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Background The role of traditional birth attendants (TBA) in improving outcomes related to maternal and child health remains controversial. We performed an up-to-date systematic review to pool together available data on the impact of TBA interventions on materno-fetal outcomes. Methods A systematic literature search was conducted on PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus, and 3ie databases (search date: 22nd August 2022) to identify original research articles which studied health outcomes in populations of pregnant women and children following TBA-related interventions. Data on the frequency of the outcome (expressed as proportions) occurring in study populations with and without the intervention were extracted. The data were synthesized and used for meta-analysis, with the creation of sub-groups as appropriate for comparisons. The Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel method was used to generate Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for data analysis. Results Of the 744 studies found during the initial database search, data was extracted from 45 eligible studies representing observations from 194,699 women and 199,779 children. We found that the involvement and/or training of TBAs in maternal and child healthcare does not significantly contribute to reducing maternal mortality (pooled OR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.42–1.98) or infant morbidity (pooled OR: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.57–1.27). However, TBA-related interventions proved useful in curbing both neonatal mortality (pooled OR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.71–0.84) and maternal morbidity (pooled OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.43–0.93). Overall, TBA involvement was associated with increased uptake of some health interventions including antenatal consultations, delivery by a skilled birth attendant, early breastfeeding, and immunization (pooled OR: 2.42, 95% CI: 1.75–3.35). Conclusions Based on studies conducted in the past, it appears that proper training and supervision could render TBAs useful in addressing shortages in maternal and child health actors. This finding is particularly relevant for remote communities with few trained healthcare workers and even fewer health facilities. Large community-based prospective studies may be required to investigate the materno-fetal benefits and cost-effectiveness of integrating TBAs within present-day health systems in SSA. Registration: This systematic review was not registered.

Aim: According to World Health Organization, prostate cancer is one of the increasing malignancies in men worldwide. This paper aims to describe the epidemiological, clinical, diagnostic, therapeutic, and evolutionary aspects of patients with early metastatic prostate cancer in a urology center in the city of Douala in Cameroon. Materials and Methods: It is a retrospective and descriptive study of 110 patients with prostate cancer that was immediately metastatic at diagnosis over a period of six years (from January 2014 to December 2020). Results: The average age of patients at diagnosis was 67.5 years (range: 45 years to 88 years) and 53.63% of patients had body mass indexes greater than 25. Disorders of the lower urinary tract were the main presenting complaint in 55.45% of cases, followed by bone and joint pain in 46.36% of cases. Digital rectal examination was suggestive of prostate cancer in 96.36% of cases with an average total prostatic specific antigen (PSAT) level of 676.9 ng/ml (range: 21.8 to 8832 ng/ml). The diagnosis was made through prostate biopsy in 57 (51.81%) patients or after palliative endoscopic resection of the prostate indicated for lower urinary tract symptoms or even acute urinary retention in 53 (48.18%) patients. Adenocarcinoma of the prostate was the main histologic type, and in 47.27% of cases, the tumor was poorly differentiated with a Gleason's score of greater than 7. The sites of metastasis were mainly the lymph node (87.27%), bone (56.36%), and both (44.54%). The treatment was palliative and dominated by bilateral pulpectomy in 60% of cases and luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists (Triptorelin 11.