The overall objective of this implementation plan is to define the strategy for implementation of the Xpert MTB/RIF test for rapid detection of TB and rifampicin (RIF) resistance in Tanzania, within the context of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme (NTLP) strategic plan and other nation...al health guidelines. It is intended to serve as the main guiding document for national, regional and local programme managers, clinicians, coordinators, laboratory staff and other health workers; national and regional reference laboratories; local and international implementing partners; and donors involved in TB control.
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PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0144057 December 14, 2015
DOI 10.15252/emmm.201404792 |Published online 30.12.2014
EMBO Molecular Medicine(2014)emmm.201404792
World J Meta-Anal. Aug 26, 2017; 5(4): 103-123
Published online Aug 26, 2017. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v5.i4.103
Manual for Training in Cancer Control
Lancet Planet Health 2017 Published Online November 6, 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30141-9
For the primary health worker in a low/middle-income country (LMIC) setting, delivering quality primary care is challenging. This is often complicated by clinical guidance that is out of date, inconsistent and informed by evidence from high-income countries that ignores LMIC resource constraints and... burden of disease. The Knowledge Translation Unit (KTU) of the University of Cape Town Lung Institute has developed, implemented and evaluated a health systems intervention in South Africa, and localised it to Botswana, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Brazil, that simplifies and standardises the care delivered by primary health workers while strengthening the system in which they work. At the core of this intervention, called Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK), is a clinical decision support tool, the PACK guide. This paper describes the development of the guide over an 18-year period and explains the design features that have addressed what the patient, the clinician and the health system need from clinical guidance, and have made it, in the words of a South African primary care nurse, ‘A tool for every day for every patient’. It describes the lessons learnt during the development process that the KTU now applies to further development, maintenance and in-country localisation of the guide: develop clinical decision support in context first, involve local stakeholders in all stages, leverage others’ evidence databases to remain up to date and ensure content development, updating and localisation articulate with implementation.
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Environment International Volume 86, January 2016, Pages 14-23
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in weather conditions and patterns of extreme weather events. It may lead to changes in health threat to human beings, multiplying existing health problems. This review examines the scientific e...vidences on the impact of climate change on human infectious diseases. It identifies research progress and gaps on how human society may respond to, adapt to, and prepare for the related changes. Based on a survey of related publications between 1990 and 2015, the terms used for literature selection reflect three aspects — the components of infectious diseases, climate variables, and selected infectious diseases. Humans' vulnerability to the potential health impacts by climate change is evident in literature. As an active agent, human beings may control the related health effects that may be effectively controlled through adopting proactive measures, including better understanding of the climate change patterns and of the compound disease-specific health effects, and effective allocation of technologies and resources to promote healthy lifestyles and public awareness. The following adaptation measures are recommended: 1) to go beyond empirical observations of the association between climate change and infectious diseases and develop more scientific explanations, 2) to improve the prediction of spatial–temporal process of climate change and the associated shifts in infectious diseases at various spatial and temporal scales, and 3) to establish locally effective early warning systems for the health effects of predicated climate change.
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Environment International Volume 146, January 2021, 106245.
We use soils to provide 98.8% of our food, but we must ensure that the pressure we place on soils to provide this food in the short-term does not inadvertently push the Earth into a less hospitable state in the long-term. Using the planeta...ry boundaries framework, we show that soils are a master variable for regulating critical Earth-system processes. Indeed, of the seven Earth-systems that have been quantified, soils play a critical and substantial role in changing the Earth-systems in at least two, either directly or indirectly, as well as smaller contributions for a further three.
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PNAS 2022 Vol. 119 No. 7 e2109217118
A clear understanding of the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of a particular community is necessary in order to improve control of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT).New screening and diagnostic tools and strategies were introduced into South Sudan, as part of integrated delivery of primar...y healthcare. Knowledge and awareness on HAT, its new/improved screening and diagnostic tools, the places and processes of getting a confirmatory diagnosis and treatment are crucial to the success of this strategy.
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Rabies is a devastating and societally important zoonotic disease, which is transmitted principally to humans through the bite of infected dogs. This acute, progressive viral encephalitis has the highest case fatality of any infectious disease and kills tens of thousands of people annually, with chi...ldren and impoverished communities being affected disproportionately.
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