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BackgroundIn 2013, an estimated 2.8 million newborns died and 2.7 million were stillborn. A much greater number suffer from long term impairment associated with preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction, congenital anomalies, and perinatal or infectious causes. With the approaching deadline for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015, there was a need to set the new research priorities on newborns and stillbirth with a focus not only on survival but also on health, growth and development. We therefore carried out a systematic exercise to set newborn health research priorities for 2013–2025.MethodsWe used adapted Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) methods for this prioritization exercise. We identified and approached the 200 most productive researchers and 400 program experts, and 132 of them submitted research questions online. These were collated into a set of 205 research questions, sent for scoring to the 600 identified experts, and were assessed and scored by 91 experts.ResultsNine out of top ten identified priorities were in the domain of research on improving delivery of known interventions, with simplified neonatal resuscitation program and clinical algorithms and improved skills of community health workers leading the list. The top 10 priorities in the domain of development were led by ideas on improved Kangaroo Mother Care at community level, how to improve the accuracy of diagnosis by community health workers, and perinatal audits. The 10 leading priorities for discovery research focused on stable surfactant with novel modes of administration for preterm babies, ability to diagnose fetal distress and novel tocolytic agents to delay or stop preterm labour.ConclusionThese findings will assist both donors and researchers in supporting and conducting research to close the knowledge gaps for reducing neonatal mortality, morbidity and long term impairment. WHO, SNL and other partners will work to generate interest among key national stakeholders, governments, NGOs, and research institutes in these priorities, while encouraging research funders to support them. We will track research funding, relevant requests for proposals and trial registers to monitor if the priorities identified by this exercise are being addressed.

Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is an effective way to meet baby's needs for warmth, breastfeeding, protection from infection, stimulation, safety and love. Mother acts as an incubator as kangaroo and put low birth infant vertically in between the chest for warming. The term kangaroo care is derived from practical similarities to marsupial care-giving. The premature infant is kept warm in the maternal pouch and is close to the breasts for unlimited feeding. It provides an alternative to incubator care, without separation from the mother. The importance of KMC in low-and middle-income countries has been highlighted as a contributing factor to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal 4 that targets a reduction by two-thirds of under-five mortality rates from 1990 to 2015. This programme is mediated by humoral, autonomic and somatic behaviours, expressed ultimately as innate competency in breastfeeding behaviours. It is simple, acceptable to mothers and can be continued at home. [J Shaheed Suhrawardy Med Coll, 2013;5(1):49-54]

Background: Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infections (ALRI), particularly Pneumonia and Bronchiolitis, are important causes of death in childhood in Bangladesh. The cardiovascular and respiratory systems function as a single unit and alteration in cardiorespiratory interactions, can cause significant changes in cardiac function. The objective of this study was to find out any electrical and functional changes, myocardial injury, frequency of heart failure and the outcomes in these patients with ALRIs. Methodology: It was a prospective observational study carried out at DMCH from January to June 2012 on 35 consecutive children admitted with ALRI, which were further diagnosed as pneumonia or bronchiolitis using operational definitions. Heart failure cases were identified and all the cases were then evaluated for any cardiovascular changes. Results: Most of the patients were male. ECG changes occurred in the form of tachycardia. Abnormal echocardiographic findings were noted in the form of pulmonary hypertension, left ventricular systolic (LV) dysfunction and tricuspid regurgitation. 82.9% had raised CK-MB and was significantly higher in patients with tachycardia and having abnormal echocardiographic changes. Nine patients developed heart failure, 3 of them had pulmonary hypertension along with LV systolic dysfunction and one of pulmonary hypertension and LV systolic dysfunction each. CK-MB was raised significantly in all the patients with heart failure. Conclusion: Raised CK-MB, tachycardia out of proportion on ECG and pulmonary hypertension with left ventricular systolic dysfunction were common findings in patients with ALRI. Bangladesh J Child Health 2019; VOL 43 (1) :27-34

Objectives: This study was conducted to a) find out and compare the period prevalence of HBsAg in children attending outdoor and indoor of an urban and a rural hospital b) determine the risk factors for Hepatitis B surface antigen positivity. Materials and Methods: Three hundred and twenty three children were included in this study. Among them 162 attended an urban hospital and 161 attended a rural hospital. Collected sera were examined for HBsAg by ELISA method in a standard laboratory. Results: Among the 162 urban children 17 (10.5%) were found to be HBsAg positive and among the 161 rural children 6 (3.7%) were found to be HBsAg positive. This difference is statistically significant (P value < 0.05). In urban area, 12 (16.2%) school aged, 3 (6%) pre-school children and 2 (5.5%) infants were found to be HBsAg positive. In rural area, more pre-school (6%) than school children (2.8%) were found to be HBsAg positive. In urban area, 11.5% male children and 9.5% female children were found to be HBsAg positive and in rural area, 5.2% male and 2.8% female children were to be HBsAg positive. Among 17 HBsAg positive cases who attended urban hospital, 11 (19.6%) had past history of jaundice and 6 (5.6%) had no past history of Jaundice (P value < 0.05). Among those 17 HBsAg positive cases, 13 (14.6%) had past history of inoculation within last 6 months and 4 (5.5%) had no such history. This difference is also statistically significant (P value < 0.005). Conclusion: Prevalence of positive HBsAg marker is fairly high in urban children (10.5%). Prevalence of HBsAg has no age and sex prediction. More sero-positive children in urban area have previous history of jaundice and history of inoculation in last 6 months, but no one in rural area had history of jaundice or inoculation within last 6 months. Key word: Serosurvilance; Hepatitis B virus. N.B. This publication is based on a dissertation DOI: 10.3329/bjch.v30i1.6178 Bangladesh J Child Health 2006; VOL 30 (1/2/3): 17-21