Articles: child.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Tenofovir and Hepatitis B Virus Transmission During Pregnancy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Standard care for preventing mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in highly viremic mothers consists of maternal antiviral prophylaxis beginning at gestational week 28 combined with an HBV vaccine series and HBV immune globulin (HBIG) at birth. However, HBIG is unavailable in some resource-limited areas. ⋯ Among pregnant women with HBV and high levels of viremia, TDF beginning at gestational week 16 combined with HBV vaccination for infants was noninferior to the standard care of TDF beginning at gestational week 28 combined with HBIG and HBV vaccination for infants. These results support beginning TDF at gestational week 16 combined with infant HBV vaccine to prevent MTCT of HBV in geographic areas where HBIG is not available.
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Needle procedures, such as vaccinations, blood draws, and intravenous cannulation, are the most frequent source of childhood pain, causing fear and reducing the uptake of medical procedures. Every child has the right to expect pain relief, and we have evidence-based tools to reduce needle procedure-related pain. Therefore, the lack of analgesic provision for needle pain is not justified. We argue that better informed and motivated healthcare professionals and families can advocate for appropriate pain relief in every child, every time. ⋯ Engaging communication campaigns are needed to educate our healthcare professionals. Evidence-based modalities such as topical anaesthesia, sucrose or breastfeeding, comfort positioning, and age-appropriate distractions should be available for every child during needle procedures. However, high-quality information is not enough to change behaviour-healthcare professionals need to be motivated, encouraged, and inspired. Parents and carers should be empowered to advocate for their children and be aware that their child has the right to receive pain relief during these procedures. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This is a call to action-we need collaboration between academics, healthcare professionals, industry and charities, to expedite behavioural change and parental advocacy through high-quality communication strategies. Effective pain management in infants and children can play a crucial role in promoting the uptake of vaccinations and medical procedures and can influence future attitudes to pain.
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Accelerating improvements in maternal and newborn health (MNH) care is a major public health priority in Kenya. While use of formal health care has increased, many pregnant and postpartum women do not receive the recommended number of maternal care visits. Even when they do, visits are often short with many providers not offering important elements of evaluation and counseling, leaving gaps in women's knowledge and preparedness. Digital health tools have been proposed as a complement to care that is provided by maternity care facilities, but there is limited evidence of the impact of digital health tools at scale on women's knowledge, preparedness, and the content of care they receive. We evaluated a digital health platform (PROMPTS (Promoting Mothers in Pregnancy and Postpartum Through SMS)) composed of informational messages, appointment reminders, and a two-way clinical helpdesk, which had enrolled over 750,000 women across Kenya at the time of our study, on 6 domains across the pregnancy-postpartum care continuum. ⋯ Digital health tools indicate promise in addressing shortcomings in pregnant and postpartum women's health care, amidst systems that do not reliably deliver a minimally adequate standard of care. Through providing women with critical information and empowering them to seek recommended care, such tools can improve individuals' preparation for safe childbirth and receipt of more comprehensive postpartum care. Future work is needed to ascertain the impact of at-scale digital platforms like PROMPTS on health outcomes.