Lenka Beňová

Biographic Data

ID259948
NAMELenka Beňová
GIVEN NAMESLenka
FAMILY NAMEBeňová
SIGNATUREBEŇOVÁ L
AFFILIATIONSInstituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde
ORCID0000-0001-8595-365X
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS70
TOTAL CITATIONS20
AUTHOR COUNT70
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2014
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX2

  • (De)coding perinatal deaths

    Open AccessMaria Del Rosario Alsina, Aliki Christou et al.ARTICLEGlobal Health Action2026

    BACKGROUND: To reduce perinatal deaths, identification of their causes is paramount. 'The WHO application of ICD-10 to deaths during the perinatal period' (ICD-PM) was developed to improve the quality of perinatal death data. OBJECTIVES: To determine stillbirth and very early neonatal death rates across 16 hospitals in Benin, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda, examine causes of death and associated maternal conditions applying the ICD-PM, and assess h…

  • Indicator menus

    Open AccessJil Molenaar, Aliki Christou et al.ARTICLESocial Science & Medicine2026

    There is strong impetus for internationally standardized measurement for maternal and neonatal health (MNH) to facilitate global benchmarking and accountability. Recent funding cuts have sharpened debates about whose priorities should guide measurement and what role international-level actors should play. This qualitative study combined observations and 24 semi-structured interviews in 2023-2025 with experts across multilateral agencies, bilatera…

  • Maternal screening coverage and determinants during facility-based antenatal care in Nigeria

    Open AccessYusuf Adelabu, Tersur T Saalu et al.ARTICLEReproductive Health2026

  • Spatial distribution, integration and determinants of family planning service provision in Lubumbashi, DRC

    Open AccessMarie Alice Mosuse, Tabitha Ilunga Mpoyi et al.ARTICLEReproductive Health2026

    Universal access to family planning (FP) services is essential for safeguarding sexual and reproductive health and rights. Integration of FP and routine maternal and child health (MCH) services has been associated with increased uptake of long-acting reversible contraceptives and contributes to reduced unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and complications associated with short interpregnancy intervals. In the DRC, FP use remains limited desp…

  • Levels of in-facility maternal mortality, obstetric complications and stillbirths in three urban referral hospitals in Guinea

    Open AccessFassou Mathias Grovogui, Aline Semaan et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2026

    INTRODUCTION: Despite global efforts to reduce maternal mortality, progress has stalled, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where the maternal mortality ratio remains high. This study aims to assess in-facility maternal mortality, maternal and foetal complications, and stillbirths in referral hospitals at different levels of the health system in Guinea. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at three urban referral hospitals in Guin…

  • The richness of urban health realities lost in measurement monocultures

    Open AccessJil Molenaar, Lenka Beňová et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2026

    box Standardised measurement approaches obscure urban diversity and marginalise locally relevant insights

  • Partial pictures

    Open AccessJil Molenaar, Amani Kikula et al.ARTICLEHealth Policy and Planning2026References: 27

    Measurement of contact coverage of maternal and newborn health services may overestimate the benefits of the care that is provided, because the quality of care is not captured. It is therefore important to better understand the opportunities and challenges of capturing elements of care quality in routine health information systems (RHIS). This study explored healthcare workers’ (HCWs), health sector managers’ and policymakers’ perspectives on the…

  • “We have theoretical knowledge, but these are not things we do regularly”

    Open AccessAmani Kikula, Lenka Beňová et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Screening for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during antenatal care (ANC) is crucial for maternal and fetal health. It offers an opportunity for prevention, timely diagnosis, and treatment of cardiometabolic complications during pregnancy and over women’s and babies’ life course. We aimed to describe GDM screening service provision during ANC in two hospitals in Tanzania, focusing on gaps and opportunities for improving GDM screening services…

  • Beyond facility-based births

    Open AccessBrian Turigye, Edgar Mulogo et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Maternal and newborn studies in Uganda have primarily focused on measuring contact coverage, such as the proportion of facility-based births. However, this is inadequate and may overestimate the benefits of services provided to women and newborns if the quality of care in the facilities is not considered. Effective coverage of care addresses this limitation and adjusts for the quality of services. This study assessed the effective coverage of mat…

  • Hyperglycemia in pregnancy

    Open AccessAmani Kikula, Kaushik Ramaiya et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Screening for hyperglycaemia in pregnancy (HIP) is an entry point to a healthy pregnancy and childbirth for both the woman and child, and offers a window of opportunity for the prevention of cardio-metabolic complications over the life-course of the woman and newborn. In Tanzania, two different screening algorithms to identify women with HIP are recommended, with no clear understanding of which performs better. We aimed to determine the prevalenc…

  • Dietary diversity insufficiently explains differences in prevalence of anaemia in pregnancy across regions in Nigeria

    Open AccessOchuwa Adiketu Babah, Diana Sagastume et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    The prevalence of anaemia in pregnancy differs across regions worldwide. Previous studies have reported associations between diet and anaemia. Dietary intake may be affected by regional factors like culture, food production and availability. However, in Nigeria, the association between dietary diversity and region in the context of anaemia prevalence among pregnant women is unclear. This study compared the prevalence of anaemia in pregnancy acros…

  • Eliciting the Initial Programme Theory in a Realist Evaluation of Facility-Based Maternal Death Reviews in Benin

    Open AccessChristelle Boyi Hounsou, Jean-Paul Dossou et al.ARTICLEInternational Journal of…2025

    The initial program theory (IPT) is a core element of realist evaluation. An IPT presents a hypothesis about how, for whom, why, and in what contexts an intervention is effective. Despite their importance within realist studies, methodological guidance on how to develop an IPT is relatively scarce. We describe the methodological process of eliciting an IPT of facility-based maternal death reviews (FbMDRs), a multicomponent intervention to improve…

  • Mixed vulnerabilities

    Open AccessManuela Straneo, Lenka Beňová et al.ARTICLEInternational Journal for Equity…2025

    Identification of interacting vulnerabilities is essential to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). High parity (≥ 5 previous births) is an underemphasized biological vulnerability linked to poverty and affecting a sizeable proportion of SSA births. Despite increased risk, high parity women rarely use hospitals for childbirth. We assessed whether emergency referral during childbirth was associated with adverse event…

  • Identifying women with poor experience of post-abortion care

    Open AccessEstelle Pasquier, Pierre De Beaudrap et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2025

    High quality post-abortion care (PAC) is essential to reducing abortion-related morbidity and mortality. However, the experience of receiving PAC, a key component of care quality, remains understudied in humanitarian settings. We assessed the experience of PAC in two hospitals supported by an international organization in Jigawa State (Nigeria) and Bangui (Central African Republic, CAR) and identified characteristics associated with poor experien…

  • Is an improvement in anaemia and iron levels associated with the risk of early postpartum depression? A cohort study from Lagos, Nigeria

    Open AccessOchuwa Adiketu Babah, Lenka Beňová et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2025

    Improvement in anaemia severity during late pregnancy was non-significantly associated with lower risk for postpartum depression; no association between improvement in iron levels and postpartum depression. It is likely that an improvement in anaemia severity in early pregnancy will lessen the burden of postpartum depression; however, this study is limited by sample size to draw this conclusion

  • Modeling Geographical Accessibility and Inequalities to Childbirth Services in the Grand Nokoué Metropolitan Area, Benin

    Open AccessYiseche Sename Cybele HOUNMENOU, Elias Martinien Avahoundjè et al.ARTICLEJournal of Urban Health2025References: 1

    Timely access to comprehensive , high-quality emergency obstetric and neonatal care can prevent maternal and neonatal mortality but remains challenging in Benin. We examine geographic accessibility to childbirth care (CBC) in Grand Nokoué, the largest conurbation in Benin. We gathered data on boundaries, health facilities, road network, elevation, land cover, relative wealth, urbanicity, and geo-traced travel speeds over 45 days during the rainy …

  • Getting the numbers right

    Open AccessJil Molenaar, Amani Kikula et al.ARTICLESocial Science & Medicine2025Cited by: 1References: 35

    What makes routine maternal and neonatal health data to be 'good quality'? That depends on whom you ask - the people collecting and reporting these data across health system levels have different priorities and face varying constraints. Data are constructed by people, about people, and they both reflect and impact human interactions. This study analyses the power dynamics shaping how routine health data are collected and reported in labour wards …

  • Inequalities in use of hospitals for childbirth among rural women in sub-Saharan Africa

    Open AccessManuela Straneo, Claudia Hanson et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2024

    INTRODUCTION: Rising facility births in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) mask inequalities in higher-level emergency care-typically in hospitals. Limited research has addressed hospital use in women at risk of or with complications, such as high parity, linked to poverty and rurality, for whom hospital care is essential. We aimed to address this gap, by comparatively assessing hospital use in rural SSA by wealth and parity. METHODS: Countries in SSA with…

  • Data for whom? Experiences and perceptions of a perinatal eRegistry in two hospitals in Mtwara region, Tanzania

    Open AccessJil Molenaar, Amani Kikula et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2024

    INTRODUCTION: Digital data systems have the potential to improve data quality and provide individual-level information to understand gaps in the quality of care. This study explored experiences and perceptions of a perinatal eRegistry in two hospitals in Mtwara region, Tanzania. Drawing from realist evaluation and systems thinking, we go beyond a descriptive account of stakeholders' experiences and provide insight into key structural drivers and …

  • Revisiting health systems to integrate perinatal mental health into maternal and child health services

    Open AccessAnteneh Asefa, C Hanlon et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2024

    box There is a growing call for actionable recommendations to promote perinatal mental health and to prevent and treat perinatal mental health conditions, particularly in Africa

  • Length-of-stay and factors associated with early discharge after birth in health facilities in Guinea by mode of birth

    Open AccessAline Semaan, Fassou Mathias Grovogui et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2024

    The immediate postpartum period (first 24 hours after birth) represents a critical time for women and newborns. Postnatal length-of-stay varies globally; in Guinea, a 24-hour facility stay following childbirth is recommended, with an emphasis on providing frequent monitoring of mother and newborn for the first 6 hours. This study describes postpartum length-of-stay following facility-based births in Guinea, and investigates factors associated wit…

  • Interventions to maintain essential services for maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health during the Covid-19 pandemic

    Open AccessDiana Sagastume, Aloma Serra et al.ARTICLEJournal of Global Health2024

    Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had challenged health systems worldwide, including those in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Aside from measures to control the pandemic, efforts were made to continue the provision and use of essential services. At that time, information was not organised and readily available to guide country-level decision-making. This review aims to summarise evaluated interventions to main…

  • Prevalence and determinants of double and triple burden of malnutrition among mother–child pairs in Malawi

    Open AccessJessie Jane Khaki, Peter M Macharia et al.ARTICLEPublic Health Nutrition2024

    Objective: To establish the prevalence of double burden of malnutrition (DBM) and triple burden of malnutrition (TBM) among mother–child pairs in Malawi and explore their geographical distribution and associated multilevel factors. Design: Cross-sectional study using secondary data from the 2015–2016 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey using a mixed effects binomial model to identify multilevel factors associated with DBM and TBM. Georeferenced …

  • Exploring the urban gradient in population health

    Open AccessPeter M Macharia, Jessie Pinchoff et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2023

    The demographic, ecological and socioeconomic changes associated with urbanisation are linked to changes in disease incidence, health service provision and mortality. These effects are heterogeneous between and within urban areas, yet without a clear definition of what constitutes an ‘urban’ area, their measurement and comparison are constrained. The definitions used vary between countries and over time hindering analyses of the relationship betw…

  • Neonatal and perinatal mortality in the urban continuum

    Open AccessPeter M Macharia, Lenka Beňová et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2023

    INTRODUCTION: Recent studies suggest that the urban advantage of lower neonatal mortality in urban compared with rural areas may be reversing, but methodological challenges include misclassification of neonatal deaths and stillbirths, and oversimplification of the variation in urban environments. We address these challenges and assess the association between urban residence and neonatal/perinatal mortality in Tanzania. METHODS: The Tanzania Demog…