PHA 2018; 8(S1): S24–S28
© 2018 The Union
SADF POLICY BRIEF
31 October 2018 Issue n° 8
ISSN: 2406-5625
Barriers to the prompt and effective diagnosis and treatment of malaria exist at both the community and health facility level. Household surveys measure malaria case management at the population level with standard indicators that assess treatment-seeking behavior, access to diagnostic testing, and ...access to appropriate treatment. Performance on these indicators varies widely from country to country. Among countries with Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) or Malaria Indicator Surveys (MIS) completed between 2014 and 2016, advice and treatment was sought for a median of 47% of children under age 5 with fever.
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This report outlines the results of a scientific study of the impacts of weather, climate variability, and climate change on health in Mozambique, with a focus on diarrheal disease and malaria.
Research results of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) prevention and response before, during and after disasters in Indonesia, Lao PDR and the Philippines
This report contributes new evidence on why and how sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) risks increase during humanitarian disasters.... It details how humanitarian actors can better prevent and respond to such escalation of SGBV, and better meet the needs of affected women, girls, men and boys. This research is based on community views of disaster-affected women, adolescent girls, men and adolescent boys in three South-East Asian countries: Indonesia, Lao PDR and the Philippines.
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This is the Technical Annex for the BRACED report: Measuring changes in household resilience as a result of BRACED activities in Myanmar.
This external performance evaluation of the Malawi Girls’ Empowerment through Education and Health Activity (ASPIRE), conducted 2.5 years after ASPIRE began, establishes the activity’s progress against its objectives, proposes adaptations for the final year, and captures lessons for application ...in future girls’ empowerment, health, and education programming in Malawi.
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BMC Health Services Research BMC series – open, inclusive and trusted201818:251; https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3072-3
The Need for a Regional Response to an Unprecedented Migration Crisis.
This report provides an overview of where the more than 2 million Venezuelans who have left the country since 2014, at least half of them in the past year and a half alone, are now living, the conditions they face, their prospe...cts of obtaining legal status in the host countries, and applicable international standards that should guide host governments’ responses.
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Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2018, 3, 72;
The study identified some key determinants of untimely and incomplete childhood vaccinations in the context of Bangladesh. The findings will contribute to the improvement of age-specific vaccination and support policy makers in taking the necessary control ...strategies with respect to delayed and early vaccination in Bangladesh.
https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed3030072
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Los pueblos indígenas presentan tasas más altas de morbilidad y mortalidad por tuberculosis (tb) que los demás grupos étnicos. El acceso limitado a servicios de salud debido a la ubicación geográfica y a problemas del conflicto armado los mantiene aislados. En este estudio se pr...esenta un análisis de la situación epidemiológica de la tb en pueblos indígenas, y se identifican factores socioculturales que pueden ayudar a mejorar el control de la enfermedad.
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Healthy Settings, a key component of Malawi’s Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP) 2011–2016, is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) holistic community-led approach to achieving health improvement by addressing social determinants of health, an approach which is central to the current WHO fra...mework on integrated people-centred health services. Healthy Settings projects by their construct have many different components which vary from one group and community to another depending on their priorities: from housing, hospital improvements and waste management to “softer” interventions like leadership skills training and health promotion. It can be challenging to find relevant indicators to monitor and assess the impact of such a complex holistic project, this paper explores if social capital data can provide useful impact assessment indicators at the start of such a project.
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n this study, low-dose azithromycin did not meet the prespecified non-inferiority margin compared with standard-dose azithromycin in achieving clinical and serological cure in PCR-confirmed active yaws. Only a single participant (with presumed latent yaws) had definitive serological failure. This wo...rk suggests that 20 mg/kg of azithromycin is probably effective against yaws, but further data are needed.
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The article explores the underlying factors influencing unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles among adolescents in Kilifi County, Kenya. Using a qualitative approach, the study involved interviews and focus group discussions with adolescents, stakeholders, and young adults. Key findings include a... preference for unhealthy, carbohydrate-rich, and sugary foods over traditional and nutritious options, exacerbated by factors like low socioeconomic status, urbanization, and poor farming practices.
Sedentary behavior, such as gambling and extensive technology use, was prevalent, often replacing physical activity. Protective factors like school attendance, community-based services, and parental engagement were identified as mitigating risks. The study highlights the importance of ecological intervention strategies targeting intrapersonal, interpersonal, and community factors to address unhealthy behaviors and promote better health outcomes in adolescents.
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BMC Public Health (2018) 18:668 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5594-3
Plos Current Outbreaks
An outbreak of Lassa Fever (LF) reported and confirmed in Ondo state, Southwest Nigeria in January 2016 was investigated. This paper provides the epidemiology of the LF and lessons learnt from the investigation of the outbreak.
Results: We identified 90 suspected LF case...s of which 19 were confirmed by the laboratory. More than half (52.6%) of the confirmed cases were females with majority (73.7%) in the age group ≥ 15 years. The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 63.2% among the laboratory-confirmed positive cases where 9 of 19 cases died, was significantly higher compared to the laboratory confirmed negative cases where 6 of the 65 cases died ( CFR; 8.5%) p ≤ 0.05. Two hundred and eighty-seven contacts of the confirmed cases were identified, out of which 267(93.0%) completed the follow-up without developing any symptoms and 2 (0.7%) developed symptoms consistent with LF and were confirmed by the laboratory. More than half of the contacts were females (64.5%) with most of them (89.2%) in the age group ≥ 25 years.
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This scoping study done in Myanmar offers the chance for FoodSTART+ to explore prospects for future partnerships in another important country of the region. The study was done from October 2016 to February 2017 and included visits to selected major potato and cassava production areas to meet with re...spective stakeholders and market actors.
Although root and tuber crop (RTC) production in Myanmar has gradually increased since the late 1990s, they still lag behind the other major crops like rice. No RTCs are included in the country’s list of primary important crops even though potatoes are regularly consumed in daily meals while other common RTCs like cassava, elephant foot yam and sweetpotato are consumed occasionally. RTCs primarily contribute to food security and livelihoods through the income generated from their sale, whether fresh or processed, rather than directly through consumption.
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