African health sciences
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African health sciences · May 2021
Safe birth matters: facilitators and barriers to uptake of the WHO safe childbirth checklist tool in a Tanzania Regional Hospital.
The World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Safe Birth Checklist (SCC) to facilitate best practices in safe birthing practices. The SCC is utilizing existing evidence-based WHO guidelines and recommendations which has combined those into a single and practical bedside tool. The SCC is the first checklist-based intervention to target the prevention of maternal and neonatal deaths. ⋯ This project was able to identify facilitators and potential barriers to the successful uptake of the Safe Childbirth Checklist in Shinyanga Regional Hospital. Based on these findings, the MOH have opportunities to utilize those findings in the scale-up of the implementation of the checklist and future evaluation activities.
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African health sciences · May 2021
Retention of pediatric patients in care: a study of the Kibera Community Health Center HIV/AIDS Program.
In 2011, 3.4 million children were living with HIV worldwide1. ⋯ The disclosure of the HIV status by parent/guardian to the child was associated with better retention of the children in the program.
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African health sciences · May 2021
Evaluation of quality of life and associated factors among HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy in North West region of Cameroon.
There is evidence that Quality of Life (QoL) of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) has a significant role in ART retention, treatment adherence, and survival. As a result, QoL is becoming increasingly important for policymakers, program implementers, and researchers. However, factors associated with QoL, in a culturally diverse country like Cameroon are unknown. ⋯ PLHIV fairly agreed to have good QoL. The QoL was driven by mainly psychological and physical factors and not level of independence. However, the mean score perceptions for the investigated domains were low. Mental health services should consider these predictors when designing strategies to improve the QoL of PLHIV. While this study provides useful insights, other possible drivers of QoL among PLHIV should be investigated.
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African health sciences · May 2021
Factors affecting adherence to antiretroviral therapy among children and adolescents living with HIV in the Mbita Sub-County Hospital, Homa Bay- Kenya.
Adequate adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is key to the successful treatment of children and adolescents living with HIV. Continuous ART Adherence is the key factor for virologic suppression and stability of the immune system and prevents the occurrence of opportunistic infections. Children and adolescents struggle with adherence to ART for various reasons, including a poor psychosocial support system and clinic attendance. ⋯ The clinic attendance rate within the first 3 months, and Enhanced Adherence Counseling (EAC) were significant predictors of viral suppression, and therefore adherence to antiretroviral therapy.
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African health sciences · May 2021
Antiretroviral therapy outcomes among adolescents and young adults in a Tertiary hospital in Kenya.
Limited data is available on the treatment outcomes of HIV infected adolescents and young adults (AYA) in sub-Saharan Africa. HIV-infected adolescents and young adults (AYA) are at high risk of developing antiretroviral treatment failure. ⋯ The overall virologic suppression in this cohort of AYA was sub-optimal. Both immunological and virologic outcomes were worse among late adolescents (18-19 years) and young adults (20-24 years).