Background: Perinatal mortality is a major global public health concern, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite perinatal mortality being a major public health concern in SSA, there are very limited studies on the incidence and factors associated with perinatal mortality. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the factors associated with perinatal mortality in SSA. Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted based on the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data of 27 SSA countries. About 314,099 births in the preceding five years of the surveys were considered for the analysis. A multilevel binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with perinatal mortality. Deviance (-2Log-Likelihood Ratio (LLR)) was used for model comparison. The Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with the 5% Confidence Interval (CI) of the best-fitted model was used to verify the significant association between factors and perinatal mortality. Results: The perinatal mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was 37.31 per 1,000 births (95% CI: 36.65, 37.98). In the final best-fit model, factors significantly associated with higher perinatal mortality included media exposure (AOR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.17), maternal age ≥ 35 years (AOR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.21), health facility delivery (AOR: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.15), having 2–4 births (AOR: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.25, 1.47), five or more births (AOR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.53, 1.86), residence in West Africa (AOR: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.24, 1.36) or Central Africa (AOR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.11), rural residency (AOR: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.13), and difficulty accessing a health facility (AOR: 1.06, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.10). In contrast, factors significantly associated with lower perinatal mortality were a preceding birth interval of 2–4 years (AOR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.67, 0.74) or five or more years (AOR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.84, 0.97), Antenatal Care (ANC) visit (AOR: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.63, 0.69), higher education levels (AOR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.73, 0.93), middle household wealth (AOR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.88, 0.98), and richer household wealth (AOR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.87, 0.99). Conclusion: Perinatal mortality was a major public health problem in SSA. Maternal socio-demographic, obstetrical, and healthcare-related factors are significantly associated with perinatal mortality. The findings of this study highlighted the need for holistic healthcare interventions targeting enhancing maternal healthcare services to reduce the incidence of perinatal mortality.

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is the most prevalent form of violence against women globally and is more prevalent than rape or other violent attacks by strangers. Different observational studies have established a strong positive association between alcohol use and intimate partner violence. Even though there are a lot of studies that show the association between partner alcohol use and intimate partner violence limited studies were conducted that show the direct causative relations of partner alcohol use and IPV among reproductive-age women in East Africa. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of partner alcohol use on intimate partner violence in East Africa’s recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data with Propensity Score Matching (PSM). Community-based cross-sectional study design with a propensity score matching was used from the East African countries’ DHS data. A total of the weighted sample size of 72,554 reproductive-age women was used for this study. Propensity score matching analysis was conducted to determine the causal relation between partner alcohol use and intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence was the outcome variable and partner alcohol use was the treatment variable. Propensity score matching was carried out through Stata software by using psmatch2 of the logit-based model. The assumption of common support was verified and achieved. Mantel-Haenszel boundaries have been used to investigate the possibility of hidden bias in the outcome. The prevalence of partner alcohol use and intimate partner violence from East African countries was 37.94 with a CI of (37.58%, 38.29%) and 41.45% with a CI (41.09%, 41.80%) respectively. Partner alcohol use contributed to a 2.78% increase in intimate partner violence according to the estimated average treatment on treated values in the treated and control groups were 59.41% and 31.51%, respectively. Ultimately, it was found that among all research participants, the average effect on the population as a whole was 25.33%. We conclude that partner alcohol use has a direct cause for intimate partner violence. Therefore, controlling partner alcohol consumption can reduce the burden of intimate partner violence.

Background: Despite various interventions to combat child malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, wasting remains a critical public health concern for children aged 6–59 months. Wasting is a significant predictor of child survival and development, with a heightened risk of mortality among children. However, there is a lack of recent comprehensive data on the prevalence, severity level, and factors contributing to wasting in this age group.Objective: To identify the severity levels of wasting and its individual and community-level factors contributing to wasting among children aged 6–59 months in Sub-Saharan African countries.Methods: This research utilized Demographic and Health Survey data from 34 Sub-Saharan African countries, spanning the period from 2007 to 2022. The study included a weighted sample of 180,317 6–59-month-old children. We employed a multilevel proportional odds model to identify factors predicting the severity of wasting. Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were reported to demonstrate significant relationships (p < 0.05) in the final model.Results: In Sub-Saharan Africa, 7.09% of children aged 6–59 months experience wasting (95% CI: 6.97, 7.20%). Among these children, the prevalence of moderate wasting is 4.97% (95% CI: 4.90, 5.10%), while severe wasting affects 2.12% (95% CI: 2.0, 2.20%). Factors such as term/post-term babies, wealth, frequency of feeding, improved toilet facilities, water sources, employed and educated mothers, rural residence, high community maternal education, and community media exposure are strongly associated with a lower chance of experiencing severe form of wasting. Conversely, birth order, family size, breastfeeding, diarrhea, cough, and fever, high community poverty, female household heads, and all Sub-Saharan Africa regions are linked to higher levels of wasting.Conclusion: The study findings underscore the persistent challenge of wasting among Sub-Saharan Africa’s children, with 7.09% affected, of which 4.97% experience moderate wasting and 2.12% severe wasting. The identified predictors of wasting highlight the complex interplay of socio-economic, environmental, and health-related determinants. To address this issue improve access to healthcare and nutrition services, enhance sanitation infrastructure, promote women’s empowerment, and implement community-based education programs. Additionally, prioritize early detection through routine screening and strengthen health systems’ capacity to provide timely interventions.

Women’s high-risk fertility behavior, marked by short birth intervals, higher birth order, and early maternal age at childbirth, has been scientifically proven to have detrimental health effects on both the mother and child. Despite the recognized consequences, there is a limited body of research examining the factors that contribute to high-risk fertility behavior in Tanzania. Hence, this study seeks to identify the prevalence of high-risk fertility behavior and associated factors among women of reproductive age within the Tanzanian context. This study analyzed data from the 2022 Tanzania’s Demography and Health Survey, focusing on 11,380 women of childbearing age. To deal with the survey’s clustered structure and the binary nature of the outcome variable, a multi-level mixed-effect generalized linear model (Poisson regression with robust error variance) was employed. The Statistical significance of the predictor was assessed using adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) with 95% confidence intervals. The prevalence of high-risk fertility behavior among Tanzanian women was 71.55% (95% CI = 70.71, 72.37). Women’s educational levels, Age of women, wealth index, media exposure, decision-making autonomy, contraceptive use, and rural residence were found to be predictors of high-risk fertility behavior. a considerable number of women in Tanzanian have encountered High-risk fertility Behaviors. This is a significant concern, posing a notable challenge to the healthcare system. Addressing this issue requires a comprehensive and coordinated approach that involves all stakeholders. Policymakers should consider developing programs that take into account predictors like wealth, education, and residence, which contribute to women’s vulnerability to high-risk fertility behavior. Focusing on women residing in areas with a high prevalence of high-risk fertility behavior could be instrumental in tackling the root causes of the problem.

Postpartum depression is a non-psychotic depressive illness that affects women who have recently given birth. Symptoms of the illness include thoughts of suicide, low self-worth, guilt about not being able to care for their newborn, blaming themselves thoughts, and nervousness. Despite there being many studies conducted at the hospital level there are limited studies conducted at the national level to determine the individual and community level factors. Depression during childbirth can have several detrimental effects, including increased risk of complication and decreased satisfaction with birth, decreased trust in medical facilities, and decreased women's participation in maternity and newborn healthcare units. Therefore, this study amid to reveal the prevalence of postpartum depression and associated factors at individual and community levels among women who give birth in Mozambique's recent data Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Multilevel logistic regression analysis was carried out from the recent Demographic and Health Survey data. A total of 5,468 sample sizes of Mozambique DHS data were used for this secondary data analysis. At individual and community level factors were assessed to determine the burden of postpartum depression at a p-value of 0.05 with a 95 % CI with AOR. The prevalence of postpartum depression among women who give birth from the recent Mozambique DHS data was 24.60 % with a CI of 23.47 %–25.75 %. No education [AOD = 1.37: 95 % CI; (1.26, 1.68)] at individual level and [AOR = 3.14:95 % CI; (2.39, 5.18)] at the community level, widowed/divorced [AOR = 1.73: 95%CI; (1.14, 3.61)], and No occupation [AOR = 1.35:95 % CI; (1.19, 1.64)] were the associated variables with postpartum depression. Nearly three women out of ten women who give birth develop postpartum depression. Low education status, widowed/divorced, and no occupation were the associated factors with postpartum depression. Therefore, enhancing education, creating job opportunities, and keeping married will reduce the burden of postpartum depression. This study indicates maternal depression post-delivery should be given attention by the National Health Office and other police makers. Educational level should be improved to have a continuous and sharp change in maternal depression after delivery.

Background: Violence against women, particularly intimate partner violence, is a significant Concern for public health as well as a violation of the human rights of women especially in low and middle-income countries. However, there was limited evidence how soon an ever-married women experience intimate partner violence in Africa. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the timing of first intimate partner violence (FIPV) among ever-married women in 30 SSA countries and to identify the risk factors of the timing. Methods: The present study has utilized 125,731 weighted samples, who participated in the domestic violence module of the survey from Demographic and Health Surveys of 30 SSA countries. The Gompertz gamma shared frailty model was fitted to determine the predictors. For model evaluation, the theta value, Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC), and deviance were used. The Adjusted Hazard Ratio (AHR) with a 95% Confidence Interval (CI) was reported in the multivariable Gompertz gamma shared frailty model to highlight the strength and statistical significance of the associations. Result: One-third (31.02%) of ever-married women had reported experiencing IPV. The overall incidence rate of FIPV was 57.68 persons per 1000 person-years (95% CI = 50.61–65.76). Age at marriage, age difference, educational status, employment, residence, women’s decision-making autonomy, husband who drink alcohol and wealth status were significantly associated with the timing of FIPV. Conclusion: The findings show that ever-married women are at high and increasing risk of violence. Thus, we recommend establishing effective health and legal response services for IPV, strengthening laws governing the sale and purchase of alcohol, empowering women, raising the educational attainment of women, and putting policies in place to combat the culture of societal tolerance for IPV all contribute to the empowerment of women.