Editor's choice: Sexual reproductive health, child issues, NCDs, surgery, infections and health systems - a salad of sorts

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This September 2023 issue of African Health Sciences is special in that it brings you fairly sophisticated papers ranging from those in sexual reproductive and child health, non-communicable diseases, infections, surgery, mental health and others.

The sexual reproductive health papers touch on a number of issues. Hence we have one on the efficacy of intra umbilical oxytocin1, pain relief in manual vacuum extraction2, emergency caesarean section3, and postnatal hypertension4. This is followed by prenatal papers5-6. Others highlight teenage pregnancy7, contraception and fertility issues8-9. Health challenges of menopause, and pre-menopause hold a special place10-11 as are social behavior and violence against women and the girl child12-14.

Child Health, on the other hand, is dominated by neonatal issues such as birth asphyxia15-16, low birth weight17, and acute respiratory distress syndrome18. Issues affecting the child include under five mortality19, nutrition20, vaccination21, use of mHealth22, iron deficiency23, sickle cell anemia24, and domestic accidents25. We have a large collection on cancers26-34, including breast, ovarian and cervical, and pulmonary lesions, while diabetes mellitus papers35-37 occupy the next space.

As usual, infections38-56 are ubiquitous and don't seem to be going away. They include papers on tuberculosis38-42, while most43-49 are dominated by Covid-19. The rest of this section consists of a heterogenous group of other infectious diseases50-56. We have a special section for those interested in Surgery and anesthesia57-70. The rest of the papers are in the realm of internal medicine71-79, mental health80-81 and health systems82-87.

Finally, it only remains for me to thank all our partners for the friendship and confidence they have placed in us as we strive to push African scientific publishing to a higher level. Thank you very much indeed. Happy reading!