Is newborn survival influenced by place of delivery? A comparison of home, public sector and private sector deliveries in India

Implementing a quality improvement initiative for private healthcare facilities to achieve accreditation: experience from India

BACKGROUND

The Manyata program is a quality improvement initiative for private healthcare facilities in India which provided maternity care services. Under this initiative, technical assistance was provided to selected facilities in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra which were interested in obtaining 'entry level certification' under the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) for provision of quality services. This paper describes the change in quality at those Manyata-supported facilities when assessed by the NABH standards of care.

METHODS

Twenty-eight private-sector facilities underwent NABH assessments in the three states from August 2017 to February 2019. Baseline assessment (by program staff) and NABH assessment (by NABH assessors) findings were compared to assess the change in quality of care as per NABH standards of care. The reported performance gaps from NABH assessments were then also classified by thematic areas and suggested corrective actions based on program implementation experience.

RESULTS

The overall adherence to NABH standards of care improved from 9% in the baseline assessment to 80% in the NABH assessment. A total of 831 performance gaps were identified by the NABH assessments, of which documentation issues accounted for a majority (70%), followed by training (19%). Most performance gaps could be corrected either by revising existing documentation or creating new documentation (62%), or by orienting facility staff on various protocols (35%).

CONCLUSION

While the adherence of facilities to the NABH standards of care improved considerably, certain performance gaps remained, which were primarily related to documentation of facility policies and protocols and training of staff, and required corrective actions for the facilities to achieve NABH entry level certification.

Substantial increase in stillbirth rate during the COVID-19 pandemic: results from a population-based study in the Indian state of Bihar

INTRODUCTION

We report on the stillbirth rate (SBR) and associated risk factors for births during the COVID-19 pandemic, and change in SBR between prepandemic (2016) and pandemic periods in the Indian state of Bihar.

METHODS

Births between July 2020 and June 2021 (91.5% participation) representative of Bihar were listed. Stillbirth was defined as fetal death with gestation period of ≥7 months where the fetus did not show any sign of life. Detailed interviews were conducted for all stillbirths and neonatal deaths, and for 25% random sample of surviving live births. We estimated overall SBR, and during COVID-19 peak and non-peak periods per 1000 births. Multiple logistic regression models were run to assess risk factors for stillbirth. The change in SBR for Bihar from 2016 to 2020-2021 was estimated.

RESULTS

We identified 582 stillbirths in 30 412 births with an estimated SBR of 19.1 per 1000 births (95% CI 17.7 to 20.7); SBR was significantly higher in private facility (38.4; 95% CI 34.3 to 43.0) than in public facility (8.6; 95% CI 7.3 to 10.1) births, and for COVID-19 peak (21.2; 95% CI 19.2 to 23.4) than non-peak period (16.3; 95% CI 14.2 to 18.6) births. Pregnancies with the last pregnancy trimester during the COVID-19 peak period had 40.4% (95% CI 10.3% to 70.4%) higher SBR than those who did not. Risk factor associations for stillbirths were similar between the COVID-19 peak and non-peak periods, with gestation age of <8 months with the highest odds of stillbirth followed by referred deliveries and deliveries in private health facilities. A statistically significant increase of 24.3% and 68.9% in overall SBR and intrapartum SBR was seen between 2016 and 2020-2021, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

This study documented an increase in SBR during the COVID-19 pandemic as compared with the prepandemic period, and the varied SBR based on the intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic and by the place of delivery.

Determining factors of neonatal mortality in Ethiopia: An investigation from the 2019 Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey

BACKGROUND

Neonatal mortality is the probability of dying during the first 28 days of life. Of approximately 5 million children who die in the first year of life in the world, about 3 million are within their first 28 days of birth. In Ethiopia, the neonatal mortality rate is high about 37 per 1000 live births, and the factors are not well documented. Then, this study aimed to determine the key factors that have a significant influence on neonatal mortality.

METHODS

A total of 5753 neonatal mortality-related data were obtained from Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey (2019) data. A frequency distribution to summarize the overall data and Binary Logistic Regression to identify the subset of significant risk factors for neonatal mortality were applied to analyze the data.

RESULTS

An estimated 36 per 1000 live children had died before the first 28 days, with the highest in the Benishangul Gumuz region (15.9%) and the lowest in Addis Ababa (2.4%). From the Binary logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio and 95% CI of age 25-34 (OR = 0.263, 95% CI: 0.106-0.653), Afar (OR = 0.384, 95% CI: 0.167-0.884), SNNPR (OR = 0.265, 95% CI: 0.098-0.720), Addis Ababa (OR = 5.741, 95% CI: 1.115-29.566), Urban (OR = 0.253, 95% CI: 0.090, 0.709), toilet facility (OR = 0.603, 95% CI: 0.404-0.900), single birth (OR = 0.261, 95% CI: 0.138-0.495), poorest (OR = 10.573, 95% CI: 2.166-51.615), poorer (OR = 19.573, 95% CI: 4.171-91.848), never breastfed (OR = 35.939, 95% CI: 25.193-51.268), public health delivery (OR = 0.302, 95% CI: 0.106-0.859), private health facility (OR = 0.269, 95% CI: 0.095-0.760).

CONCLUSION

All regional states of Ethiopia, specially Benishangul Gumuz, and the Somali region must take remedial actions on public health policy, design strategies to improve facilities, and improve the capacities of stakeholders living in their region toward those major factors affecting neonatal mortality in the country.