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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Glob. Womens Health
Sec. Maternal Health
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2024.1412403
This article is part of the Research Topic Maternal Health in Conflict Settings: Volume II View all 4 articles

Pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: a systematic review

Provisionally accepted
Kambale Kasonia Kambale Kasonia 1*Hannah Brindle Hannah Brindle 1Daniela Manno Daniela Manno 1Tansy Edwards Tansy Edwards 2,3Soazic Gardais Soazic Gardais 4Grace Mambula Grace Mambula 4Zephirin Mossoko Zephirin Mossoko 5Edward M. Choi Edward M. Choi 1Nicholas Connor Nicholas Connor 1Pierre Mukadi Pierre Mukadi 5Rebecca F. Grais Rebecca F. Grais 4Babajide Keshinro Babajide Keshinro 6Chrissy H. Roberts Chrissy H. Roberts 1Hugo Kavunga-Membo Hugo Kavunga-Membo 5Daniel G. Bausch Daniel G. Bausch 7,8Jean-Jacques Muyembe Jean-Jacques Muyembe 5Deborah Watson-Jones Deborah Watson-Jones 1,9
  • 1 Department of Clinical Research, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
  • 2 Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 3 School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
  • 4 Epicentre, Paris, France
  • 5 Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (République démocratique du Congo), Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
  • 6 Janssen Vaccines and Prevention, Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson, Leiden, Netherlands
  • 7 Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
  • 8 FIND, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 9 Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit, Mwanza, Tanzania

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Conflict is known to impact maternal and neonatal health in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an area of longstanding insecurity. We conducted a systematic review on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in this region to provide a comprehensive overview of maternal and neonatal outcomes over a 20-year period. Methods: We systematically searched databases, such as Medline, EMBASE, Global Health, ClinicalTrials.gov and the Cochrane Library, along with grey literature, for articles published between 2001 and 2021. These articles provided quantitative data on selected pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in the provinces of Ituri, Maniema and North and South Kivu, Eastern DRC. We conducted a descriptive analysis, combining results from different data sources and comparing incidence of outcomes in North Kivu with those in other provinces in Eastern DRC. Results: A total of 1064 abstracts from peer-reviewed publications and 196 articles from the grey literature were screened, resulting in the inclusion of 14 scientific articles in the review. The most frequently reported pregnancy complications were caesarean sections (11.6-48.3% of deliveries) and miscarriage (1.2%-30.0% of deliveries). The most common neonatal outcomes were low birth weight (3.8%-21.9% of live births), preterm birth (0.9%-74.0%) and neonatal death (0.2%-43.3%). Conclusion: Our review provides data on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in Eastern DRC, which will be valuable for future studies. Despite the area’s ongoing armed conflict, the percentages of complications we noted in Eastern DRC are comparable with those observed in other countries in the region.

    Keywords: Pregnancy, neonatal, outcomes, Eastern DRC, conflict

    Received: 04 Apr 2024; Accepted: 05 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kasonia, Brindle, Manno, Edwards, Gardais, Mambula, Mossoko, Choi, Connor, Mukadi, Grais, Keshinro, Roberts, Kavunga-Membo, Bausch, Muyembe and Watson-Jones. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Kambale Kasonia, Department of Clinical Research, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.