Posted 09/08/2022. Timo Tolppa and CCAA colleagues reviewed the literature on perioperative care pathways in resource-poor settings and found that pathways are increasingly used there with an aim to improve care quality. Patient and clinician beliefs were a major challenge in care pathway implementation, whereas facilitators included context-relevant adaptations, strong evidence-base and teamwork.

Posted 05/08/2022. During a rapidly unfolding catastrophic pandemic, research is most needed to inform on nature, containment and prevention of the pandemic. Ethics review and regulatory authorities are important gatekeepers for research, and can facilitate scientifically rigorous and ethically sound relevant research. Alex Hinga, Dorcas Kamuya and colleagues examined how research review was undertaken during COVID19 in one of the review systems in Kenya, factors that enabled and/or hindered accelerated review including the political landscape, and make some recommendations for review systems in LMICs.

Posted 03/08/2022. Naomi Muinga and colleagues report on a process of implementing a co-designed, paper-based newborn monitoring chart in a network of hospitals in Kenya. While the chart was well-received, challenges with full uptake persist and offer opportunities to strengthen the process as well as future implementations.

Posted 02/08/2022. Severe malaria is difficult to diagnose in high malaria transmission areas because of the high coincidence of malaria with other febrile illnesses. James Watson and colleagues analysed platelet counts and plasma PfHRP2 concentrations from >2000 severely ill children and show that around a third of children diagnosed with severe malaria have in fact another cause of illness.