To explore the feasibility of the confidante methodology to measure past-year intimate partner violence (IPV) experiences in Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) through (1) comparison of direct assessment with indirect estimation via the confidante method and (2) assessment of the performance of each confidante method assumption.

Cross-sectional study with nationally and subnationally representative data collected from December 2020 to March 2021 in Burkina Faso (national) and from December 2021 to April 2022 in Kinshasa and Kongo Central, DRC (subnational).

Burkina Faso; Kinshasa, DRC; Kongo Central, DRC.

Partnered women (married or cohabiting) aged 15–49 in Burkina Faso (N=3047), Kinshasa, DRC (N=702) and Kongo Central, DRC (N=688) and their partnered confidantes aged 15–49 (N=2064 in Burkina Faso, N=304 in Kinshasa, DRC, N=393 women in Kongo Central, DRC).

Past-year IPV (emotional, physical, sexual, any) comparing differences in prevalence between the direct respondent sample and the indirect confidante sample, adjusting for confidante method assumptions.

The confidante method produced comparable IPV estimates to respondents’ direct reports across sites (35.3% respondent vs 36.1% confidante in Kinshasa, DRC; 29.7% respondent vs 39.0% confidante in Kongo Central, DRC; 25.7% respondent vs 26.0% confidante in Burkina Faso, differences not statistically significant). Of note, there were differences in IPV estimates between respondents and confidantes by IPV subtype, with physical IPV consistently lower among respondents across sites and sexual IPV lower among confidantes in Kinshasa, DRC and Burkina Faso, though generally not statistically significant.

The confidante methodology did not afford advantages over standard, direct assessment for IPV. Overall, findings indicate the reliability of population-based surveys with direct IPV questions when implemented under recommended ethical guidelines, though direct reports are likely undercounts.

To explore the experiences of different stakeholders on the balance of package training and deployment of highly skilled Human Resources for Health for specialised services in Tanzania.

An exploratory qualitative case study was used as part of a larger tracer study conducted by Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) for its postgraduate programmes being a requirement for quality assurance. Semi-structured interview guides were used for in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). Qualitative content analysis was adopted to analyse the data.

The trace study was carried out in all seven geopolitical zones of the Tanzania mainland and Unguja in Zanzibar.

We conducted 14 FGDs and 301 IDIs. Participants included alumni, immediate supervisors at employment sites, MUHAS faculty, continuing students at MUHAS and management of professional councils in Tanzania.

Key findings revealed variations in demands and recognition within the scheme of services, even after registration by professional councils. Five main themes emerged from the qualitative interviews: Package training to improve service provision, Unprofessional collegial relationships or issues related to professionalism within interdisciplinary teams, Silence of scheme services on super specialisation in the medical cadre, Silence of scheme services on specialisation in the nursing cadre, Integrated scheme of services for specialties in pharmacy.

The findings highlight the demand for specialised training, challenges with professionalism and inconsistencies in the recognition and remuneration of specialists across medical, nursing and pharmacy cadres within existing service schemes. There is a need for harmonisation between specialisation/super specialisation and the scheme of services. This harmonisation is crucial to ensure the provision of quality healthcare services. Furthermore, harmonisation requires multistakeholder engagement to realise universal health coverage strategies.

In the last 60 years, newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) has expanded as a public health intervention from a single severe childhood genetic disease (SCGD) to up to as many as 80 SCGD and testing of ~40 million newborns/year worldwide. However, the gap between current NBS and its potential to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and global equity of healthcare delivery for SCGD is large and rapidly growing. There are now effective therapeutic interventions—drugs, diets, devices and surgeries—for up to 2000 SCGD. Since almost all SCGD can be identified by bloodspot genome sequencing, it has been a longstanding goal to supplement current NBS with genome sequencing-based NBS (gNBS) for all eligible SCGD. We recently described a novel gNBS platform (named Begin Newborn Genome Sequencing (BeginNGS)) with the potential to overcome several major challenges to gNBS (cost, scalability, false positives and an unprepared healthcare workforce). A pilot clinical trial of BeginNGS for 412 SCGD in a level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) had a true positive rate of 4.2%, sensitivity of 83%, positive predictive value of 100% and clinical utility rate of 4.2%, indicating readiness of the platform for use in a powered, multicentre study.

The BeginNGS study is a single group, international, multicentre, adaptive clinical trial to compare utility, acceptability, feasibility and cost-effectiveness of BeginNGS gNBS (experimental intervention) with standard NBS (control). A minimum of 10 000 neonates (aged 50 000 US children per year.

This study was approved by the WCG Clinical institutional review board on 14 February 2024, and the most recent amendment approved on 7 October 2025 (approval number 20235517). Study findings will be shared through research consortium workshops, national and international conferences, community presentations and peer-reviewed journals.

NCT06306521.

Caesarean section (CS) is a lifesaving intervention which can be used when complications arise during pregnancy or delivery. In the last...

Persons living with HIV (PLWH) have an augmented risk of cardiovascular disease, including atherosclerosis and myocardial dysfunction, despite effective viral suppression with antiretroviral therapy. Despite the majority of PLWH residing in sub-Saharan Africa, there are limited reports from the region on structural cardiovascular changes due to this residual risk.

The Early Structural Cardiovascular Disease, HIV, and Tuberculosis in East Africa (ASANTE) cross-sectional study will be conducted in a public hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. It will enrol 400 participants (50% women, 50% PLWH) to undergo cardiovascular phenotyping using multimodal imaging (coronary CT angiography (CCTA) and echocardiography) and banking of biological samples (whole blood, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, plasma and urine). We will define the prevalence of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis by CCTA and subclinical myocardial dysfunction by transthoracic echocardiography and evaluate both traditional and non-traditional risk factors, including endemic infections such as latent tuberculosis. This study will contribute important data on phenotypes of and risk factors for HIV-associated cardiovascular disease in this understudied region.

Ethical approval for the ASANTE study was granted by the University of Nairobi-Kenyatta National Hospital Ethical Review Committee, Nairobi, Kenya, and the University of Washington Institutional Review Board, USA. Results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.