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Quality improvement in maternal and reproductive health services

Guest Editors:
Erika M. Edwards: University of Vermont, USA
Celia Karp: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA
Hannah Tappis: Jhpiego - an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, USA


BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth and BMC Women's Health welcomed submissions to our Collection on Quality improvement in maternal and reproductive health services.

Quality health services, including midwifery, obstetric and gynecological care, is key to ensuring the fulfillment of human rights in reproductive health.  High-quality care is needed to meet Sustainable Development Goal 3, achieving good health and wellbeing for all women.  Quality improvement in health care integrates evidence-based approaches to advance the effectiveness, safety, and value of healthcare and to improve reproductive health outcomes.  Quality improvement approaches in midwifery, obstetrics and gynecology are needed to ensure that all women receive high-quality, safe, and person-centered care.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Erika M. Edwards: University of Vermont, USA

Erika Edwards is a Research Associate Professor in Statistics and Pediatrics at the University of Vermont, and is Director of Data Science at Vermont Oxford Network, a voluntary worldwide collaboration of health care professionals dedicated to improving the quality, safety, and value of care for newborns and their families. She holds a PhD and MPH in epidemiology from Boston University School of Public Health.
 

Celia Karp: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA

Dr. Celia Karp social and behavioral scientist in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  She is dedicated to research, teaching, and mentorship in the field of women’s sexual and reproductive health across the lifecourse.  Her work encompasses two overarching areas: psychosocial determinants of reproductive health, including, pregnancy preferences and decision-making related to childbearing, contraception, and abortion, and systems shaping women's health and well-being, including access to and quality of reproductive services.  Dr. Karp’s research focuses on the intersection of women’s reproductive health preferences, services, and outcomes in low-resource settings.  Through her work, Dr. Karp aims to enhance understanding, measurement, and mitigation of factors contributing to adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes and inequities.

Hannah Tappis: Jhpiego - an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, USA

Hannah Tappis, DrPH, MPH is a Senior Technical Advisor at Jhpiego - an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, and associate faculty at the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, where her work focuses on generating and using evidence to improve the quality of reproductive, maternal and newborn health care for underserved populations. Her research includes health systems and policy research, implementation science and program evaluation in more than 20 countries, primarily in humanitarian and post-conflict settings. Dr. Tappis has been a Senior Editorial Board Member for BMC Health Services Research and an Editorial Board Member for BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth since 2020.

About the collection

Quality health services, including midwifery, obstetric and gynecological care, is key to ensuring the fulfillment of human rights in reproductive health.  High-quality care is needed to meet Sustainable Development Goal 3, achieving good health and wellbeing for all women.  Quality improvement in health care integrates evidence-based approaches to advance the effectiveness, safety, and value of healthcare and to improve reproductive health outcomes.  Quality improvement approaches in midwifery, obstetrics and gynecology are needed to ensure that all women receive high-quality, safe, and person-centered care.

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth and BMC Women's Health launched a Collection, ‘Quality improvement in maternal and reproductive health services,’ to highlight research that investigates ways in which the delivery of high-quality women’s health services can be strengthened to align with clinical standards, evidence-based practices, and individuals’ preferences for care.  Topics of interest included, but were not limited to, design and evaluation of quality improvement interventions, development of new metrics for measuring quality, and examination of inequities in the delivery of high-quality care - all with a focus on maternal and reproductive health services.  The Collection welcomed quantitative and qualitative research from around the globe and across the full spectrum of the reproductive health field.

Image credit: Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment

  1. The exclusive breastfeeding rates is low in some countries. Low breastfeeding rates results in higher healthcare expenses and adverse health outcomes for individuals and society. Co-parenting is effective in p...

    Authors: Tan Xie, Yi-Yan Huang and Wei-Peng Huang
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:590
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Deferred umbilical cord clamping (DCC) has been employed with wide variation in the United States over the last few decades. This practice has the potential to improve infant health and outcomes at the populat...

    Authors: Kranti C. Rumalla, Leslie Hansen-Lindner, Christi M. Walsh and Martin A. Makary
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:534
    Content type: Comment Published on:

  3. By addressing physical and psychosocial needs, group care (GC) improves health-related behaviours, peer support, parent-provider interactions and may improve birth outcomes. Hence, global implementation of GC ...

    Authors: Nele Martens, Tessa M.I. Haverkate, Ashna D. Hindori-Mohangoo, Manodj P. Hindori, Carolien J. Aantjes, Katrien Beeckman, Astrid Van Damme, Ria Reis, Marlies Rijnders, Rianne RMJJ van der Kleij and Mathilde R. Crone
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:527
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Early initiation of prenatal care is widely accepted to improve the health outcomes of pregnancy for both mothers and their infants. Identification of the various barriers to entry into care that patients expe...

    Authors: Valerie N. Holt, Elan Pelegrí, Mary Hardy, Lindsey Buchin, Isaac Dapkins and Meleen Chuang
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:436
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Successful efforts to encourage uptake of subdermal contraceptive implants, with a lifespan of three to five years, necessitate planning to ensure that quality removal services are available when desired. In B...

    Authors: Justin Tiendrebeogo, Bethany Arnold, Yacouba Ouedraogo, Rachel Haws, Lea Pepin Garane, Virginie Ouedraogo, Maria Gouem, Alimata Coulibaly and Mathieu Bougma
    Citation: BMC Women's Health 2024 24:301
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Menstrual Regulation (MR) has been legal in Bangladesh since 1979 in an effort to reduce maternal mortality from unsafe abortion care. However, access to high-quality and patient-centered MR care remains a cha...

    Authors: Ana Maria Ramirez, Tanzila Tabassum, Sofia Filippa, Anna Katz, Rezwana Chowdhury, Chiara Bercu and Sarah E. Baum
    Citation: BMC Women's Health 2024 24:291
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. HIV partner counselling and testing in antenatal care (ANC) is a crucial strategy to raise the number of males who know their HIV status. However, in many settings like Tanzania, male involvement in antenatal ...

    Authors: Angela Lyimo, Blandina Mmbaga, Ashraf Mahmoud, Wilson Saimon Eliamini, Nicolaus Bartholomew Ngowi, Modesta Mitao, Godwin Pancras, Evangelista Malindisa, Paulo Kidayi, Donaldson F. Conserve, John Bartlett, Bruno Sunguya, Eligius Lyamuya, Benson Kidenya, Emmanuel Balandya and James Samwel Ngocho
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:306
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Globally, prematurity is the primary factor behind the mortality of children under the age of 5 years, resulting in approximately 1 million children dying annually. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommen...

    Authors: Takalani T. Denge, Nokwanda Edith Bam, Welma Lubbe and Annah Rakhudu
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:281
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. Poor intrapartum care in India contributes to high maternal and newborn mortality. India’s Labor Room Quality Improvement Initiative (LaQshya) launched in 2017, aims to improve intrapartum care by minimizing c...

    Authors: Shalini Singh, Zabir Hasan, Deepika Sharma, Amarpreet Kaur, Deeksha Khurana, J N Shrivastava and Shivam Gupta
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:239
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Midwives encounter various difficulties while aiming to achieve excellence in providing maternity care to women with mobility disabilities. The study aimed to explore and describe midwives’ experiences of cari...

    Authors: Annie M. Temane, Fortunate N. Magagula and Anna G. W. Nolte
    Citation: BMC Women's Health 2024 24:207
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. The rapid urbanization of Kenya has led to an increase in the growth of informal settlements. There are challenges with access to maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) services and higher maternal mortali...

    Authors: Sharon Ochieng’, Nisha Hariharan, Timothy Abuya, Chantalle Okondo, Charity Ndwiga, Charlotte E. Warren, Anneka Wickramanayake and Sathyanath Rajasekharan
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:222
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. Timely, appropriate, and equitable access to quality healthcare during pregnancy is proven to contribute to better health outcomes of birthing individuals and infants following birth. Equity is conceptualized ...

    Authors: Zeenat Ladak, Nagma Grewal, Minji Olivia Kim, Stephanie Small, Alexia Leber, Mehdiya Hemani, Qiuyu Sun, Deena M. Hamza, Celia Laur, Noah M. Ivers, Olesya Falenchuk and Richard Volpe
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:191
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. The Ministry of Health of Mozambique (MISAU) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend enhancing pregnant women’s satisfaction with health care services in order to advance maternal and child health. T...

    Authors: Janeth Dulá, Sérgio Chicumbe and Maria do Rosário O. Martins
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:165
    Content type: Research Published on:

  14. Obstetric causes are classified as direct (complications of pregnancy, childbirth or the puerperium) or indirect (caused by pregnancy but not directly caused by it). This study aimed to analyze maternal mortal...

    Authors: Eric Renato Lima Figueiredo, Claudia do Socorro Carvalho Miranda, Ana Cristina Viana Campos, Fabiana de Campos Gomes, Cibele Nazaré Câmara Rodrigues and João Simão de Melo-Neto
    Citation: BMC Women's Health 2024 24:84
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. In the United Kingdom, roughly 1 in 250 babies are stillborn each year. Most women who experience stillbirth become pregnant again – 80% within a year of loss. Presently, obstetric-led care is recommended; tho...

    Authors: Kajal K Tamber, Rebecca Barron, Emma Tomlinson and Alexander EP Heazell
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:51
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. As maternal mortality and morbidity rates stagnate or increase worldwide, there is an urgent need to address health system issues that impede access to high-quality care. Learning from efforts to address the v...

    Authors: Celia Karp, Erika M. Edwards and Hannah Tappis
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2024 24:21
    Content type: Editorial Published on:

  17. The management of preterm births remains a major challenge in Madagascar, given the lack of equipped facilities in rural areas, and the absence of precise data concerning the incidence of such births. The Worl...

    Authors: Emilia Brazy-Nancy, Chiarella Mattern, Brigitte Irene Rakotonandrasana, Vonimboahangy Rachel Andrianarisoa, Patricia Norolalao and Azzah Al-Rashid
    Citation: BMC Women's Health 2023 23:623
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. Children and women in urban informal settlements have fewer choices to access quality maternal and newborn health care. Many facilities serving these communities are under-resourced and staffed by fewer provid...

    Authors: Charity Ndwiga, Timothy Abuya, Chantalle Okondo, Sharon Akinyi, Anneka Wickramanayake and Charlotte E. Warren
    Citation: BMC Women's Health 2023 23:580
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. To construct and validate a nomogram model for predicting clinical pregnancy in individuals with endometriosis undergoing fersh embryo transfer (ET).

    Authors: Suqin Zhu, Xiuhua Liao, Wenwen Jiang, Yan Sun, Xiaojing Chen and Beihong Zheng
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2023 23:764
    Content type: Research Published on:

  21. Moving evidence into practice is complex, and pregnant and birthing people and their infants do not always receive care that aligns with the best available evidence. Implementation science can inform how to ef...

    Authors: Jessica Reszel, Olivia Daub, Sandra I. Dunn, Christine E. Cassidy, Kaamel Hafizi, Marnie Lightfoot, Dahlia Pervez, Ashley Quosdorf, Allison Wood and Ian D. Graham
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2023 23:735
    Content type: Research Published on:

  22. There is an urgent global call for health systems to strengthen access to quality sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health, particularly for the most vulnerable. Professional midwives with...

    Authors: Rondi Anderson, Sojib Bin Zaman, Abdun Naqib Jimmy, Jonathan M Read and Mark Limmer
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2023 23:712
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. Improving the healthcare providers (HCP) basic resuscitation skills can reduce intrapartum related mortality in low- and middle-income countries. However, the resuscitation intervention’s successful implementa...

    Authors: Niina Ekström, Rejina Gurung, Urja Humagain, Omkar Basnet, Pratiksha Bhattarai, Nishant Thakur, Riju Dhakal, Ashish KC and Anna Axelin
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2023 23:662
    Content type: Research Published on:

  24. Aspirin (ASA) is recommended for patients at elevated risk of preeclampsia. Limited data exists on adherence to guidelines for ASA prescription. This project evaluates the implementation of a standardized appr...

    Authors: Maya E. Gross, Amy Godecker, Ainsley Hughes and Katherine Sampene
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2023 23:651
    Content type: Research Published on:

  25. Abortion stigma involves the stereotyping of, discrimination against, and delegitimization of those who seek and provide abortion. Experiences of abortion care are shaped by stigma at the meso (e.g., lack of l...

    Authors: Shelly Makleff, Madeleine Belfrage, Sethini Wickramasinghe, Jane Fisher, Deborah Bateson and Kirsten I. Black
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2023 23:646
    Content type: Research Published on:

  26. Evidence indicates that Nigeria’s high maternal mortality rate is attributable primarily to events that occur during the intrapartum period. This study determines the effectiveness of multifaceted intervention...

    Authors: Friday Okonofua, Lorretta Favour Ntoimo, Bola Ekezue, Victor Ohenhen, Kingsley Agholor, Wilson Imongan, Rosemary Ogu and Hadiza Galadanci
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2023 23:614
    Content type: Research Published on:

  27. Implementation of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) in resource-limited areas of China may face unique barriers, such as a lack of resources, geographic location and more traditional culture among others. This qualit...

    Authors: Wen Wang, Yinghang Wang, Hanxiyue Zhang, Ge Yang, Yun Lin, Chenran Wang, Xiaona Huang, Xiaobo Tian, Angela Y. Xiao, Tao Xu and Kun Tang
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2023 23:451
    Content type: Research Published on:

  28. Approximately 25% of facility births take place in private health facilities. Recent national studies of maternal and newborn health (MNH) service availability and quality have focused solely on the status of ...

    Authors: Hannah Tappis, Rebaz Lak, Riyadh Alhilfi, Aso Hameed Zangana, Falah Wadi, David Hipgrave and Shaimaa Ibrahim
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2023 23:331
    Content type: Research Published on:

  30. Reducing pregnancy-related deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa through increases in health facility births may be achieved by promoting community norms and network norms favoring health facility births. However, the ...

    Authors: Leslie E. Cofie, Clare Barrington, Kersten Cope, Catherine E. LePrevost and Kavita Singh
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2023 23:265
    Content type: Research Published on:

  31. Limited evidence is available as the reference for the model of care on providing maternity care in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) to cope with pandemic disruption. This study aimed to adopt internati...

    Authors: Fitriana Murriya Ekawati, Mumtihana Muchlis and Amita Tuteja
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2023 23:132
    Content type: Research Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles, Data Notes, Case Reports, Study Protocols, and Database Articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read the submission guidelines of the journal you are submitting to: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth and BMC Women's Health. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth and BMC Women's Health. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Quality improvement in maternal and reproductive health services" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the standard peer-review process of the journal they are considered in (BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth and BMC Women's Health), and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.