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Introduction:the new coronavirus (COVID-19) that emerged from Wuhan, Hubei Province of China in December 2019, causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has fast spread across the entire globe, with most countries struggling to slow and reduce the spread of the virus through rapid screening, testing, isolation, case management, contact tracing, implementing social distancing and lockdowns. This has been shown to be a major factor in countries that have been successful in containing COVID-19 transmission. Early detection of cases is important, and the use of geospatial technology can support to detect and easily identify potential hotspots that will require timely response. The use of spatial analysis with geographic information systems (GIS) had proved to be effective in providing timely and effective solutions in supporting epidemic response and pandemics over the years. It has developed and evolved rapidly with a complete technological tool for representing data, model construction, visualization and platform construction among others. Methods:we conducted a geospatial analysis to develop a web mapping application using ArcMap and ArcGIS online to guide and support active case search of potential COVID-19 cases, within 500m radius of COVID-19 confirmed cases to improve detection and testing of suspected cases. Results:the web mapping application tool guides the active case search teams in the field, with clear boundaries on the houses to be visited within 500-meter radius of confirmed positive cases, to conduct active case search of all cases of severe acute respiratory illnesses (SARI), acute respiratory illnesses (ARI), pneumonia etc, to detect and test for COVID-19 towards containing the pandemic. Conclusion:the use of GIS and spatial statistical tools have become an important and valuable tool in decision-making and, more importantly, guiding health care professional and other stakeholders in the response being carried out in a more coherent and easy manner. It has proven to be effective in supporting the active case search process to rapidly detect, test and isolate cases during the process, towards containing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Increasing global health efforts have focused on preventing pregnancy-related maternal deaths, but the factors that contribute to maternal deaths in specific high-burden nations are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to identify factors that influence the occurrence of maternal deaths in a regional maternity hospital in Kuando Kubango province of Angola. Methods: The study was a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of case notes of all maternal deaths and deliveries that were recorded from 2010 to 2014. The information collected included data on pregnancy, labor and post-natal period retrieved from case notes and the delivery register. Results: During the period under study, a total of 7,158 live births were conducted out of which 131 resulted in maternal death with an overall maternal mortality ratio of 1,830 per 100,000 live births. The causes of death and their importance was relatively similar over the period reviewed. The direct obstetric causes accounted for 51% of all deaths. The major causes were hemorrhage (15%), puerperal sepsis (13%), eclampsia (11%) and ruptured uterus (10%). In addition, indirect non-obstetric medical causes such as Malaria, Anemia, hepatitis, AIDs and cardiovascular diseases accounted for 49% of all maternal deaths. There is poor documentation of personal data and clinical case management of cases. The factors of mutual instability of statistical significance associated with maternal death are: place of domicile (P=0.0001) and distance to the hospital (P=0.0001). Conclusion and Global Health Implication: The study demonstrated that the MMR in maternity hospital is very high and is higher than the WHO 2014 estimates and the province is yet to achieve the desired MDG 5 target by the end of 2015. A reversal of the present state requires data driven planning in order to improve access and use of Maternal Health Services (MHS) and ultimately lower the number of pregnancy-related maternal deaths.

Background: Nigeria is among the countries with a high number of annual maternal deaths partly due to low utilization of maternal health services (MHS). Objective: This study aimed to explore whether there is an association between women’s level of education and the appropriate use of antenatal and delivery services. Method: A quantitative cross-sectional study was used to analyze the Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data. Information from 33,385 women aged 15 – 49 years was analyzed using Bivariate Pearson Chi square test and multiple logistic regressions. Results: Education is statistically associated with the number of antenatal clinic visits made (AOR = 3.208; CI 2.875 – 3.578; p < .0001) and the place of delivery (AOR = 2.009; CI 1.449 – 2.785; p < .0001) even after controlling for availability of skilled health workers, parity, income, religion, age and distance. Conclusion: A long term investment in girls’ education will improve income, interaction with health care providers, level of autonomy to seek and pay for appropriate MHS and ultimately use of MHS and positive pregnancy outcomes. Keywords: Education, antenatal, delivery, Nigeria