ArticlePopulation health metrics2023
Improving birth weight measurement and recording practices in Kenya and Tanzania: a prospective intervention study with historical controls.
Article in Population health metrics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vaginal Pathogenic Bacterial Colonization and Adverse Birth Outcomes among Pregnant Women Living with and without HIV in Tanzania.Research square · 2026Article
- Disparities in Low-Birth-Weight Prevalence Across Kenya: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Maternal, Demographic, and Socioeconomic Risk Factors.Health science reports · 2026Review
- Socioeconomic inequality and determinants of low birth weight in Kenya: a multilevel analysis using 2022 demographic and health survey.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- The prevalence of low birth weight and its associated maternal factors among women of reproductive age who gave birth to live babies within five years preceding the survey in Tanzania: an analysis of data from the 2015-16 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey and Malaria Indicators Survey.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Antenatal care services in Benin and Tanzania 2021/2022: an equity analysis study.BMJ public health · 2024Article
- Smaller babies at risk: birth weight impacts neonatal survival status in Silte zone, Central Ethiopia. A survival analysis of prospective cohort study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLow birth weight (LBW) is a significant public health concern given its association with early-life mortality and other adverse health consequences that can impact the entire life cycle. In many countries, accurate estimates of LBW prevalence are lacking due to inaccuracies in collection and gaps in available data. Our study aimed to determine LBW prevalence among facility-born infants in selected areas of Kenya and Tanzania and to assess whether the introduction of an intervention to improve the accuracy of birth weight measurement would result in a meaningfully different estimate of LBW prevalence than current practice.
methodsWe carried out a historically controlled intervention study in 22 health facilities in Kenya and three health facilities in Tanzania. The intervention included: provision of high-quality digital scales, training of nursing staff on accurate birth weight measurement, recording and scale calibration practices, and quality maintenance support that consisted of enhanced supervision and feedback (prospective arm). The historically controlled data were birth weights from the same facilities recorded in maternity registers for the same calendar months from the previous year measured using routine practices and manual scales. We calculated mean birth weight (95% confidence interval CI), mean difference in LBW prevalence, and respective risk ratio (95% CI) between study arms.
resultsBetween October 2019 and February 2020, we prospectively collected birth weights from 8441 newborns in Kenya and 4294 in Tanzania. Historical data were available from 9318 newborns in Kenya and 12,007 in Tanzania. In the prospective sample, the prevalence of LBW was 12.6% (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 10.9%-14.4%) in Kenya and 18.2% (12.2%-24.2%) in Tanzania. In the historical sample, the corresponding prevalence estimates were 7.8% (6.5%-9.2%) and 10.0% (8.6%-11.4%). Compared to the retrospective sample, the LBW prevalence in the prospective sample was 4.8% points (3.2%-6.4%) higher in Kenya and 8.2% points (2.3%-14.0%) higher in Tanzania, corresponding to a risk ratio of 1.61 (1.38-1.88) in Kenya and 1.81 (1.30-2.52) in Tanzania.
conclusionRoutine birth weight records underestimate the risk of LBW among facility-born infants in Kenya and Tanzania. The quality of birth weight data can be improved by a simple intervention consisting of provision of digital scales and supportive training.
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