Bringing Child Health Closer to Families: Lessons From a Family MUAC Intervention in Urban and Rural South Africa.

Mid-upper-arm circumference measurement (MUAC) is a simple, cost-effective approach to identify wasting in children. The Family MUAC intervention supported community health workers (CHWs) to mentor mothers and child caregivers to measure their children's MUAC at home. Sixty-four CHWs participated in seven sites in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa.

Case for improving respectful care: results from a cross-sectional survey of person-centred maternity care in rural South Africa.

Introduction: Despite a supportive policy environment, little attention has been paid to how to operationalise respectful maternity care in South Africa. This research provides a quantitative, baseline measure of women's perceptions of person-centred maternity care (PCMC) to identify areas of focus for a participatory intervention with maternity teams.

Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional survey of postpartum women within 9 weeks postdelivery in two rural districts of KwaZulu-Natal.

Strengthening teamwork and respect (STAR) in maternity units: developing a health system intervention in South Africa.

Disrespect and abuse in maternity services in South Africa has been described over several decades and are rooted in the country's complex socio-political landscape and unequal health system which places strain on public sector health professionals. Strategies to improve the quality of health care typically involve once-off didactic teaching or outside technical consultants focused on improving specific health programmes. These approaches fail to encourage self-reflection or to establish learning cultures.

Challenges of using e-health technologies to support clinical care in rural Africa: a longitudinal mixed methods study exploring primary health care nurses' experiences of using an electronic clinical decision support system (CDSS) in South Africa.

Background: Electronic decision-making support systems (CDSSs) can support clinicians to make evidence-based, rational clinical decisions about patient management and have been effectively implemented in high-income settings. Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) uses clinical algorithms to provide guidelines for management of sick children in primary health care clinics and is widely implemented in low income countries. A CDSS based on IMCI (eIMCI) was developed in South Africa.

A qualitative study to explore dietary knowledge, beliefs, and practices among pregnant women in a rural health zone in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Background: A nutritious and healthy diet during pregnancy is essential for the health of both mother and baby. Inadequate dietary intake during pregnancy contributes to maternal malnutrition and can have lifelong effects on the health of the child. Maternal malnutrition is common in many low-income countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Does the unconditional cash transfer program in South Africa provide support for women after child birth? Barriers to accessing the child support grant among women in informal work in Durban, South Africa.

Background: The child support grant (CSG) is the largest unconditional cash transfer program in Africa and aims to alleviate poverty and improve child health and nutrition in low-income families in South Africa. Among informal working women, the CSG is an important source of income after childbirth when informal workers are unable to work, but reports suggest that women experience delays in accessing the CSG. We explore experiences and challenges of accessing the CSG among informal workers in Durban, South Africa.

Health workers' disrespectful and abusive behaviour towards women during labour and delivery: A qualitative study in Durban, South Africa.

Background: A high prevalence of disrespectful and abusive behaviour by health workers towards women during labour and delivery has been widely described in health facilities, particularly in Africa, and is a worldwide public health concern. Such behaviours are barriers to care-seeking, and are associated with adverse outcomes for mothers and newborns. This paper reports experiences of disrespectful care among informal working women in three public health facilities in Durban, South Africa.

'I am not only beneficial to the community but to the entire country, I am trained as a researcher now': Developing health research skills in low-income countries.

Partnerships between Higher Education Institutions in the global South and North have potential for building capacity in public health research in low-resource countries. We present experiences of partners involved in a North-South-South partnership between universities in Norway, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Africa. The partnership aimed to establish a postgraduate programme in nutritional epidemiology at the University of Kinshasa, DRC, and develop a cadre of researchers and academic leaders to provide locally generated health research to inform policy.

'I can no longer do my work like how I used to': a mixed methods longitudinal cohort study exploring how informal working mothers balance the requirements of livelihood and safe childcare in South Africa.

Background: Returning to work after childbirth is challenging for working mothers. Childcare quality may have lifelong effects on children's health, development and cognitive function. Over 60% of working women globally are informal workers without employment or maternity protection, but little is known about how these women care for their children.

A North-South-South partnership in higher education to develop health research capacity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: the challenge of finding a common language.

Background: Globally, increasing numbers of higher education institutions (HEIs) in non-English-speaking countries have adopted English as a medium of instruction (EMI), because of the perception that this provides opportunities to attract high-calibre students and academic staff, and engage with the international research community. We report an evaluation of a North-South-South collaboration to develop health research capacity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by establishing a postgraduate programme in nutritional epidemiology at the Kinshasa School of Public Health (KSPH), where EMI was adopted. We report experiences and perceptions of stakeholders, facilitators and students about using EMI.

Establishing a postgraduate programme in nutritional epidemiology to strengthen resource capacity, academic leadership and research in the democratic republic of Congo.

Background: Low- and Middle-income countries (LMIC) face considerable health and nutrition challenges, many of which can be addressed through strong academic leadership and robust research translated into evidence-based practice. A North-South-South partnership between three universities was established to implement a master's programme in nutritional epidemiology at the Kinshasa School of Public Health (KSPH), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The partnership aimed to develop academic leadership and research capacity in the field of nutrition in the DRC.

'I decided to go back to work so I can afford to buy her formula': a longitudinal mixed-methods study to explore how women in informal work balance the competing demands of infant feeding and working to provide for their family.

Background: In South Africa almost 2 million women work informally. Informal work is characterised by poor job security, low earnings, and unsafe working conditions, with high rates of poverty and food insecurity. The peripartum period is a vulnerable time for many working women.