Abstract
Objectives
Low birthweight (LBW) is a significant public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa and LBW in rural Zambia is high. Our study explored the prevalence of LBW for newborns whose mothers were referred from a rural health center to a district referral hospital in Lundazi, Zambia.
Methods
A five-month retrospective record review of Ministry of Health data was performed to examine birthweight characteristics of a convenience sample of newborns from ten facilities referring to one district hospital (n = 234).
Results
Among all cases, 21% (n = 49) of newborns were LBW. For LBW newborns, 73% (n = 36) were preterm with mothers having a pregnancy duration of less than 37 weeks. Newborns whose mothers experienced twin pregnancies (p = .021) and prolonged labor (p = .033) were more often LBW. However, regression models demonstrated no difference among newborns with and without LBW for prolonged labor (p = .344) and twin pregnancies (p = .324) when controlling for variables that could interact with the maternal-newborn delivery outcomes.
Conclusions
for Practice
Healthcare providers and policy makers need to address the short and long-term effects of LBW throughout the lifecycle in rural Zambia. More maternal-newborn health research is needed to understand the underlying socioeconomic, social, and cultural determinants influencing LBW in rural Zambia.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the following sources of funding for the current study: the University of Michigan International Institute, African Studies Center, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and the South African Initiatives Office, University of Michigan School of Nursing New Research Investigator Award, University of Michigan School of Nursing Global Outreach Scholarship, and the Michigan Chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. The parent study program was developed and is being implemented in collaboration with Merck for Mothers, Merck’s 10-year, $500 million initiative to help create a world where no woman dies giving life. Merck for Mothers is known as MSD for Mothers outside the United States and Canada (MRK 1846-06500.COL). The development of the parent study article was additionally supported in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1130334) https://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database/Grants/2015/07/OPP1130334 and The ELMA Foundation (ELMA-15-F0010) http://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/the-elma-foundation/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect positions or policies of Merck, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, or The ELMA Foundation.
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Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval was obtained before beginning the study from the University of Michigan Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (HUM00110404), the Zambian IRB equivalent, Excellence in Research Ethics and Science, and the Zambian National Health Research Authority.
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Buser, J.M., Boyd, C.J., Moyer, C.A. et al. High Prevalence of Low Birth Weight Babies Born to Pregnant Women Referred to a District Hospital in Rural Zambia. Matern Child Health J 25, 1182–1186 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-021-03190-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-021-03190-8