and views of women as potential mothers, around infant circumcision for medical purposes to inform the development of the service.