East African journal of public health
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East Afr J Public Health · Jun 2013
Regional approach to building operational level capacity for disaster planning: the case of the Eastern Africa region.
The Eastern Africa region is regularly affected by a variety of disasters ranging from drought, to human conflict and population displacement. The magnitude of emergencies and response capacities is similar across the region. In order to strengthen public health disaster management capacities at the operational level in six countries of the Eastern Africa region, the USAID-funded leadership project worked through the HEALTH Alliance, a network of seven schools of public health from six countries in the region to train district-level teams. ⋯ University partnerships are an effective method to build district-level disaster planning capacity. Use of a regional network created a standardized approach across six countries.
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East Afr J Public Health · Jun 2013
Institutional frameworks for management of epizoonotic emergencies in six countries in the Eastern Africa region: a situational analysis.
The Eastern Africa region is a hot-spot for epidemics of emerging zoonotic diseases ('epizoonotics'). However, the region's capacity for response to epidemics of zoonotic origin has not been documented. This paper presents a multi-country situational analysis on the institutional frameworks for management of zoonotic epidemics in the Eastern Africa region. ⋯ There is need to strengthen veterinary public health services at all levels, but with a 'one health' approach. There is also need to establish 'risk-based surveillance' hot spots for zoonotic epidemics and to build community resilience 'epizoonotic' diseases.
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East Afr J Public Health · Mar 2012
Factors associated with willingness to accept a routine offer of HIV test in a large referral hospital in Western Kenya.
Although Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) has existed for more than 10 years, majority of Kenyans still do not know their HIV status, thus necessitating the introduction of other testing strategies to increase the number of people taking the test. The routine offer of an HIV test to all patients in health-care settings has been proposed to increase access to care. The main objective of this study was to identify factors associated with willingness to accept a routine offer of an HIV test. ⋯ There is a need to come up with tailored training on the routine offer of an HIV test and devising strategies to address the main factors that influence the decision for patients to test as identified above.
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East Afr J Public Health · Sep 2011
Randomized Controlled TrialEffectiveness of routine antihelminthic treatment on anaemia in pregnancy in Rufiji District, Tanzania: a cluster randomised controlled trial.
The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of an antihelminthic drug, given at booking and at term to antenatal care visits, on the prevalence of anaemia at term and 4 months post-partum in Rufiji district, Tanzania, the area with high prevalence of intestinal parasites. ⋯ These findings support WHO's recommendation for anthelmintic treatment during pregnancy. However benefits for deworming may be limited in areas with an antenatal iron supplementation programme or low intensity of hookworm infections and hence future research should be directed towards the cost-effectiveness of the de-worming compared to other interventions for reducing anaemia in pregnancy.
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East Afr J Public Health · Sep 2011
Socio-economic status, urbanization, and cardiometabolic risk factors among middle-aged adults in Tanzania.
This study was conducted to examine the associations between socioeconomic status, urbanization, and cardio-metabolic risk factors in Tanzania. ⋯ Urban residence and higher socioeconomic status were important correlates of cardiometabolic risk factors, including obesity and poorer lipid profile. Primary prevention and health screening strategies are needed to target cardiometabolic risk factors in urban areas, to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in Tanzania.