New vaccines to protect pregnant women and their babies from infectious diseases are currently being introduced and need to be given during specific gestational windows in pregnancy. If so, what could be the best time to offer these vaccines in low-income settings?
This multi-site study analysed data from over 120 000 pregnant women collected in 6 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and showed that a 24–36-week gestational age window would achieve highest coverage.
This study also revealed that attendance for antenatal care is much lower than the WHO recommended 8 visits, and if vaccines are only offered in the last trimester, significant numbers of women would miss out.
GlohMed implemented this study in Nepal under the leadership of Dr. Suraj Bhattarai (country Principal Investigator). Recently, GlohMed has focused its research & interventions around maternal-neonatal infections, preventive measures (including immunization) and public awareness.
Citation:
Rachel Ford, Oluwatosin Nkereuwem, Ugochukwu Madubueze, Urudinachi Agbo, Suraj Bhattarai, Rabin Thami, Dan Kajungu, Victoria Nambasa, Agnes Msoka, Mir Mobarak Hossain, Edward P.K. Parker, Beate Kampmann, Quantifying Maternal Vaccination Opportunities Across Gestational Age Windows: a Real-World Multi-country, Longitudinal Study, AJOG Global Reports, 2025, 100579, ISSN 2666-5778, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xagr.2025.100579.