NEW Updates on Maternal and Child Health, Nutrition and COVID-19 – excerpts from scientific journal articles – 29 December 2020

30 December, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

We have updated our scientific repository<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhopkins... nutrition%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cmververs%40jhu.edu%7C9c4647f3a0d04cd8ec4708d8ac22a547%7C9fa4f438b1e6473b803f86f8aedf0dec%7C0%7C0%7C637448612080417890%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=XfhA8PhKakHNW8%2BvgroWc8tzYZECYSeQe97GR1UpyDM%3D&reserved=0>.

Since our last update Thursday 17 December 2020, we have added 129 NEW publications for December (55 new), November (45 new), October (17 new), September (4 new), August (3 new), July (1 new), June (1 new), May (2 new), and March (1 new).

Click here to view the updated repository<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhopkins...

Individual months are located on the right-hand side, and new additions are marked in blue. To find the publication or topic of your interest, you can search in an individual month file using the Ctrl+F keys.

All publications provide emerging evidence related to COVID-19 and

* Child health (from neonates to adolescents)

* Maternal health (pregnant women, women of reproductive age)

* Breastfeeding and Infant feeding

* Nutrition (related to MCH)

In addition to several international reviews, this update provides emerging evidence from Israel, Brazil, the United States, Turkey, Australia, India, Ethiopia, Iran, Nigeria, Lebanon, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Ireland, China, Malta, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Botswana, Romania, Iraq, Spain, Pakistan, South Africa, France, Oman, Zambia, Jordan, Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, and Singapore.

Thirty-one new articles focus on COVID-19 and pregnancy. Several publications call for anxiety and depression screening among pregnant women given emerging evidence of poor mental health outcomes. One article discusses how misinformation may be causing both anxiety and delayed care-seeking among pregnant women in Pakistan, while another study examines reductions in antenatal care among women in Ethiopia. One article reviewed the challenges of implementing telemedicine in various countries for prenatal and postpartum care. Two recent studies in Mexico used hospital surveillance data to evaluate differences between pregnant and non-pregnant women in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality and examine whether risk varies by age. Another publication presents a review of international clinical trial registries at two timepoints to assess the inclusion of pregnant women in clinical trials for COVID-19 treatments.

Articles on child and adolescent health explore the impact of COVID-19 on children’s mental health, sleeping patterns, screen time, physical activity, and routine vaccination. A prospective cohort study of 55 schools in Switzerland used seroprevalence data over time to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 transmission within schools; another study from the Netherlands used age-structured transmission models to evaluate the extent to which school closures can reduce community transmission of SARS-CoV-2, including comparisons by age group. One review summarized the impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures on children in South Africa while another review examined the impact of COVID-19 on the sexual health and reproductive rights of adolescent girls and young women worldwide.

Several articles in this update examine current evidence regarding vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Several case reports describe SARS-CoV-2 infection in newborns and examine possible modes of transmission. One prospective cohort study followed pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 to examine viral loads in maternal cord blood, while multiple publications from the last week alone examine evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in the placenta. Another commentary examines evidence of reduced expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 receptors in the placenta, which both play a role in SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Several publications also discuss the maternal antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy as well as the possibility that these antibodies may be passively transferred to the fetus during pregnancy.

This is by no means an exhaustive list! Look out for our next update Tuesday, 5 January, 2021. Currently, we have almost 4000 publications in the repository.

We also have a specific repository only on COVID-19, Breastfeeding, Infant Feeding, and Breast Milk.<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhopkins... The next update for that will be Wednesday, 30 December 2020 (tomorrow). If you know anyone who would benefit from any of these updates, please let me know.

Happy reading!

Mija Ververs

CHIFA profile: Mija Tesse Cora Ververs is a Health Scientist (CDC), Senior Associate (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, United States.

Email: mververs AT jhu.edu