OBJECTIVE: Early childhood development (ECD) programs can enhance neurocognitive development outcomes through caregiver training. This study explores whether school-age siblings benefited from a program provided to HIV-infected caregivers and their preschool-aged target children. METHODS: Siblings of target 2- to 3-year-old children in ECD intervention households were evaluated at school age (5-12 years) on neurocognitive outcomes with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC), computerized Test of Variables of Attention, Behavior Rating Inventory for Executive Function (BRIEF; parent), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder rating inventory (ADHD-R)-IV (parent). Households from 18 geographic clusters in eastern Uganda were randomized to individualized biweekly sessions of either (1) Mediational Intervention for Sensitizing Caregivers (MISC) training emphasizing cognitive stimulation/enrichment or (2) health/nutrition/development [Uganda Community-Based Association For Women & Children Welfare (UCOBAC)] program. Siblings with baseline and at least 1 follow-up assessment (n = 216) were included in the analysis. Three repeated postbaseline measures of sibling neurocognitive outcomes were analyzed using the linear mixed-effects model while adjusting for socioeconomic status and behavioral outcome at baseline. RESULTS: Siblings in the MISC arm had better performance on KABC sequential processing at 6 months (p = 0.02) and simultaneous processing at 12 months (p = 0.03). MISC mothers rated their children as having significantly more problems on the BRIEF and ADHD-RS-IV (p < 0.01) than UCOBAC mothers across all time points. CONCLUSION: Mediational Intervention for Sensitizing Caregivers training resulted in some short-term neurocognitive benefits for school-aged siblings, but these differences were not sustained at 1-year follow-up. Exploring potential impacts of parenting programs on other children in the home is an important development for the field.
Michael Joseph Boivin, Jura Augustinavicius, Itziar Familiar et al.
Early childhood development (ECD) initiatives are championed globally due to their proven ability to help children at risk of developmental delay attain their developmental potential. A comparative study was conducted using a mixed research approach to assess child development disparities among rural and urban children across the domain of child development. The study was conducted in Ilemela municipal and Mvomero districts representing urban and rural settings. Quantitative data were collected using the adopted ZamCAT tool administered to 334 children randomly selected from the 2017 children enrolled in the community-based early childhood development (CBECD) initiative. While qualitative data were collected using focus group discussions with the parents (n = 4) and in-depth interviews (n = 14) with the key informants. Quantitative data were analysed using the SPSS (version 25), and a content analysis was employed to analyse the qualitative data. Findings indicated a significant difference in child development status between rural and urban children (p = 0.009). A noteworthy difference was in favour of rural children with a large effect size (η2 = 0.142). Most children (90%) from rural settings were developmentally on track compared to urban children (79.7%). Furthermore, rural children outperformed urban children significantly in literacy numeracy (p = 0.000) and learning domains (p = 0.000). The observed disparities were due to more time invested by the parents from rural than the urban set-up on childcare. The study recommends that the government and ECD stakeholders engage in capacity strengthening for parents to ensure children attain their development potential.
This study investigates the status of access to formal education in post-conflict South and Central Somalia and the resultant learning outcomes . For access , the indicators of enrollment and school attendance are considered. Other related indicators such as pupils-to-classroom ratio, desks-to-children ratio, access to electricity, and toilet-to-pupils ratio are also investigated. For learning outcomes , teacher-to-student ratio, learners’ performance in national standardized examinations, and learning competency in reading and numeracy are analyzed to determine whether the children are learning or not. The survey covered five states, namely Banadir, Galmudug, Hir-Shabelle, South West and Jubbaland. Mixed methods in data collection were used, involving field-level engagements through a survey questionnaire, the administration of competency tests, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Ultimately, 549 respondents participated in the study including 365 learners who sat literacy and numeracy assessments. The findings reveal that not all school-aged children in South and Central Somalia are accessing school. Even when they do, they are seldom learning. This paper offers suggestions on how to enhance access and learning.
Optimal early childhood development depends on the interplay between adequate nutrition, proper hygiene practices, and supportive learning environments in pre-primary schools. Despite the implementation of school feeding programmes, nutritional hygiene practices (including sanitation) remain inconsistent due to infrastructural and resource constraints, potentially undermining children’s health, attendance, and learning outcomes. Therefore, the paper examined how nutritional practices affected learning outcomes in public pre-primary schools in Homa Bay County, Kenya. The paper is guided by a pragmatic research paradigm and utilising a concurrent triangulation design to assess the relationship between nutritional education practices and learning outcomes in public pre-primary schools in Homa Bay County. The target population consisted of 877 public pre-primary schools, 877 head teachers, 1,211 teachers, and 40 Early Childhood Development Education field officers. A sample of 44 head teachers, 301 teachers, and 40 ECDE supervisors was obtained and sampled using purposive and stratified random sampling methods. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, and observation checklists. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, whereas qualitative data were subjected to thematic content analysis. The study established that nutritional hygiene practices were inconsistently implemented due to infrastructural constraints (lack of kitchens), which also influenced pupils’ health, attendance, and cognitive readiness. The correlation analysis showed a moderate positive relationship (r = 0.446, p=0.01), indicating that improved nutritional hygiene practices such as handwashing, clean food handling, and proper storage of food are associated with better learning outcomes by learners. The study concluded that nutritional hygiene practices played a significant role in influencing learning outcomes (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) by pre-primary school children. There is a need for strengthening school infrastructure through the provision of kitchens and sanitation facilities, enhancing teacher training on nutritional hygiene practices, and enforcing school health policies to ensure consistent implementation of safe food handling and hygiene standards.
Donnet Anyango Ogada, Benson Charles Odongo, Lazarus Millan Okello
Adequate nutrition plays a critical role in children's physical growth, cognitive development.Many public preprimary schools in Homa Bay County continue to experience nutrition-related problems which may adversely affect learning outcomes.Despite the importance of nutritional education provision in pre-primary school settings, limited empirical evidence exists on how nutritional education practices affects learning outcomes.The paper is guided by pragmatic research paradigm and utilising a concurrent triangulation design to assess the relationship between nutritional education practices and learning outcomes in public pre-primary schools in Homa Bay County.The target population consisted of 877 public pre-primary schools, 877 head teachers, 1,211 teachers and 40 Early Childhood Development Education field officers.A sample of 44 head teachers, 301 teachers, and 40 ECDE supervisors was obtained and sampled using purposive and stratified random sampling methods.Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, and observation checklists.Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, whereas qualitative data were subjected to thematic content analysis.There was a statistically significant strong positive relationship between nutritional education practices and learning outcomes (r = 0.643, p < 0.05).This implied that effective nutritional education practices would improve learners' knowledge, skills and attitudes towards learning.Provision of nutritional education is key towards enhancing pre-primary school pupils learning outcomes.The paper recommends the need for county and national governments to strengthen teacher capacity, teachers to educate parental on importance of proper nutrition for their children, and government to support nutrition education programmes to improve children's learning outcomes.
BACKGROUND: Participation of men in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) is crucial for the reduction of infant and maternal mortality. Men may be influential in making health care decisions that may affect their female partner's access to health care services, but also as individuals, whose health status has a significant impact on the health of their partners' and that of their children. However, male involvement is still inadequate due to various reasons. This paper sought to explore the community perspectives towards participation of men in maternal and child health care in Kabale District, Western Uganda. METHODS: The study used a case study approach. Household questionnaires, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, direct field observation and document review were employed to collect data. One hundred and twenty-four respondents completed a household questionnaire, eight key informants took part in semi-structured interviews and thirty-six community members (two men and two women groups) participated in focus group discussions. RESULTS: The participation of men in maternal and child health care was found to be low. Patriarchal community values and norms influencing gender roles hindered male involvement in MCH. More so, sensitisation on the importance of male involvement was inadequate. CONCLUSION: Men's participation in MCH is affected by multiple factors emanating from the community and health institutions. Involving men in MCH is critical, and therefore participatory and comprehensive approaches should be applied to encourage participation. Sensitisation of communities is fundamental for increasing awareness of the significance of male involvement in MCH.
Background: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a major harmful traditional practice which affects the health and well-being of women and girls. FGM is widespread across Ethiopia with a varying degree. Even though, there are various studies conducted on prevalence of FGM in Ethiopia, it has inconsistent findings. Therefore, this review was conducted to identify the pooled prevalence of FGM among women and children and its regional variations in Ethiopia Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guideline was followed to review published and unpublished studies conducted in Ethiopia. The databases used were; PubMed, Google Scholar, CINAHL an AJOL. Data were extracted using the Joanna Briggs Institute tool for prevalence studies. The meta-analysis was conducted using STATA version 14 software. The heterogeneity and publication bias was assessed using the I2 statistics and Egger’s test respectively. Descriptive information of studies was presented in narrative form and quantitative results were presented in forest plots. Random effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of FGM with the corresponding 95% confidence interval. Results: A total of 25 studies were included in the analysis. Twenty articles included with 44,283 participants and 14 articles with 38,230 participants to estimate pooled prevalence of FGM among women and children less than 15 year respectively. The pooled prevalence of FGM among women and children aged less than 15 years in Ethiopia was 84.6% (95% CI: 80.51%, 88.7 %%) and 49.79% (95% CI: 41.91%, 57.68%) respectively. The highest prevalence of FGM among women was observed in Somali region (91.09 % (95 % CI: 85.75, 96.44)), and the lowest reported in Harari region (79.50% (95 % CI: 76.77, 82.23)). The highest prevalence of FGM among children less than 15 years was observed in South Nation Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) (82.20% (95 % CI: 79.52, 84.88)) and the lowest reported in Harari region (19% (95 % CI: 16.35, 21.65)). Conclusions: The prevalence of FGM is high in Ethiopia with a wide variation was observed across regions. Attentions should be emphasized to end or reduce the practice, mainly at the high FGM clustered regions of Ethiopia.
Recent estimates indicate that half of Ethiopian girls aged 15-19 years have experienced female genital mutilation/cutting (FGMC). Establishing whether and how pro-FGMC norms are maintained through social transmission is a key priority for global eradication efforts. Here we present the first large-scale socio-centric social network study estimating social influence and social selection on preference for cutting female relatives using data from 5,163 Ethiopian Arsi Oromo adults. Statistical modelling, which accounts for network dependence in cross-sectional data, finds signals of 'contagion' within chatting, respect and money-borrowing networks. This indicates that social influence contributes to FGMC maintenance. We find no clear evidence of social selection within marriage-advice networks, suggesting these networks are not implicated in FGMC maintenance. Contrary to assumptions underpinning current eradication efforts, we find negligible evidence that FGMC is a social coordination norm (with only 6.3% endorsement) or an empirical or normative expectation. We conclude by making intervention design recommendations.
Sarah Myers, Eshetu Gurmu, Alexandra Alvergne et al.
Purpose: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. In Kenya, the practice of female mutilation is considered dangerous and the country has imposed laws to prevent the practice from continuation. The major purpose of this study is to identify factors influencing the practice of female genital mutilation among women in Kenya communities. Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps. Findings: The study concluded that the practice of FGM is a social consequence that is affecting a number of women and young girls socially, psychological and physically. To eradicate the practice, there is a need for education campaigns in the communities that practice FGM. Unique Contribution to Theory and Practice: Research on the knowledge and practice of female genital mutilation and other socio-demographic and economic variable must be done in order to figure out more factors that may influence and promote the practice in Kenyan communities
BACKGROUND: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is defined as the partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. There are some complications related to childbirth that concern both the mother and the baby. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the birth outcomes of FGM, which is widely applied in Somalia. METHODS: The study included 268 women who gave birth at 37-42 weeks of gestation with a cephalic singleton, 134 with FGM and 134 without FGM. This study was designed a prospective cohort study and conducted between January 2019 and December 2020. Patients' ages, duration of delivery, FGM types, caesarean section requirements, before and after birth hemoglobin levels, birth weeks, baby birth weights and perineal tear data were recorded. In addition, we analyzed neonatal intensive care needs and APGAR scores for infants. RESULTS: In patients with FGM, it was determined that the outlet obstruction increased 2.33 times, perineal tears increased 2.48 times, the need for caesarean section increased 2.11 times compared to the control group, and the APGAR score below 7 at the 5th minute in the children increased 2 times and the need for neonatal intensive care increased 1.87 times. CONCLUSIONS: FGM causes increased risk of perineal tear, prolongation in the second stage of labour, increased need for emergency caesarean section, and increased need for NICU for infants. Prevention of FGM will help reduce both obstetric and neonatal complications.
