News by Subject Medicine & Health

The maternal mortality rate following a caesarean section (C-section) in Africa may be 50 times higher than that of high-income countries, according to an observational study of more than 3,500 mothers from 22 African countries, published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

Recently, the sensitivity of fecal microbiological cultures for detecting cholera has come under question. Researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases investigated this claim using a 'vaccine probe' analysis of a completed cholera vaccine cluster randomized trial to support the sensitivity of conventional microbiological culture for cholera.

The relatively slow pace of neonatal and under-5 mortality reduction could prevent most countries in sub-Saharan Africa from achieving targets set in Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG-3) by 2030, according to a study published March 12 in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Iván Mejía-Guevara of Stanford University, USA and colleagues.

Introducing hepatitis B vaccine in preadolescents meant a decline in the disease incidence rate by 52 percent according to a study in which the University of Barcelona took part. The study analyzed the efficiency and impact of the vaccination program set in Catalonia, Spain, 21 years ago. The results show that after introducing the program, the incidence rate in general population went from 2.5 per 100,000 people in 1991 to 1.2 per 100,000 people in 2014.

Childhood malaria episodes could be reduced by 20 percent -- from 2.49 to 2 cases per child -- during malaria transmission season if the whole population were given a drug called ivermectin every three weeks, according to the first randomised trial of its kind including 2,700 people including 590 children from eight villages in Burkina Faso, published in The Lancet.

Youth living in the slums of Uganda who are infected with both HIV and sexually transmitted infections are more likely to engage in problem drinking, according to a study led by Georgia State University.

Most deaths of children aged five to 14 in India, China, Brazil and Mexico arise from preventable or treatable conditions, suggests a new study published today in The Lancet.