Reproductive Health Care Delivery Research Articles

Addressing Social and Structural Determinants of Health in the Delivery of Reproductive Health Care: ACOG Committee Statement No. 11.

Social and structural determinants of health include historical, social, political, and economic forces, many of which are rooted in racism and inequality, that shape the relationship between environmental conditions and individual health. Unmet social needs can increase the risk of many conditions treated by obstetrician-gynecologists (ob-gyns), including, but not limited to, preterm birth, unintended pregnancy, infertility, cervical cancer, breast cancer, and maternal mortality. An individual health care professional's biases (whether overt or unconscious) affect delivery of care and may exacerbate and reinforce health disparities through inequitable treatment. Obstetrician-gynecologists and other health care professionals should seek to understand patients' health care decision making not simply as patients' individual-level behavior, but rather as the result of intersecting sociopolitical conditions, structural inequities, and social needs that create and maintain inequalities in health and health care. Recognizing the importance of social and structural determinants of health can help ob-gyns and other health care professionals to better understand patients, effectively communicate about health-related conditions and behavior, and contribute to improved health outcomes, including patients' experience of care and their trust in the health care system.

Family planning service disruptions in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from health facilities in seven low- and middle-income countries.

Many speculated that COVID-19 would severely restrict the delivery of essential health services, including family planning (FP), but evidence of this impact is limited, partly due to data limitations. We use cross-sectional data collected from regional and national samples of health facilities (n = 2,610) offering FP across seven low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) between 2019 and 2021, with longitudinal data from four geographies, to examine reported disruptions to the FP service environment during COVID-19, assess how these disruptions varied according to health system characteristics, and evaluate how disruptions evolved throughout the first two years of the pandemic, relative to a pre-pandemic period. Findings show significant variation in the impact of COVID-19 on facility-based FP services across LMICs, with the largest disruptions to services occurring in Rajasthan, India, where COVID-19 cases were highest among geographies sampled, while in most sub-Saharan African settings there were limited disruptions impacting FP service availability, method provision, and contraceptive supplies. Facility-reported disruptions to care were not reflected in observed changes to the number of FP clients or types of stockouts experienced in the first two years of the pandemic. Public and higher-level facilities were generally less likely to experience COVID-19-related disruptions to FP services, suggesting policy mitigation measures-particularly those implemented among government-operated health facilities-may have been critical to ensuring sustained delivery of reproductive healthcare during the pandemic.

Critiquing the Unintended Pregnancy Framework.

The unintended pregnancy framework, a central tenet of sexual and reproductive health care delivery and research, has been depicted as an adverse outcome that should be prevented. There is growing criticism of the inadequacies of this framework, although little modification in public health guidelines, measurement, or clinical practice has been seen. This article critically reviews the literature on unintended pregnancy to encourage reflection on how this framework has negatively influenced practice and to inspire the advancement of more patient-centered care approaches. We begin by outlining the historical origins of the unintended pregnancy framework and review how this framework mischaracterizes patients' lived experiences, fails to account for structural inequities, contributes to stigma, and is built upon weakly supported claims of a negative impact on health outcomes. We close with a discussion of the relationship between health care provision and unintended pregnancy care and the implications and recommendations for realigning clinical practice, research, and policy goals.

Evaluating the MyPath web-based reproductive decision support tool in VA primary care: Protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized trial

BackgroundCounseling to identify and support individuals' desires for family formation is a key component of preventive health care that is often absent in primary care visits. This study evaluates a novel, web-based, person-centered intervention to increase the frequency and quality of communication about reproductive goals and healthcare needs in Veterans Health Administration (VA) primary care. MethodsWe describe a hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation cluster randomized controlled trial in seven VA healthcare systems testing a web-based reproductive health decision support tool (MyPath). VA primary care providers are enrolled and randomized to intervention or usual care arms. Veterans scheduled to see intervention-arm providers receive a text message inviting them to use MyPath ahead of their appointment; Veterans scheduled to see control-arm providers receive usual care. Target enrollment is 36 providers and 456 Veterans. Outcomes are assessed by Veteran self-report after the visit and at 3- and 6-months follow-up. The primary outcome is occurrence of reproductive health discussions involving shared decision making; secondary outcomes include measures of communication, knowledge, decision conflict, contraceptive utilization, and receipt of services related to prepregnancy health. Data on implementation barriers, facilitators and cost are collected. ResultsThe trial is ongoing with no results to report. We have enrolled 36 primary care providers across 7 VA healthcare systems and recruitment of Veterans is ongoing. ConclusionsResults will inform efforts to increase the quality and person-centeredness of reproductive healthcare delivery in primary care and to operationalize and scale up use of digital decision support tools in clinical settings.Trial Registration:http://ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04584294Trial Status: Recruiting.

Cluster-randomized trial to evaluate the implementation of reproductive health care in cancer care delivery in community oncology practices: Results from ECOG-ACRIN E1Q11.

1519 Background: Reproductive health (RH) needs of women newly diagnosed with cancer have been poorly addressed. RH management must be aligned with cancer treatment to optimize cancer survivorship. The primary objective of the EROS trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing RH programming to improve RH care among reproductive aged women with cancer. Methods: E1Q11 used a cluster randomized design with 17 NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) Sites randomized to intervention (n = 8) or usual care (n = 9). Intervention sites received study-specific training delivered via webinar and tools to support RH care implementation. Pre-menopausal women aged 15-55 years newly diagnosed with cancer and pre-initiation of treatment were eligible. The primary endpoint was defined as the delivery of RH goal-concordant management within the first 3 months since enrollment. Data were obtained through patient completed questionnaires and medical record abstraction forms at baseline and 3 months. The management rate was analyzed using generalized estimating equations (GEEs) method. Results: From 7/2016 - 4/2021, 434 women enrolled (156 intervention, 278 usual care) and 392 were analyzable. The median age was 41 years. Patients self-identified as White 67.5%; Black 21.1%; Hispanic 15.9%. Most patients had breast cancer (83.5%) and local/regional disease (69.5%). A higher proportion of patients at intervention sites (77.1%, 108/140, 90% CI: 0.71-0.83) received goal-concordant RH care compared to patients enrolled from usual care sites (61.5%; 155/252, 90% CI: 0.56, 0.67). A total of 263/392 (67.1%) patients received goal-concordant RH care within the first 3 months of enrollment. The GEE analysis demonstrated patients enrolled from intervention sites were approximately twice more likely to receive goal- concordant RH care than patients at usual care sites (odds ratio, OR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.30, 3.44, p = 0.003). Younger age (< / = 35 years vs. > 35 years) and better ECOG performance status (PS 0 vs. PS 1-3) were statistically associated with the adoption of RH goal-concordant management (OR = 2.85, 95% CI: 1.59, 5.12, p = 0.0004 and OR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.04, 3.63, p = 0.04, respectively). The intervention effect on the primary endpoint remained after age and PS were adjusted in the model (adjusted OR = 2.23, 95% CI: 1.30, 3.84, p = 0.004). Conclusions: The EROS trial demonstrated significant improvement of goal-concordant reproductive health management amongst racially diverse women newly diagnosed with cancer treated in community oncology practices. Sites randomized to intervention more frequently delivered reproductive care compared to usual care sites. Findings support wider implementation of this intervention to improve reproductive health care delivery, improving cancer care quality for pre-menopausal women diagnosed with cancer. Clinical trial information: NCT01806129.

Quality Initiative to Increase Delivery of Adolescent Hospital-Based Reproductive Health Care.

Hospitals are an important nontraditional setting in which to address adolescent reproductive health. However, opportunities for intervention are frequently missed, especially for boys and patients hospitalized for noningestion complaints. Our global aim was to increase delivery of reproductive health care to adolescents hospitalized through our children's hospital Pediatric Hospital Medicine service. We performed 2 quality improvement intervention cycles: (1) provider education and monthly reminder e-mails and (2) an automated electronic health record (EHR) adolescent history and physical note template with social history prompts while discontinuing reminder e-mails. The primary outcome measure was sexual history documentation (SHD). Secondary measures were sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and contraception provision. Statistical process control charts were used to analyze effectiveness of interventions. From July 2018 through June 2019, 528 Primary Hospital Medicine encounters were included in this study and compared with published baseline data on 150 encounters. Control charts revealed a special cause increase in SHD from 60% to 82% overall, along with 37% to 73% for boys and 57% to 80% for noningestion hospitalizations. Increased SHD correlated with cycle 1 and was maintained through cycle 2. Percent STI testing significantly increased but did not shift or trend toward special cause variation. Contraception provision, length of stay, and patient relations consultations were not affected. The interventions were successful in increasing SHD, including among boys and noningestion hospitalizations. The EHR enhancement maintained these increases after reminder emails were discontinued. Future interventions should specifically address STI testing and provision of contraception.

Decision-making for prenatal genetic screening: how will pregnant women navigate a growing number of aneuploidy and carrier screening options?

BackgroundPrenatal genetic screens, including carrier screening (CS) and aneuploidy screening (AS), comprise an important component of reproductive healthcare delivery. Clinical practice guidelines emphasize the importance of informed decision-making and patient’s preferences regarding the use of these screens. Yet, it is unclear how to achieve this ideal as prenatal genetic screening options rapidly become more complex and increasingly available to patients. With increased complexity and availability of reproductive testing options, decision-support strategies are critical to prepare patients to consider AS and/or CS.MethodsA self-administered survey evaluated knowledge and decision-making preferences for expanded carrier (CS) and aneuploidy (AS) prenatal screening. The survey was administered to participants before their first prenatal visit to assess baseline decision-making needs and preference at the initiation of prenatal care. Analysis was approached as a descriptive process.ResultsParticipants had similar familiarity with the concepts associated with AS compared to CS; mean knowledge scores for CS was 0.59 [possible range 0.00 to 1.00] and 0.55 for AS. Participants reported preferences to learn about a range of conditions, including those with severe or mild impact, childhood-onset, and adult-onset. Decision-making preference with respect to learning about the associated disease phenotypes for the contained on AS and CS panel shifted with the complexity of the panel, with a greater preference to learn about conditions post-test compared pre-test education as panels increased from 5 to 100 conditions.ConclusionPatients’ baseline knowledge of prenatal genetic screens coupled with evolving decision-making preferences presents challenges for the delivery of prenatal genetic screens. This calls for the development and implementation of innovative approaches to support pregnant patients’ decision-making commensurate with advances in prenatal genomics.

How Can the Experiences of Black Women Living With HIV Inform Equitable and Respectful Reproductive Health Care Delivery?

Black women living with HIV (BWLWH) contend with injuries of injustice, which manifest in restricted reproductive autonomy and decision-making power in social and medical settings. Mitigating threats to reproductive autonomy calls for innovations that consider patients' needs and offer insights on how historically situated marginalization influences today's institutional, political, and economic systems and shapes reproductive decision making. In addition to cross-disciplinary expertise and collaboration, integrating structural competency into reproductive health care requires demonstrating respect for the autonomy, lived experiences, and preferences of BWLWH.

Sexual and reproductive healthcare for adolescent and young adult women with epilepsy: A qualitative study of pediatric neurologists and epileptologists

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to explore the attitudes and practices of pediatric neurologists and epileptologists regarding sexual and reproductive healthcare for adolescent and young adult women with epilepsy (WWE). BackgroundAdolescent and young adult WWE have unique sexual and reproductive healthcare needs, including counseling on teratogenesis, folic acid, and interactions between contraception and antiseizure medications. There are no prior studies regarding sexual and reproductive healthcare practices of pediatric neurologists or epileptologists. Design/methodsIndividual semi-structured interviews were conducted with pediatric neurologists and epileptologists regarding their attitudes, practices, and experiences with sexual and reproductive healthcare for adolescent and young adult WWE. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative analysis was conducted using a thematic analysis approach. ResultsSix child neurologists and 10 epileptologists (44% male) participated. Major themes included the following: (1) Sexual and reproductive healthcare is important for adolescent WWE, and neurologists have a key role in providing this care. (2) Sexual and reproductive healthcare should be comanaged with a primary care provider or women's health provider although neurologists have significant concerns regarding comanagement. (3) There is wide variability in sexual and reproductive healthcare practice among pediatric neurologists and epileptologists. Important subthemes included parent education and differences in sexual and reproductive healthcare practices for women with intellectual disabilities. (4) Many systemic and interpersonal barriers exist to delivering sexual and reproductive healthcare to adolescent and young adult WWE. Important barriers included limited time; provider, patient, or family discomfort; and lack of necessary knowledge or expertise. (5) Providers desire standardization of sexual and reproductive healthcare for adolescent WWE along with patient and provider education. ConclusionThis is the first study to assess attitudes and practices of pediatric neurologists and epileptologists regarding sexual and reproductive healthcare for adolescent and young adult WWE. Our findings suggest that there is a need for development of improved systems for sexual and reproductive healthcare delivery and comanagement for adolescent and young adult WWE. Providers identified many barriers and facilitators that might serve as the basis for interventions to improve care.

Exploring the factors impacting on access and acceptance of sexual and reproductive health services provided by adolescent-friendly health services in Nepal.

Adolescent-friendly health programs have been in place in Nepal since 2008, yet uptake of the services for sexual and reproductive health remains suboptimal. For uptake of these services to improve, a rich understanding is needed of the factors impacting their acceptance and utilization from the perspectives of adolescents, health care staff, and key community informants. This study applied a qualitative research design involving six focus groups with 52 adolescents and in-depth interviews with 16 adolescents, 13 key informants, and 9 health care providers from six adolescent-friendly health facilities in Nepal. Thematic analysis was conducted for data analysis. The key themes identified as barriers include access issues due to travel, institutional health care barriers, perceived lack of privacy and confidentiality, and the unprofessional attitudes of staff towards the sexual health needs of adolescents. These themes are underpinned by gendered ideology and a moral framework around the sexual behavior of adolescents. Interview responses suggested that health care providers take a policing role in prescribing adolescents’ conformity to this moral framework in their delivery of reproductive health care and services. While physical access to health services may be problematic for some adolescents, this is not the priority issue. Attention needs to be given to increasing the capacity of health care providers to deliver services without imposing their own and socially sanctioned moral frameworks around adolescent sexual behavior. Such capacity building should include training that is experiential and emphasizes the importance of confidentiality and non-judgmental attitudes.

“It's not something you talk about really”: information barriers encountered by women who travel long distances for abortion care

ObjectiveFor individuals traveling significant distances for time-sensitive abortion care, accurate information about service options and locations is critical, but little is known regarding information barriers that individuals may encounter and strategies for circumventing these barriers. Study designIn early 2015, we conducted in-depth interviews with 29 patients who had traveled for abortion care at six facilities in Michigan and New Mexico. We identified information-related barriers that respondents encountered in understanding their pregnancy options and/or where to obtain an abortion between the time of pregnancy discovery, including any contact with a crisis pregnancy center, to the day of the abortion procedure through inductive and deductive analysis. ResultsWe identified two logistical information-related barriers — a general lack of reproductive-related knowledge and unhelpfulness on the part of perceived members of the healthcare community — and one broader barrier of perceived stigma within respondents' narratives. Of the seven respondents who did not encounter a logistical information-related barrier, having previous personal or close experience with abortion and internet savviness were both identified as strategies enabling them to circumvent the barriers. ConclusionLack of clear, easy-to-find and accurate information about abortion services and availability represents a key barrier to obtaining an abortion; health care providers play a crucial role in ensuring pregnant patients' right to informed consent within reproductive health care delivery. ImplicationsWomen's health care providers should provide their patients with the full spectrum of resources and referrals for pregnancy and abortion care; recent federal guidelines proposing to restrict abortion counseling and referral at Title X-funded facilities would only exacerbate the current challenges that pregnant patients encounter when seeking abortion-related information and further decrease linkages to timely, desired abortion care.

ACOG Committee Opinion No. 729: Importance of Social Determinants of Health and Cultural Awareness in the Delivery of Reproductive Health Care.

Awareness of the broader contexts that influence health supports respectful, patient-centered care that incorporates lived experiences, optimizes health outcomes, improves communication, and can help reduce health and health care inequities. Although there is little doubt that genetics and lifestyle play an important role in shaping the overall health of individuals, interdisciplinary researchers have demonstrated how the conditions in the environment in which people are born, live, work, and age, play equally as important a role in shaping health outcomes. These factors, referred to as social determinants of health, are shaped by historical, social, political, and economic forces and help explain the relationship between environmental conditions and individual health. Recognizing the importance of social determinants of health can help obstetrician-gynecologists and other health care providers better understand patients, effectively communicate about health-related conditions and behavior, and improve health outcomes.

Expanding access to contraceptive choice in Canada

Every woman should possess the power to decide whether or not she chooses to become pregnant at any given point in her life. Unplanned pregnancy may have a huge impact on a woman’s health, economic, and social well-being, and yet an estimated 41% of pregnancies worldwide are unintentional. There are a multitude of reversible contraceptive options available and many factors that contribute to a woman’s decision regarding which method is right for her. Efficacy, effort and side effect profile are important considerations and vary widely between methods. Surprisingly, condoms and the oral contraceptive pill, which have relatively high typical use failure rates at 21% and 9% respectively and require frequent user action, are the most popular reversible contraceptive options in Canada. In contrast, intrauterine contraceptive devices, with failure rates of <0.8% and almost no user action, have extremely poor uptake. Recognizing that the variation of side effect profiles will also impact use, this disconnect between efficacy, effort and use suggests that forces beyond the intrinsic merits of a contraceptive system play a role in these decisions. Cost and accessibility can both inhibit the use of intrauterine systems, which are a large upfront investment and require physician insertion. Peers, the media and providers all influence contraceptive decision-making and may also contribute their own bias. We advocate for providing public funding for all contraceptive options as well as engaging in open discussion with both patients and the public to improve our delivery of reproductive health care.

Strategies for transforming reproductive healthcare delivery in an integrated healthcare system: a national model with system-wide implications.

As the number of women serving in the US military has grown, so too has the number of women using the US Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System (VA). This poses tremendous opportunity to integrate reproductive health services across a national healthcare system. This review summarizes the approaches used to assess, rapidly design, and integrate VA's first National Reproductive Health Program. Compared with the civilian population, women Veterans have poorer health status including increased likelihood of medical comorbidities and mental health conditions. Given these complex health needs, a health systems approach that integrates reproductive health with other needs is essential in this vulnerable population. Delivery of high-quality reproductive healthcare must incorporate a systems perspective. Promoting major organizational and cultural change in a national system has required use of an evidence-based strategic framework, which has relied on several key tenets including the following: understanding the population of women Veterans served, developing research-clinical partnerships, building interdisciplinary initiatives for system-wide integration of reproductive healthcare, and developing innovative tools for enhancing care delivery. This approach can serve as a model for other healthcare systems committed to developing an integrated system of reproductive healthcare and addressing reproductive health conditions in women with complex needs.

Faith, Trust and the Perinatal Healthcare Maze in Urban India

How women access and utilise health services through pregnancy, childbirth and infancy needs to be understood if we are to improve the delivery of and access to appropriate healthcare. Drawing on ethnographic observations of clinic encounters and in-depth interviews with women in Bangalore, South India, this paper reports on the complexities of negotiating healthcare throughout the perinatal continuum in urban India. Key themes identified include faith and trust in health services, confusion over right to healthcare; and the contested nature of choice for women. What is revealed is a socially restrictive framework that results in choices that seem arbitrary, irrational and self-defeating; poor women being particularly vulnerable. Given the current policy support for public-private-partnerships in reproductive healthcare delivery in India, both public and private health services need to move substantially to achieve true partnership and provide care that is respectful and valued by women and children in urban India.

Access to reproductive health information by rural women in Nigeria

This study is a survey of access to reproductive health information amongst rural women in Nigeria with particular reference to Delta State. A total of 483 rural women of reproductive age (15 – 49 years) returned questionnaire; selected through simple random sampling, participated in the study. Questionnaire and interview were employed in gathering data for the study. The questionnaire was designed and administered to senior health workers in the 4 local government headquarters selected for this study. The data obtained were analyzed using simple percentages. Findings revealed that Reproductive Health information (RHI) providers do not exploit appropriate media for dissemination of information in rural communities. Appropriate media such as posters, film shows etc need to be employed in dissemination of health information in rural communities. RHI in appropriate format is yet to diffuse into the rural areas as a result of inadequate health centres and health workers in these areas. There is therefore the need for increased health workers and health centers. Most important is that the rural woman should be a focus in reproductive health care delivery. The study concludes that RHI for women of reproductive age in rural communities must be recognized and addressed as part of a continuum of care in RHI care delivery services. Suggestions to enhance RHI provision and utilization are proffered.

Male midwives: preferred managers of sexually transmitted infections in men in developing countries?

To describe demographic and practice characteristics of male and female midwives in private practice (MIPPs) in 10 cities of Peru, and their role in the delivery of reproductive health care, specifically management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). As part of an intervention trial in 10 cities in the provinces of Peru designed to improve STI management, detailed information was collected regarding the number of midwives in each city working in various types of practices. A door-to-door survey of all medical offices and institutions in each city was conducted. Each MIPP encountered was asked to answer a questionnaire regarding demographics, training, practice type(s), number of STI cases seen per month, and average earnings per consultation. Of the 905 midwives surveyed, 442 reported having a private practice, either exclusively or concurrently with other clinical positions; 99.3% of these MIPPs reported managing STI cases. Andean cities had the highest density of MIPPs, followed by jungle and coastal cities, respectively. Jungle cities had the largest proportion of male MIPPs (35.5%). While both male and female MIPPs reported seeing male patients, male MIPPs saw a significantly greater number than their female counterparts. In areas of Peru where physicians are scarce, MIPPs provide needed reproductive health services, including STI management. Male MIPPs in particular appear to serve as health care providers for male patients with STIs. This trend, which may exist in other developing countries with similar healthcare workforce demographics, highlights the need for new areas of training and health services research.

Nurses' Use of Global Information Systems for Provision of Outreach Reproductive Health Services to Internally Displaced Persons

A long and protracted civil war compounded by the occurrence of nature-related disasters have forced thousands of Somalis to take refuge in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) to escape violence and seek shelter. Dwellers of these camps have limited accessibility to and affordability of the fractured healthcare facilities located in nearby towns. A free, outreach, mobile, reproductive healthcare delivery system staffed with nurses and using an ambulance guided by a global information systems (GIS) map was established to address the accessibility and affordability issues hindering provision of quality reproductive healthcare to the women in the IDP camps and in the outskirts of Baidoa City, Somalia. All 14 IDP camps in Baidoa City were visited to determine the number of families/huts, and to acquire their global positioning system (GPS) central point locations. Global information systems (GIS) shape files containing major roads, river, and dwellings, and straight-line distances from the base clinic to each IDP camp were computed. The objective of creating and using this specially designed map was to help nurses in determining which camps realistically could be visited on a given day, and how best to access them considering the security situation and the condition of rain-affected areas in the city. Use of the GIS map was instrumental in facilitating the delivery of healthcare services to IDPs and ensuring that resources were adequately utilized. Free healthcare services were provided each work day for the month long duration of the project; 3,095 consultations were provided, inclusive of 948 consultations for children under the age of 16 years, and delivery of three babies. Creation and use of a simple, need-specific GIS map in this pilot project effectively aided the logistical planning and delivery of mobile, outreach reproductive health services by directing the ambulance and nurses safely to accessible IDP camps in an area marred with long and protracted disasters from both natural and human causes.

Provider Perceptions of Reproductive Health Service Quality in Jordanian Public Community Health Centers

Enhancing the quality of reproductive health care delivery in developing countries is a key prerequisite to increased utilization and sustainability of these services in the target population. Our objective was to assess the perception of quality of reproductive health (RH) care services provided by Jordanian Ministry of Health community-based centers from the perspective of service providers in these settings. A purposeful nationwide sample of 50 primary health care providers took part in five focus group discussions with the purpose of exploring their perceptions of the quality of care provided by their centers and perceived barriers to the provision of quality RH care. Health care providers felt that the quality of RH care provided by their centers was suboptimal. Focus group participants reported numerous barriers to the provision of high quality-care in the clinical setting. These included issues related to patient overload, patient and physician characteristics, as well as problems inherent to supervisory and administrative functions. Exploring and aligning goals and expectations of RH care providers and administrators may result in improvements in the quality of RH care service delivery and morale in public health settings in Jordan, which is a requirement for public sector reform.

Immunological evaluation of Commicarpus plumbagineus Standl. (Nyctaginaceae) use in reproductive health care in Uganda

Abstract Commicarpus plumbagineus Standl. (Nyctaginaceae) is important medicinally and reportedly used to treat a variety of diseases including urinary tract infections, prevention of miscarriages, purification and improvement of blood texture, fibroids, dysmenorrhoea, hypermenorrhoea and coagulation of blood. Scientific validation on the claimed cure of diseases by C. plumbagineus has not been carried out. The chemical profile and bioactivity have remained unknown. The aim of this study was to improve reproductive health care delivery, motherhood programmes, management of feminine diseases and to upgrade herbal medicine through scientific validation and evidence‐based research on bioactivity. The leaf and stem of C. plumbagineus were collected, dried and extracted with water. The immunology tests carried out on the water extracts were whole blood and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays using gamma interferon and interleukin‐10. Immunology tests revealed that the stem and leaf aqueous extracts had an effect on the immune system at 5% and 0.312% concentration with strong T‐helper 1 tendencies (good immune boosters).