There is a high level of unmet need for information on pregnancy complications in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly among those who face significant barriers to accessing care if complications occur. Educational interventions are critical to safe motherhood initiatives; health providers must fully use the educational opportunity in antenatal care.

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There is growing evidence showing that people with disabilities face more frequently socioeconomic inequities than their non-disabled peers. This study aims to examine to what extent socioeconomic consequences of disability contribute to poorer access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for Cameroonian with disabilities and how these outcomes vary with disabilities characteristics and gender. It uses data from a population-based survey conducted in 2015 in Yaounde, Cameroon. Mediation analysis was performed to determine how much of the total association between disability and the use, satisfaction and difficulties to access SRH services was mediated by education level, material wellbeing lifetime work participation and availability of social support. Overall, disability was associated with deprivation for all socioeconomic factors assessed though significant variation with the nature and severity of the functional limitations was observed. Lower education level and restricted lifetime work mediated a large part of the association between disability and lower use of HIV testing and of family planning. By contrast, while people with disabilities reported more difficulties to use a SRH service, no mediating was identified. In conclusion, Cameroonians with disabilities since childhood have restricted access to SRH services resulting from socioeconomic factors occurring early during the life-course.

BackgroundPrimary healthcare in developed countries is undergoing important reforms, and these require evaluation strategies to assess how well the population's expectations are being met. Although numerous instruments are available to evaluate primary healthcare (PHC) from the patient perspective, they do not all measure the same range of constructs. To analyze the extent to which important PHC attributes are covered in validated instruments measuring quality of care from the patient perspective.MethodWe systematically identified validated instruments from the literature and by consulting experts. Using a Delphi consensus-building process, Canadian PHC experts identified and operationally defined 24 important PHC attributes. One team member mapped instrument subscales to these operational definitions; this mapping was then independently validated by members of the research team and conflicts were resolved by the PHC experts.ResultsOf the 24 operational definitions, 13 were evaluated as being best measured by patients, 10 by providers, three by administrative databases and one by chart audits (some being best measured by more than one source). Our search retained 17 measurement tools containing 118 subscales. After eliminating redundancies, we mapped 13 unique measurement tools to the PHC attributes. Accessibility, relational continuity, interpersonal communication, management continuity, respectfulness and technical quality of clinical care were the attributes widely covered by available instruments. Advocacy, management of clinical information, comprehensiveness of services, cultural sensitivity, family-centred care, whole-person care and equity were poorly covered.ConclusionsValidated instruments to evaluate PHC quality from the patient perspective leave many important attributes of PHC uncovered. A complete assessment of PHC quality will require adjusting existing tools and/or developing new instruments.

Background In resource-limited contexts, available data indicate that people with disability are disproportionally affected by the HIV epidemic. While disability resulting from chronic HIV infection has received some attention, few epidemiologic studies have examined the vulnerability of people with disability to HIV acquisition. The aims of the study were as follows: to estimate and compare HIV prevalence among people with and without disability living in Bujumbura, Burundi; to examine how the interaction among disability, gender and socioeconomic environment shapes vulnerability to HIV; and to identify potential pathways to higher HIV risk. Methods In this cross-sectional population-based study, 623 persons with disability (302 with disability onset ≤10 years [“early disability”]) and 609 persons without disability matched for age, sex and location were randomly selected to be tested for HIV and to participate in an interview about their life history, their social environment and their knowledge of sexual health. Findings A total of 68% of men and 75% of women with disability were affected by multidimensional poverty compared to 54% and 46% of their peers without disability ( p <0.0001). Higher HIV prevalence was observed among women with disability (12.1% [8.2–16]) than among those without (3.8% [1.7–6], OR a 3.8, p <0.0001), while it was similar among men with disability and those without ( p = 0·8). Women with disability were also at higher risk of sexual violence than were those without (OR a 2.7, p <0.0001). The vulnerability of women with early disability to HIV was higher among those who were socially isolated (HIV prevalence in this group: 19% [12–27]). In addition, education level and sexual violence mediated 53% of the association between early disability and HIV ( p = 0.001). Interpretation This study highlights how the intersection of disability, gender and social environment shapes vulnerability to HIV. It also shows that the vulnerability to HIV of women who grew up with a disability is mediated by sexual violence. Funding This research was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Grant W08.560.005) and the Initiative HIV-TB-Malaria (new name of the organisation)