Malnutrition is a major cause of child morbidity and mortality. There are several interventions to prevent the condition but it is unclear how well they are taken up by both malnourished and well nourished children and their mothers and the extent to which this is influenced by socio-economic factors. We examined socio-economic factors, health outcomes and the uptake of interventions to prevent malnutrition by mothers of malnourished and well-nourished in under-fives attending Princess Marie Louise Children's Hospital (PML). An unmatched case control study of malnourished and well-nourished children and their mothers was conducted at PML, the largest facility for managing malnutrition in Ghanaian children. Malnourished children with moderate and severe acute malnutrition were recruited and compared with a group of well-nourished children attending the hospital. Weight-for-height was used to classify nutritional status. Record forms and a semi-structured questionnaire were used for data collection, which was analysed with Stata 11.0 software. In all, 182 malnourished and 189 well-nourished children and their mothers/carers participated in the study. Children aged 6–12 months old formed more than half of the malnourished children. The socio-demographic factors associated with malnutrition in the multivariate analysis were age ≤24 months and a monthly family income of ≤200 GH Cedis. Whereas among the health outcomes, low birth weight, an episode of diarrhoea and the presence of developmental delay were associated with malnutrition. Among the interventions, inadequate antenatal visits, faltering growth and not de-worming one's child were associated with malnutrition in the multivariate analysis. Immunisation and Vitamin A supplementation were not associated with malnutrition. Missed opportunities for intervention were encountered. Poverty remains an important underlying cause of malnutrition in children attending Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital. Specific and targeted interventions are needed to address this and must include efforts to prevent low birthweight and diarrhoea, and reduce health inequalities. Regular antenatal clinic attendance, de-worming of children and growth monitoring should also be encouraged. However, further studies are needed on the timing and use of information on growth faltering to prevent severe forms of malnutrition.

Maternal socio-demographic and health profiles are important determinants of malnutrition in children. In the 1990s, malnutrition was associated with low-birth-weight, young mothers and low maternal socio-economic status at Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital (PML). It is not known how this has changed by efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We examined socio-demographic and health profiles of mothers of children with acute malnutrition and those without the condition to identify risk factors for malnutrition and focus on preventive efforts. An unmatched case–control study was conducted in 2013 at PML, the largest facility for treating malnourished children in Ghana in 2013. Mothers of children with moderate and severe acute malnutrition were compared with mothers of well-nourished children. Weight-for-height was used to classify malnutrition. Record forms and a semi-structured questionnaire were used for data collection. An analysis was done with Stata 11.0 software. Altogether, 371 mothers were studied consisting of 182 mothers of malnourished children and 189 mothers of well-nourished children. Mothers of malnourished children were more likely to be unmarried or cohabiting, have lower family incomes, HIV infection and chronic disease. They were less likely to stay with or provide alternative care for their child. Awareness and use of social services, health insurance and a cash transfer programme were low. A remarkable reduction in the number of malnourished children occurred when families earned more than $250 USD a month. Over-nutrition was present in both groups of mothers. Low family income, unmarried status and type of child care were the main social determinants of malnutrition. There appears to be a reduction in the number of other poor socio-demographic characteristics in both the study and control groups compared to results from a previous study at the same centre, probably because of efforts toward attaining the MDGs. These findings suggest that prevention and optimum management need to involve multidisciplinary teams consisting of health professionals, social workers and/or key workers to enable families at risk to access social care and social protection interventions (MDG 1). This will make the management of malnutrition more effective, prevent relapse, protect the next child and address maternal over-nutrition.

Millions of children under the age of 5 years die every year. Some of these deaths occur in hospitals and are related to both clinical characteristics and modifiable risk factors. This study investigates the association between malnutrition and mortality and profiles the presenting features in a case-control study of children under 5 years of age who attended Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital (PML) in 2011. A total of 120 cases of children under the age of 5 years who were admitted to hospital and died there were matched by sex and age to 120 controls who were children who survived on 1:1 basis from a record of patients admitted to PML in 2011. Data on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were extracted from the medical records of the study participants. The association between malnutrition and mortality was determined by conditional logistic regression reported as odds ratios (OR) and their 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI). P < 0.05 was considered significant in all analyses. Malnutrition was significantly associated with mortality in children under-5 years of age attending PML. In the adjusted analysis, the odds of dying was significantly higher in malnourished children compared with well-nourished children (adjusted OR = 4.32 [95 % CI, 1.33–13.92], p = 0.014]). In addition, a previous episode of diarrhoea within the last year was associated with mortality (adjusted OR = 7.25 [95 % CI, 1.68–31.22], p = 0.008). The proportion of patients with noisy or difficulty breathing, pallor, lethargic appearance, ill-looking appearance, febrile convulsion, altered sensorium, skin lesions, hepatomegaly or oedema was significantly higher among cases than in controls (p < 0.05). Malnutrition and a previous episode of diarrhoea within the last year were the main risk factors for mortality. Efforts to prevent malnutrition and diarrhoea must be intensified and a protocol to follow-up diarrhoea patients may be beneficial. Six out of the nine clinical features that were proportionally higher in children who died than those who survived, are captured by the Emergency Triage Assessment and Treatment (ETAT) screening protocol as emergency or priority signs, giving credence to the use of ETAT in this setting. Thus education of health professionals on the use of the tool to triage patients should be on-going. However, further studies are needed to establish whether the other clinical signs are consistently associated with mortality and if so, whether they can be included among triage criteria, danger signs or in a prognostic scoring system for this setting.

High global neonatal deaths have triggered efforts to improve facility-based care. However, the outcomes achievable at different levels of care are unclear. This study compared morbidity and mortality patterns of newborns admitted to a regional and a district hospital in Ghana to determine outcome, risk and modifiable factors associated with mortality. This study compared morbidity and mortality patterns of newborns admitted to a regional and a district hospital in Ghana to determine outcome, risk and modifiable factors associated with mortality A cross-sectional study involving a records-review over one year at the Upper West Regional Hospital, and three years at St Joseph’s District Hospital, Jirapa was carried out. Age, sex, gestational age, weight, duration of admission, diagnosis, among others were examined. The data were analysed and statistical inference made. Altogether, 2004 newborns were examined, comprising 1,241(62%) from St Joseph’s District Hospital and 763(38%) from Upper West Regional Hospital. The proportion of neonatal deaths was similar, 8.94% (St Joseph’s District Hospital) and 8.91% (Upper West Regional Hospital). Prematurity, neonatal sepsis, birth asphyxia, low birth weight, neonatal jaundice and pneumonia contributed the most to mortality and suspected infections including malaria accounted for almost half (45.5%). Mortality was significantly associated with duration of stay of 48 hours, being premature, and being younger than 3 days. Majority of the mortality among the neonates admitted was due to preventable causes. Better stabilization and further studies on the epidemiology of sepsis, prematurity, low birth weight, including the contribution of malaria to these and outcome of transferred neonates are needed.

Optimum care of sick neonates often involves transporting them across different levels of care. Since their condition may deteriorate over time, attention needs to be paid to travel distances and how they are transferred. We examined the mode of transport, distances travelled, condition on arrival and outcome of outborn neonates admitted to a district and a regional hospital in Ghana using a cross-sectional study involving caregivers of neonates admitted to these hospitals. Information on referral characteristics and outcome were obtained from questionnaires and the child’s case notes. Overall, 153 caregivers and babies were studied. Twelve deaths, 7.8%, occurred. Neonates who died spent a median duration of 120 min at the first health facility they visited compared with 30 min spent by survivors; they travelled mostly by public buses, (41.7%), compared with 36.0% of survivors who used taxis. Majority of survivors, 70.2%, had normal heart rates on arrival compared with only 41.7% of neonates who died; hypothermia was present in 66.7% compared with 47.6% of survivors. These findings indicate that the logistics for neonatal transport were inadequate to keep the neonates stable during the transfer process, thus many of them were compromised especially those who died. Further studies are warranted.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have led to reductions in child mortality world-wide. This has, invariably, led to the changes in the epidemiology of diseases associated with child mortality. Although facility based data do not capture all deaths, they provide an opportunity to confirm diagnoses and insight into these changes which are relevant for further disease control. To identify changes in the disease pattern of children who died at the Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital (PML) in Ghana from 2003–2013. A cross sectional review of mortality data was carried out at PML. The age, sex, duration of admission and diagnosis of consecutive patients who died at the hospital between 2003 and 2013 were reviewed. This information was entered into an Access database and analysed using Stata 11.0 software. Altogether, 1314 deaths (3.6%) occurred out of a total of 37,012 admissions. The majority of the deaths, 1187 (90.3%), occurred in children under the age of 5 years. While deaths caused by malaria, malnutrition, HIV infection and diarrhoea decreased, deaths caused by pneumonia were rising. Suspected septicaemia and meningitis showed a fluctuating trend with only a modest decrease between 2012 and 2013. The ten leading causes of mortality among under-fives were malnutrition, 363 (30.6%); septicaemia, 301 (25.4%); pneumonia, 218 (18.4%); HIV infection, 183 (15.4%); malaria, 155 (13.1%); anaemia, 135 (11.4%); gastroenteritis/dehydration, 110 (9.3%); meningitis, 58 (4.9%); tuberculosis, 34 (2.9%) and hypoglycaemia, 27 (2.3%). For children aged 5–9 years, the leading causes of mortality were malaria, 42 (42.9%); HIV infection, 27 (27.6%); anaemia, 14 (14.3%); septicaemia, 12 (12.2%); meningitis, 10 (10.2%); malnutrition, 9 (9.2%); tuberculosis, 5 (5.1%); pneumonia, 4 (4.1%); encephalopathy, 3 (3.1%); typhoid fever, 3 (3.1%) and lymphoma, 3 (3.1%). In the adolescent age group, malaria, 8 (27.6%); anaemia, 6 (20.7%); HIV infection, 5 (17.2%); sickle cell disease, 3 (10.3%) and meningitis, 3 (10.3%) were most common. There has been a decline in the under-five mortality at PML over the years; however, deaths caused by pneumonia appear to be rising. This highlights the need for better diagnostic services, wider HIV screening and clinical audits to improve outcomes in order to achieve further reductions in child mortality and maintain the gains.