ReviewBMJ global health2021
Grandmothers - a neglected family resource for saving newborn lives.
Review in BMJ global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Family-Centred Breastfeeding Interventions to Improve Exclusive Breastfeeding: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nursing open · 2026Pooled it
- Exploring parental knowledge, care-seeking, and support strategies for neonatal illness: an integrative review of the African Great Lakes region.Global health action · 2025Pooled it
- Grandparental Support and Maternal Postpartum Mental Health : A Review and Meta-Analysis.Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) · 2023Pooled it
- Longitudinal maternal depression and child mental health from pregnancy to child age 7: a study of three life course frameworks.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Exploring factors influencing mother-infant interaction trajectories post-NICU discharge in low-birth-weight infants during COVID-19 in China: a longitudinal qualitative study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Nurses' perceptions of family-centred care in neonatal intensive care units: Rapid qualitative evidence synthesis of studies in low- and middle-income countries.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2026Review
- "Grandmothers as gatekeepers": The role of older women in addressing vaccine hesitancy in urban slum communities in Ibadan, Nigeria.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Assessing the validity of post-discharge readmission and mortality as a composite outcome among newborns in Uganda.PloS one · 2026Article
- Early life grandmother caregiving trajectories and child development: a longitudinal study.International journal of behavioral development · 2025Article
- Epidemiology, pathophysiology, and interventions for postpartum depression: Systematic review.World journal of clinical cases · 2025Article
- Birth companion satisfaction for the usage of Maathru Samman Pants while attending labor of their pregnant women as an initiative of respectful maternity care: A mixed method study.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Article
- Nutritional knowledge and practices of low-income women during pregnancy: a qualitative study in two Oaxacan cities.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Old but attuned: the ability to decode babies' cries does not decline with age.Biology letters · 2025Article
- A decolonial feminist perspective on gender equality programming in the Global South.PLOS global public health · 2025Review
- Identification of risk- and preventive factors predicting child maltreatment in pregnant women with psychosocial problems.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Family caregiving as a pathway to strengthen health outcomes in India.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Maternal self-efficacy during infancy: Investigating the roles of depression and social support among mothers in rural Pakistan.Infant mental health journal · 2025Article
- Exploring Pregnancy-Related Information-Sharing Behavior Among First-Time Southeast Asian Fathers: Qualitative Semistructured Interview Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of Elements of Social Behavior Change Activities in Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Programs: A Systematic Review.Current developments in nutrition · 2024Review
- Parents' Perceptions of Their Parenting Journeys and a Mobile App Intervention (Parentbot-A Digital Healthcare Assistant): Qualitative Process Evaluation.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Across the globe, the well-being of newborns is significantly influenced by the knowledge and practices of family members, yet global health policies and interventions primarily focus on strengthening health services to save newborn lives. Predominant approaches to promote newborn survival in non-western cultures across the Global South are based on a western, nuclear family model and ignore the roles of caregivers within wider family systems, whose attitudes and practices are determined by culturally prescribed strategies. In this paper, I review evidence of a neglected facet of newborn care, the role and influence of senior women or grandmothers.Based on a family systems frame, I reviewed research from numerous settings in Africa, Asia and Latin America that provides insight into family roles related to newborn care, specifically of grandmothers. I identified primarily published studies which provide evidence of grandmothers' role as culturally designated and influential newborn advisors to young mothers and direct caregivers. Research from all three continents reveals that grandmothers play similar core roles in newborn care while their culturally specific practices vary. This review supports two main conclusions. First, future newborn research should be conceptualised within a family systems framework that reflects the structure and dynamics of non-western collectivist cultures. Second, newborn interventions should aim not only to strengthen health services but also influential family caregivers, particularly grandmothers and the indigenous social support networks of which they are a part, in order to improve family-level newborn practices and save newborn lives.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.