South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde
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To assess the dental needs of a group of children with intellectual disability (ID) attending six special educational facilities in Cape Town, South Africa. Methods. This was a cross-sectional study based on a convenience sampling method. One hundred and fifty-seven children with ID attending six special educational facilities in Cape Town were included in the survey. Five schools were exclusively funded by the State and one school received additional private financial support. The oral examinations complied with guidelines drafted by Special Olympics Special Smiles programme and the Centers for Disease Control, USA. ⋯ The frequency of unmet dental needs of children with ID attending special educational facilities in Cape Town was high and the dental care available to them was minimal. The study highlights the need for improved dental services to ensure that optimal oral health is accessible to children with ID attending special educational facilities in Cape Town.
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Antibiotic resistance has increased worldwide to the extent that it is now regarded as a global public health crisis. Interventions to reduce excessive antibiotic prescribing to patients can reduce resistance and improve microbiological and clinical outcomes. Therefore, although improving outpatient antibiotic use is crucial, few data are provided on the key interventional components and the effectiveness of antibiotic stewardship in the primary care setting, in South Africa. ⋯ As a consequence, the need for tools to reduce diagnostic uncertainty is critical. In this regard, besides clinical algorithms, a consensus of collaborators in European and UK consortia recently provided guidance for the use of C-reactive protein point-of-care testing in outpatients presenting with acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) and/or acute cough, if it is not clear after proper clinical assessment whether antibiotics should be prescribed or not. A targeted application of stewardship principles, including diagnostic stewardship as described in this review, to the ambulatory setting has the potential to affect the most common indications for systemic antibiotic use, in that the majority (80%) of antibiotic use occurs in the community, with ARTIs the most common indication.