Perinatal depression study takes off in KHRC

The Depression in Obaapa and Newhints ( DON) study has successfully taken off in the Kintampo Health Research Centre.

The study, borne out of an excellent collaboration between researchers on the maternal vitamin A supplementation trial (ObaapaVitA) and the Newborn Home Intervention Trial ( NEWHINTS) aims at:

1. Measuring the effect of depression during pregnancy and after birth on infant and maternal health
2. Evaluating the impact of a psycho-educational intervention package delivered through routine home visits by Community Based Surveillance Volunteers (CBSV) to pregnant and delivered women on mental well-being.

Field research workers on the ObaapaVitA trial have been trained to use the validated twi version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to screen women who report pregnant and go on the deliver, for symptoms of depression. It is estimated that about 14,000 pregnant women would be recruited into the study.

The motivation for conducting this sub-study stems from interesting findings from two recent studies in Asia, linking depression during pregnancy to low birth weight infants ( Patel and Prince, 2006; Rahman et al 2004b), and depression during the first few weeks after birth to infant malnutrition and stunting at 6 months ( Patel et al 2004; Rahman et al 2004b). In addition to this, a recent validation study conducted at the centre reveals a likely prevalence of depression in 1 out of every 3 women during the period after birth ( Weobong et al. In Press JAD).

Given that low birth weight and infant malnutrition and stunting are significant causes of infant deaths, the effects of depression during pregnancy and after birth assumes high public health significance, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where quality of care during pregnancy and after birth is not very impressive .

Positive findings from the proposed study would therefore have far-reaching consequences for public health and for antenatal and postnatal services in the region, supporting the development of culturally appropriate mental health interventions, to help reduce infant/maternal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa and improve women’s mental health. These would need to be integrated into existing programmes, including, potentially, micronutrient intervention programmes, such as ObaapaVitA, and neonatal care support programmes such as NEWHINTS.