An mHealth Framework to Improve Birth Outcomes in Benue State, Nigeria: A Study Protocol

Ezeanolue, Echezona E.; Gbadamosi, Semiu O; Olawepo, John Olajide; Iwelunmor, Juliet; Sarpong, Daniel F.; Eze, Chuka; Ogidi, Amaka G.; Patel, Dina; Onoka, Chima

doi:10.2196/resprot.7743

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(55 reference statements)

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“…Studies [ 40 , 41 ] have suggested that males have a higher prevalence of HBV compared with females in Nigeria. This may be a consequence of the non-participation of men in their wives or partner’s health program, a paradigm this study initiative is trying to shift among Nigerian men from grassroots [ 22 ]. Regarding parity of women, it was somewhat surprising that nulliparous women had the highest odds of HBV infection in our study contrary to previous studies [ 13 , 15 ] which reported increased odds of HBV infection with increasing parity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The current study leveraged a scale-up of the integrated mhealth intervention to prospectively study a cohort of HIV-infected women of reproductive age receiving care at five comprehensive HIV treatment centers in Benue State, Nigeria. The development of the integrated mHealth platform is described in a previous study [ 22 ]. In brief, the mHealth platform is capable of storing encrypted patient information on a patient-held smartcard and smart phone mobile application.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sero-prevalence and determinants of Hepatitis B among a cohort of HIV-infected women of reproductive age in Nigeria

et al. 2020

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Introduction Sub-Saharan Africa houses over two-thirds of the 37 million people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) globally and of this, 5–20% are co-infected with Hepatitis B virus (HBV). This is double jeopardy, especially for women of reproductive age in these settings, who can transmit both viruses vertically as well as horizontally to their children. The objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence and determinants of HBV among women of reproductive age living with HIV. Methods This was a cross-sectional study of HIV-infected women of reproductive age in Benue State, Nigeria. Participants were eligible for the study if they were HIV-infected women (ages 18–45 years) receiving care from any of the selected study sites. A global rapid hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) antibody test strip was used to test for HBsAg in plasma. A pretested questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemographic, clinical and lifestyle characteristics of participants. We estimated prevalence of HBV infection and used multivariable logistic regression to determine factors associated with the infection at a significance level of <0.05. Results A total of 6577 women were screened for HBsAg. The prevalence of HBV was 10.3% (95% CI: 9.5–10.9%). Age, parity and male partner’s HIV status were found to be associated with having HBV infection. Compared to women older than 40 years, the odds of HBV infection increased significantly with increasing age until age 35 years and decreased significantly with increasing parity (versus no parity). Women with HIV-infected partners and those without a partner had higher odds of HBV infection compared to women with HIV-negative partners. Conclusion HBV is hyperendemic among HIV-infected women of reproductive age in North Central Nigeria. Specific programs targeting HBV testing, vaccination and treatment of all women of reproductive age need to be developed in this resource-limited, high-need setting.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sero-prevalence and determinants of Hepatitis B among a cohort of HIV-infected women of reproductive age in Nigeria

et al. 2020

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“…These approaches allow for enhancing capacity among an expanding pool of retained research-experienced staff. As an example, the two core research coordinators from Baby Shower were absorbed by the University of Nigeria into their Research Resource Center, subsequently working on a different study in another state [ 48 ]. Additionally, five staff from the MoMent and LJM studies were absorbed into NISA’s newly funded Adolescent Coordinated Transition study, currently implemented nationwide [ 49 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generating evidence for health policy in challenging settings: lessons learned from four prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV implementation research studies in Nigeria

Sam-Agudu

Aliyu

Adeyemi

et al. 2018

Health Res Policy Sys

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BackgroundImplementation research (IR) facilitates health systems strengthening and optimal patient outcomes by generating evidence for scale-up of efficacious strategies in context. Thus, difficulties in generating IR evidence, particularly in limited-resource settings with wide disease prevention and treatment gaps, need to be anticipated and addressed. Nigeria is a priority country for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). This paper analyses the experiences of four PMTCT IR studies in Nigeria, and proffers solutions to major challenges encountered during implementation.Studies included and findingsMulticentre PMTCT IR studies conducted in Nigeria during the Global Plan’s assessment period (2011 to 2015) were included. Four studies were identified, namely The Baby Shower Trial, Optimizing PMTCT, MoMent and Lafiyan Jikin Mata. Major common challenges encountered were categorised as ‘External’ (beyond the control of study teams) and ‘Internal’ (amenable to rectification by study teams).External challenges included healthcare worker strikes and turnover, acts and threats of ethnic and political violence and terrorism, and multiplicity of required local ethical reviews. Internal challenges included limited research capacity among study staff, research staff turnover and travel restrictions hindering study site visits. Deliberate research capacity-building was provided to study staff through multiple opportunities before and during study implementation. Post-study employment opportunities and pathways for further research career-building are suggested as incentives for study staff retention. Engagement of study community-resident personnel minimised research staff turnover in violence-prone areas.ConclusionsThe IR environment in Nigeria is extremely diverse and challenging, yet, with local experience and anticipatory planning, innovative solutions can be implemented to modulate internal challenges. Issues still remain with healthcare worker strikes and often unpredictable insecurity. There is a dire need for cooperation between institutional review boards across Nigeria in order to minimise the multiplicity of reviews for multicentre studies. External challenges need to be addressed by high-level stakeholders, given Nigeria’s crucial regional and global position in the fight against the HIV epidemic.

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“…The study design details have been previously described [ 14 ]. We conducted the study in Benue State, north-central Nigeria.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Patient-Held Smartcard With a Unique Identifier and an mHealth Platform to Improve the Availability of Prenatal Test Results in Rural Nigeria: Demonstration Study

Gbadamosi¹,

Eze²,

Olawepo³

et al. 2018

J Med Internet Res

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BackgroundCommunity-based strategies to test for HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and sickle cell disease (SCD) have expanded opportunities to increase the proportion of pregnant women who are aware of their diagnosis. In order to use this information to implement evidence-based interventions, these results have to be available to skilled health providers at the point of delivery. Most electronic health platforms are dependent on the availability of reliable Internet connectivity and, thus, have limited use in many rural and resource-limited settings.ObjectiveHere we describe our work on the development and deployment of an integrated mHealth platform that is able to capture medical information, including test results, and encrypt it into a patient-held smartcard that can be read at the point of delivery without the need for an Internet connection.MethodsWe engaged a team of implementation scientists, public health experts, and information technology specialists in a requirement-gathering process to inform the design of a prototype for a platform that uses smartcard technology, database deployment, and mobile phone app development. Key design decisions focused on usability, scalability, and security.ResultsWe successfully designed an integrated mHealth platform and deployed it in 4 health facilities across Benue State, Nigeria. We developed the Vitira Health platform to store test results of HIV, HBV, and SCD in a database, and securely encrypt the results on a Quick Response code embedded on a smartcard. We used a mobile app to read the contents on the smartcard without the need for Internet connectivity.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that it is possible to develop a patient-held smartcard and an mHealth platform that contains vital health information that can be read at the point of delivery using a mobile phone-based app without an Internet connection.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03027258; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03027258 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6owR2D0kE)

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An mHealth Framework to Improve Birth Outcomes in Benue State, Nigeria: A Study Protocol

Cited by 12 publications

References 36 publications

Sero-prevalence and determinants of Hepatitis B among a cohort of HIV-infected women of reproductive age in Nigeria

Sero-prevalence and determinants of Hepatitis B among a cohort of HIV-infected women of reproductive age in Nigeria

Generating evidence for health policy in challenging settings: lessons learned from four prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV implementation research studies in Nigeria

A Patient-Held Smartcard With a Unique Identifier and an mHealth Platform to Improve the Availability of Prenatal Test Results in Rural Nigeria: Demonstration Study

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