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The Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) Women's and Children's Health Research Unit (WCHRU) of the Karnataka Lingayat Education (KLE) Academy of Higher Education and Research Deemed-to-be-University and its collaborators convened the '2nd International Conference on Maternal and Newborn Health -Translating Research Evidence to Practice' to address the common theme of improving maternal and newborn health in low- and middle- income countries (LMIC). This supplement, including 16 manuscripts, reflects much of the research presented at the conference, including analyses of the state of knowledge, as well as completed, ongoing and planned research in these areas conducted by the WCHRU in India together with many collaborators across high-income and LMIC. The first paper reviews maternal, fetal and neonatal mortality in low-income countries, considers their causes, as well as evidence for potential interventions to reduce mortality. A second paper addresses near miss maternal mortality. Several manuscripts address the research conducted by WCHRU and their colleagues in a multi-center research network. One study examines rates of miscarriage and medically terminated pregnancy in India and the risk factors for these occurrences. Another paper addresses stillbirth and its risk factors, both in India as well as in other LMIC. Haemorrhage and preeclampsia/eclampsia, important causes of maternal mortality, stillbirth and neonatal morbidity in LMIC, are addressed in a series of papers summarizing trials of interventions to reduce improve outcomes associated with these conditions. Poor maternal and infant nutritional status, which contribute to adverse outcomes, are addressed through papers which describe a number of important studies that the WCHRU and their colleagues have conducted to attempt to improve nutritional status. Another paper describes a study to investigate causes of stillbirth and deaths among preterm births, which will utilize new techniques to investigate the infectious causes of these deaths. Finally, the supplement addresses the process for dissemination of research results to inform public policy. Together these manuscripts represent a body of research to inform interventions to reduce maternal, fetal and newborn mortality and illustrates what a dedicated research group together with institutional support can accomplish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), particularly pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, remain one of the leading causes of maternal mortality and are contributory in many foetal/newborn deaths. This editorial discusses a supplement of seven papers which provide the results of the first round of the CLIP (Community Level Interventions for Pre-eclampsia) Feasibility Studies. These studies report a number of enablers and barriers in each setting, which have informed the implementation of a cluster-randomized trial (cRCT) aimed at reducing pre-eclampsia-related, and all-cause, maternal and perinatal mortality and major morbidity using community-based identification and treatment of pre-eclampsia in selected geographies of Nigeria, Mozambique, Pakistan and India. This supplement unpacks the diverse community perspectives on determinants of maternal health, variant health worker knowledge and routine management of HDP, and viability of task sharing for preeclampsia identification and management in select settings. These studies demonstrate the need for strategies to improve health worker knowledge and routine management of HDP and consideration of expanding the role of community health workers to reach the most remote women and families with health education and access to health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: India launched a national conditional cash transfer program, Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), aimed at reducing maternal mortality by promoting institutional delivery in 2005. It provides a cash incentive to women who give birth in public health facilities. This paper studies the extent of program uptake, reasons for participation/ non participation, factors associated with non uptake of the program, and the role played by a program volunteer, accredited social health activist (ASHA), among mothers in Ujjain district in Madhya Pradesh, India. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to May 2011 among women giving birth in 30 villages in Ujjain district. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 418 women who delivered in 2009. Socio-demographic and pregnancy related characteristics, role of the ASHA during delivery, receipt of the incentive, and reasons for place of delivery were collected. Multinomial regression analysis was used to identify predictors for the outcome variables; program delivery, private facility delivery, or a home delivery. Results: The majority of deliveries (318/418; 76%) took place within the JSY program; 81% of all mothers below poverty line delivered in the program. Ninety percent of the women had prior knowledge of the program. Most program mothers reported receiving the cash incentive within two weeks of delivery. The ASHA's influence on the mother's decision on where to deliver appeared limited. Women who were uneducated, multiparious or lacked prior knowledge of the JSY program were significantly more likely to deliver at home. Conclusion: In this study, a large proportion of women delivered under the program. Most mothers reporting timely receipt of the cash transfer. Nevertheless, there is still a subset of mothers delivering at home, who do not or cannot access emergency obstetric care under the program and remain at risk of maternal death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To expand access to safe deliveries, some developing countries have initiated demand-side financing schemes promoting institutional delivery. In the context of conditional cash incentive scheme and free maternity care in public health facilities in India, studies have highlighted high out of pocket expenditure (OOPE) of Indian families for delivery and maternity care. In this context the study assesses the components of OOPE that women incurred while accessing maternity care in public health facilities in Uttar Pradesh, India. It also assesses the determinants of OOPE and the level of maternal satisfaction while accessing care from these facilities. Method: It is a cross-sectional analysis of 558 recently delivered women who have delivered at four public health facilities in Uttar Pradesh, India. All OOPE related information was collected through interviews using structured pre-tested questionnaires. Frequencies, Mann-Whitney test and categorical regression were used for data reduction. Results: The analysis showed that the median OOPE was INR 700 (US$ 11.48) which varied between INR 680 (US$ 11.15) for normal delivery and INR 970 (US$ 15.9) for complicated cases. Tips for getting services (consisting of gifts and tips for services) with a median value of INR 320 (US$ 5.25) contributed to the major share in OOPE. Women from households with income more than INR 4000 (US$ 65.57) per month, general castes, primi-gravida, complicated delivery and those not accompanied by community health workers incurred higher OOPE. The significant predictors for high OOPE were caste (General Vs. OBC, SC/ST), type of delivery (Complicated Vs. Normal), and presence of ASHA (No Vs. Yes). OOPE while accessing care for delivery was one among the least satisfactory items and 76 % women expressed their dissatisfaction. Conclusion: Even though services at the public health facilities in India are supposed to be provided free of cost, it is actually not free, and the women in this study paid almost half of their mandated cash incentives to obtain delivery care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Due to high fertility rates in some low and lower-middle income countries, the interval between pregnancies can be short, which may lead to adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Methods: We analyzed data from women enrolled in the NICHD Global Network Maternal Newborn Health Registry (MNHR) from 2013 through 2018. We report maternal characteristics and outcomes in relationship to the inter-delivery interval (IDI, time from previous delivery [live or stillborn] to the delivery of the index birth), by category of 6–17 months (short), 18–36 months (reference), 37–60 months, and 61–180 months (long). We used non-parametric tests for maternal characteristics, and multivariable logistic regression models for outcomes, controlling for differences in baseline characteristics. Results: We evaluated 181,782 women from sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Kenya, Guatemala, India, and Pakistan. Women with short IDI varied by site, from 3% in the Zambia site to 20% in the Pakistan site. Relative to a 18–36 month IDI, women with short IDI had increased risk of neonatal death (RR = 1.89 [1.74, 2.05]), stillbirth (RR = 1.70 [1.56, 1.86]), low birth weight (RR = 1.38 [1.32, 1.44]), and very low birth weight (RR = 2.35 [2.10, 2.62]). Relative to a 18–36 month IDI, women with IDI of 37–60 months had an increased risk of maternal death (RR 1.40 [1.05, 1.88]), stillbirth (RR 1.14 [1.08, 1.22]), and very low birth weight (RR 1.10 [1.01, 1.21]). Relative to a 18–36 month IDI, women with long IDI had increased risk of maternal death (RR 1.54 [1.10, 2.16]), neonatal death (RR = 1.25 [1.14, 1.38]), stillbirth (RR = 1.50 [1.38, 1.62]), low birth weight (RR = 1.22 [1.17, 1.27]), and very low birth weight (RR = 1.47 [1.32,1.64]). Short and long IDIs were also associated with increased risk of obstructed labor, hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, fetal malposition, infection, hospitalization, preterm delivery, and neonatal hospitalization. Conclusions: IDI varies by site. When compared to 18–36 month IDI, women with both short IDI and long IDI had increased risk of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Trial registration: The MNHR is registered at NCT01073475. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]