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Background. Uganda is one of the countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa with a very high maternal mortality ratio estimated at 336 deaths per 100,000 live births. We aimed at exploring the main factors affecting maternal death and designing a predictive model for estimation of the risk of dying at admission at a major referral hospital in northern Uganda. Methods. This was a retrospective matched case-control study, carried out at Lacor Hospital in northern Uganda, including 130 cases and 336 controls, from January 2015 to December 2019. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the net effect of the associated factors. A cumulative risk score for each woman based on the unstandardised canonical coefficients was obtained by the discriminant equation. Results. The average maternal mortality ratio was 328 per 100,000 live births. Direct obstetric causes contributed to 73.8% of maternal deaths; the most common were haemorrhage (42.7%), sepsis (24.0%), hypertensive disorders (18.7%) and complications of abortion (2.1%), whereas malaria (23.5%) and HIV/AIDS (20.6%) were the leading indirect causes. The odds of dying were higher among women who were aged 30 years or more (OR 1.12; 95% CI, 1.04–1.19), did not attend antenatal care (OR 3.11; 95% CI, 1.36–7.09), were HIV positive (OR 3.13; 95% CI, 1.41–6.95), had a caesarean delivery (OR 2.22; 95% CI 1.13–4.37), and were referred from other facilities (OR 5.57; 95% CI 2.83–10.99). Conclusion. Mortality is high among mothers referred late from other facilities who are HIV positive, aged more than 30 years, lack antenatal care attendance, and are delivered by caesarean section. This calls for prompt and better assessment of referred mothers and specific attention to antibiotic therapy before and after caesarean section, especially among HIV-positive women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Nutritional rehabilitation in Africa relies mainly on imported skim milk enriched with a sugar and salt mixture. We evaluated whether milk plus porridge made from local ingredients improves the outcome of childhood nutritional rehabilitation versus milk alone., Patients and Methods: This study was conducted in a nutritional unit in Lacor (Northern Uganda). The porridge, made from cheap locally available ingredients (maize flour, dried fish or meat, peanut butter and oil) supplemented with proteins and fats, provides 1.1 energy units, 4.4 kJ/g. We randomly sampled the files of 100 cases discharged in October, November and December 2001 (preintervention), in 2002 (soon after intervention onset) and in 2003 (more than 1 year after intervention onset). We recorded the average hospital days and average oedema-free weight gain at discharge in the 3 groups., Results: Average oedema-free weight gain increased from 21 g/d (95% confidence interval [CI], 12-29) in 2001 to 35 g/d (95% CI, 25-45) in 2002 and reached 59 g/d (95% CI, 51-65) in 2003. Mortality decreased from 22% to 7.8%, and nutritional failures (insufficient weight gain) decreased by greater than 50%., Conclusions: The low-cost porridge supplement (2640 euros/yr per 100 children) was effective in treating malnutrition. Widespread use of the porridge, which resulted in better outcomes than milk alone, could produce a savings in the medium- to long-term, thereby releasing resources for other uses. A high-energy porridge that is made from locally available ingredients and does not require imported foods seems to be appropriate for supplementary feeding after mother's milk in this setting.