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Introduction: In Uganda, although most women wish to delay or prevent future pregnancies, uptake of postpartum family planning (PPFP) is low. We explored behavioural factors influencing the utilisation of postpartum long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) in Eastern Uganda., Methods: We conducted a qualitative study in two districts of Eastern Uganda. We conducted 20 in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions with postpartum women, male partners, midwives, and village health team members. We analysed transcripts using framework analysis, based on the COM-B framework., Results: The use of immediate postpartum LARC was affected by the capabilities of women in terms of their knowledge and misconceptions. Limited capabilities of health workers to provide counselling and insert IUDs, as well as shortages of implants, reduced the physical opportunites for women to access PPFP. Social opportunities for women were limited because men wanted to be involved in the decision but rarely had time to accompany their partners to health facilities, and health workers often appeared too stressed. Men also feared that PPFP would enable their partners to be unfaithful. Motivation to take up immediate postpartum LARC included the desire to space births, preference for contraceptive implants over intra uterine devices (IUD) at the 6-week postpartum period, resumption of sex and menses, partner support, and perceived effectiveness of postpartum contraception. Participants thought that uptake of immediate postpartum LARC could be improved by health education and outreach visits, male involvement and couples' counselling in antenatal clinic appointments, and enabling switching between family planning methods (in case of side-effects) ., Conclusion: Low uptake of PPFP was caused by inadequate knowledge and misconceptions about LARC by women and their partners, insufficient numbers of midwives trained to provide PPFP, stock-outs of PPFP methods, and few social opportunities for couples to be counselled together. These factors could be addressed by scaling up effective, low cost and innovative ways to provide health education (such as films), involving men in decision-making, as well as training more midwives to provide PPFP services, and ensuring that they have sufficient time and supplies., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Early contraceptive implant removal without intentions to conceive predisposes women to unintended pregnancies.. Some of the unintended pregnancies end in unsafe abortions which further increases the risk of maternal mortality and morbidity. Therefore, we assessed the proportion of women who had early contraceptive implant removal. We also explored the reasons for early contraceptive implant removalamong women at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital in eastern Uganda., Methods: We conducted a sequential explanatory mixed methods study at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital between November 2022 to December 2022. For quantitative data, we performed a secondary analysis on data extracted from the integrated family planning registers. We used systematic random sampling to select 600 clients' serial numbers from the registers. The outcome variable was early contraceptive implant removal defined as removal of the implant by the woman before 18 months from the time of insertion. For qualitative data, we conducted 11 in-depth interviews among women who had come for contraceptive implant removal at the family planning clinic. We also conducted two key informant interviews with midwives working at the family planning unit. Quantitative data were analysed using Stata version 14.0 (Stata Corp LLC, College Station, Texas, USA) while qualitative data were analysed by thematic content analysis., Results: In this study, 15% (91/600) of the women discontinued contraceptive implants within 12 months, 29% (175/600) within 18 months, 38% (230/600) within 24 months and 40% (240/600) within 36 months of insertion. Among the women who discontinued contraceptive implant use, only 6.7% (40/600) switched to another family planning method. Out of the 175 women who removed contraceptive implants early, side effects 61.1% (107/175) desire to conceive 53.1% ( 93/175),, and gender-based violence 8.6% (15/175) were the major reasons for removal. From the qualitative interviews, the major reasons for early contraceptive implant removal were side effects such as heavy menstrualbleeding., Conclusion: A third of women discontinued contraceptive implant use within 18 months. Addressing concerns regarding side effects and male partner disapproval of modern contraceptives may improve continued use of implants., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Over two million children and adolescents suffer from chronic kidney disease globally. Early childhood insults such as birth asphyxia could be risk factors for chronic kidney disease in later life. Our study aimed to assess renal function among children aged two to four years, born to women with obstructed labour., Methods: We followed up 144 children aged two to four years, born to women with obstructed labor at Mbale regional referral hospital in Eastern Uganda. We used serum creatinine to calculate estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using the Schwartz formula. We defined decreased renal function as eGFR less than 90 ml/min/1.73m 2 ., Results: The mean age of the children was 2.8 years, standard deviation (SD) of 0.4 years. Majority of the children were male (96/144: 66.7%). The mean umbilical lactate level at birth among the study participants was 8.9 mmol/L with a standard deviation (SD) of 5.0. eGFR of the children ranged from 55 to 163 ml/min/1.73m 2 , mean 85.8 ± SD 15.9. Nearly one third of the children (45/144) had normal eGFR (> 90 ml/Min/1.73m 2 ), two thirds (97/144) had a mild decrease of eGFR (60-89 ml/Min/1.73m 2 ), and only two children had a moderate decrease of eGFR (< 60 ml/Min/1.73m 2 ). Overall incidence of reduced eGFR was 68.8% [(99/144): 95% CI (60.6 to 75.9)]., Conclusion: We observed a high incidence of reduced renal function among children born to women with obstructed labour. We recommend routine follow up of children born to women with obstructed labour and add our voices to those calling for improved intra-partum and peripartum care., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Globally, high systolic blood pressure accounts for 10.8 million deaths annually. The deaths are disproportionately higher among black people. The reasons for this disparity are poorly understood, but could include a high burden of perinatal insults such as birth asphyxia. Therefore, we aimed to assess the incidence of elevated blood pressure and to explore associated factors among children born to women with obstructed labour., Methods: We followed up children born to women with obstructed labour aged 25 to 44 months at Mbale regional referral hospital that had participated in the sodium bicarbonate trial ( Trial registration number PACTR201805003364421) between October 2021 and April 2022. Our primary outcome was elevated blood pressure defined as blood pressure (either systolic or diastolic or both) ≥ the 90th percentile for age, height, and sex in the reference population based on the clinical practice guideline for screening and management of high blood pressure in children and adolescents. We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios between selected exposures and elevated blood pressure., Results: The incidence of elevated blood pressure was (39/140, 27.9%: 95% (CI: 20.6-36.1)). Participants aged three years and above had twice the odds of elevated blood pressure as those aged less than three years (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.46: 95% CI (1.01-5.97). Female participants had 2.81 times the odds of elevated blood pressure as their male counterparts (AOR 2.81 95% CI (1.16-6.82). Participants with reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate had 2.85 times the odds of having elevated blood pressure as those with normal estimated glomerular filtration rate (AOR 2.85 95% CI (1.00-8.13). We found no association between arterial cord lactate, stunting, wealth index, exclusive breastfeeding, food diversity and elevated blood pressure., Conclusion: Our findings show a high incidence of elevated blood pressure among children. We encourage routine checking for elevated blood pressure in the pediatric population particularly those with known risk factors., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Male involvement plays a critical role in the utilization of various sexual and reproductive health services. We explored enablers and barriers of male involvement in the use of modern family planning methods in Eastern Uganda., Methods: This was a qualitative study in Mbale, Eastern Uganda done between November and December 2022. We conducted three group discussions comprising of four participants each, with male partners and eight key informant interviews with midwives. We followed a group discussion guide during the group discussions and an interview guide during the key informant interviews to explore enablers and barriers of male involvement in the use of modern family planning methods. All the interviews and group discussions were audio-recorded with permission from the participants, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed following thematic content analysis approach., Results: Two sub-themes emerged from the analysis; perceived enablers and barriers. The perceived enablers included positive attitude, subjective norms, need to support the woman, mutual consent, limited resources and expected benefits of reducing gender-based violence and sexually transmitted infections. Lack of male partner consent, busy work engagement, social stigma, religious prohibition, desire for many children and gender roles incompatibility hindered male partner involvement in family planning. Fear of side effects and misconceptions, unconducive hospital environment in form of mistreatment, family planning considered a female's issue, and lack of consideration of male partner needs in family planning clinic were additional barriers to male involvement., Conclusion: Male involvement in family planning was related to positive attitude and subjective norms towards family planning, mutual consent, and recognition for limited resources to support a large family size. Lack of male partner approval, fear of side effects and misconceptions, unconducive hospital environment and social, cultural and religious prohibitions discouraged male partner involvement in family planning. Community based approaches to family planning sensitization, such as community education campaigns, may be an important step toward reducing barriers to male involvement in the use of modern family planning methods., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: The decision to delivery interval is a key indicator of the quality of obstetric care. This study assessed the decision to delivery interval for emergency cesarean sections and factors associated with delay., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study between October 2022 and December 2022 in the labor ward at Mbale regional referral hospital. Our primary outcome variable was the decision to delivery interval defined as the time interval in minutes from the decision to perform the emergency caesarean section to delivery of the baby. We used an observer checklist and interviewer administered questionnaire to collect data. Stata version 14.0 (StataCorp; College Station, TX, USA) was used to analyze the data., Results: We enrolled 352 participants; the mean age was 25.9 years and standard deviation (SD) ±5.9 years. The median (interquartile range) decision to delivery interval was 110 minutes (80 to 145). Only 7/352 (2.0%) participants had a decision to delivery time interval of ≤30 minutes. More than three quarters 281 /352 (79.8%) had a decision to delivery interval of greater than 75 minutes. Emergency cesarean section done by intern doctors compared to specialists [Adjusted Prevalence Ratio (aPR): 1.26; 95% CI: (1.09-1.45)] was associated with a prolonged decision to delivery interval., Conclusion: The average decision to delivery interval was almost 2 hours. Delays were mostly due to health system challenges. We recommend routine monitoring of decision to delivery interval as an indicator of the quality of obstetric care., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Apako et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)