Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med. (2013) 10(5):210-229
Plants are important sources of medicines. Herbal medicines in Lesotho are exposed to excessive exploitation and habitat destruction. Comprehensive information to promote proper use and conservation of these herbal medicines is lacking. ...This study described the uses of medicinal plants in Lesotho with comparative reference between practice and the literature, highlighting important ethno-medicinal information and conservation status of the plants. Additionally, the study established a repository and monograph for the herbal medicines in Lesotho.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajtcam.v13i1.20
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INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health systems around the world. The objectives of this study are to estimate the overall effect of the pandemic on essential health service use and outcomes in Mexico, describe observed and predicted trends in services over 24 months, and to estimat...e the number of visits lost through December 2020.
METHODS: We used health information system data for January 2019 to December 2020 from the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), which provides health services for more than half of Mexico's population-65 million people. Our analysis includes nine indicators of service use and three outcome indicators for reproductive, maternal and child health and non-communicable disease services. We used an interrupted time series design and linear generalised estimating equation models to estimate the change in service use and outcomes from April to December 2020. Estimates were expressed using average marginal effects on the risk ratio scale.
RESULTS: The study found that across nine health services, an estimated 8.74 million patient visits were lost in Mexico. This included a decline of over two thirds for breast and cervical cancer screenings (79% and 68%, respectively), over half for sick child visits and female contraceptive services, approximately one-third for childhood vaccinations, diabetes, hypertension and antenatal care consultations, and a decline of 10% for deliveries performed at IMSS. In terms of patient outcomes, the proportion of patients with diabetes and hypertension with controlled conditions declined by 22% and 17%, respectively. Caesarean section rate did not change.
CONCLUSION: Significant disruptions in health services show that the pandemic has strained the resilience of the Mexican health system and calls for urgent efforts to resume essential services and plan for catching up on missed preventive care even as the COVID-19 crisis continues in Mexico.
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Ocean plastic pollution has reached crisis level: every minute, more than an entire garbage truck of plastic makes its way into the world’s oceans—roughly 11 million metric tons annually. While plastic waste presents an immediate threat to marine wildlife and ecosystems, this global challenge al...so has implications for major industries such as fishing and tourism, impacting the livelihoods of millions of people. The drivers and impacts of ocean plastic pollution also contribute to global challenges in food security, human health, and climate change.
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MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report December 19, 2014 / 63(50);1205-1206
The World Health Organization (WHO) convened a meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Buruli ulcer at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on 25 to 27 March 2019
Buruli ulcer caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans is a neglected tropical disease characterized by extensive ulceration involving predominantly the upper and lower limbs of patients. The disease is common in rural tropical communities in West and Central Africa, where access to proper health care is lim...ited. Pathogenesis of the characteristic painless ulcers is linked to the elaboration by M. ulcerans of a lipid toxin called mycolactone that has potent cytopathic, immunosuppressive, and analgesic effects on a host of cells in cutaneous tissues. Mycolactone is known to profoundly inhibit secretion of a plethora of proteins that are essential for wound healing. Even though a combination antibacterial therapy of streptomycin and rifampicin for 8 weeks is effective for treatment, it relies on good and appropriate wound management to prevent secondary bacterial infections and improve healing. Evidence-based interventions for wound care in Buruli ulcer disease are often lacking and have relied on expert advice and recommendations. Surgical interventions are limited to debridement of necrotic tissue and grafting of extensive ulcers, usually after antibiotic therapy. Patients’ rehabilitation is an important component of care to reduce disabilities associated with the disease and proper integration into the community after treatment.
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The Practical manual on laboratory strengthening, 2022 update provides practical guidance on implementation of WHO recommendations and best practices for TB laboratory strengthening. It is an updated version of the GLI Practical Guide to Laboratory Strengthening published in 2017 and provides the la...test practical guidance on use of newly recommended diagnostics as well as guidance in key technical areas, including quality assurance and quality management systems, specimen collection and registration, procurement and supply-chain management, diagnostic connectivity, biosafety, data management, human resources, strategic planning, and model algorithms. The key changes are:
inclusion of recent or updated WHO recommendations for tests to diagnose TB and detect drug resistance;
alignment with the latest WHO critical concentrations for phenotypic drug-susceptibility testing (DST) and the new definitions of pre-XDR-TB and XDR-TB;
updated information on building quality-assured TB testing and management capacity using the Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) approach (Score-TB package1);
updated information on assessing, analysing and optimising TB diagnostic networks; and
updated information on the use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) to detect mutations associated with drug resistance for surveillance purposes.
The document also provides references to resources and tools relevant for work on laboratory strengthening.
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Cholera is a diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholera. The infection primarily spreads through contaminated water and food. Symptoms include the onset of acute diarrhea and/or vomiting, muscle cramps, and body weakness. If untreated, the infection can result in rapid dehydration and ...death within hours.
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Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) has been an alarming global public health issue. The disease affects mainly poor and marginalized people in low-resource settings and is caused by two subspecies of haemoflagellate parasite, Trypanosoma brucei and transmitted by tsetse flies. Progress made in HAT ...control during the past decade has prompted increasing global dialogue on its elimination and eradication. The disease is targeted by the World Health Organization (WHO) for elimination as a public health problem by 2020 and to terminate its transmission globally by 2030, along-side other Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD). Several methods have been used to control tsetse flies and the disease transmitted by them. Old and new tools to control the disease are available with constraints.
Currently, there are no vaccines available. Efforts towards intervention to control the disease over the past decade have seen considerable progress and remarkable success with incidence dropping progressively, reversing the upward trend of reported cases. This gives credence in a real progress in its elimination. This study reviews various control measures, progress and a highlight of control issues, vector and parasite barriers that may have been hindering progress towards its elimination.
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The Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use Partnership (MAAP) project has conducted a multi-year, multi-country study that provides stark insights on the under-reported depth of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis across Africa and lays out urgent policy recommendations to addr...ess the emergency.
MAAP reviewed 819,584 AMR records from 2016-2019, from 205 laboratories across Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. MAAP also reviewed data from 327 hospital and community pharmacies and 16 national-level AMC datasets.
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Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have collectively remained the leading causes of death worldwide and substantially contribute to loss of health and excess health system costs. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study has tracked trends in death and disability since 1990 a...nd has provided an updated perspective on the status of cardiovascular health globally, regionally, and nationally.
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Objective: To conduct a landscape assessment of public knowledge of cardiovascular disease risk factors and acute myocardial infarction symptoms, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) awareness and training in three underserved communities in Brazil.
Metho...ds: A cross-sectional, population-based survey of non-institutionalised adults age 30 or greater was conducted in three municipalities in Eastern Brazil. Data were analysed as survey-weighted percentages of the sampled populations.
Results: 3035 surveys were completed. Overall, one-third of respondents was unable to identify at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor and 25% unable to identify at least one myocardial infarction symptom. A minority of respondents had received training in CPR or were able to identify an AED. Low levels of education and low socioeconomic status were consistent predictors of lower knowledge levels of cardiovascular disease risk factors, acute coronary syndrome symptoms and CPR and AED use.
Conclusions: In three municipalities in Eastern Brazil, overall public knowledge of cardiovascular disease risk factors and symptoms, as well as knowledge of appropriate CPR and AED use was low. Our findings indicate the need for interventions to improve public knowledge and response to acute cardiovascular events in Brazil as a first step towards improving health outcomes in this population. Significant heterogeneity in knowledge seen across sites and socioeconomic strata indicates a need to appropriately target such interventions.
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Alcohol consumption is deeply embedded in the social landscape of many societies. Several major factors have an impact on levels and patterns of alcohol consumption in populations – such as historical trends in alcohol consumption, the availability of alcohol, culture, economic status and trends i...n the marketing of alcoholic beverages, as well as implemented alcohol control measures. At the individual level, the patterns and levels of alcohol consumption are determined by many different factors, including gender, age and individual biological and socioeconomic vulnerability factors, as well as the policy environment. Prevailing social norms that support drinking behaviour and mixed messages about the harms and benefits of drinking encourage alcohol consumption delay appropriate health-seeking behaviour and weaken community action
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Facilitator's Guide. This guide is designed to assist facilitators in training community health workers (CHWs) and community volunteers (CVs) in integrating community-based TB services into their work. The training will help community workers who already provide numerous services to understand TB an...d contribute to prevention, care and support services in their communities
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Cystic fibrosis (CF) was earlier thought to be a disease prevalent in the West among Caucasians. However, quite a number of recent studies have uncovered CF cases outside of this region, and reported hundreds of unique and novel variant forms of CFTR. Here, we discuss the evidence of CF in parts of... the world earlier considered to be rare; Africa, and Asia. This review also highlighted the CFTR mutation variations and new mutations discovered in these regions. This discovery implies that the CF data from these regions were earlier underestimated. The inadequate awareness of the disease in these regions might have contributed towards the poor diagnostic facilities, under-diagnosis or/and under-reporting, and the lack of CF associated health policies. Overall, these regions have a high rate of infant, childhood and early adulthood mortality due to CF. Therefore, there is a need for a thorough investigation of CF prevalence and to identify unique and novel variant mutations within these regions in order to formulate intervention plans, create awareness, develop mutation specific screening kits and therapies to keep CF mortality at bay.
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The present guidelines incorporate all these changes, leading to a substantial reconfiguration of therapeutic choices for both disease forms.
HAT is a serious, life-threatening disease and the efficacy of fexinidazole depends on swallowing the medicine after an appropriate intake of food as well as... on completing the full 10-day treatment schedule. Therefore, the recommendations regarding fexinidazole administration are considered key elements that must be carefully followed. When the conditions listed in these guidelines are not met for any individual patient, the alternative available treatments should be prescribed.
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Snakebite envenoming constitutes a serious medical condition that primarily affects residents of rural communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and New Guinea. It is an occupational, environmental, and domestic health hazard that exacerbates the already impoverished state of these communities. Co...nservative estimates indicate that, worldwide, more than 5 million people suffer snakebite every year, leading to 25,000–125,000 deaths, while an estimated 400,000 people are left with permanent disabilities.
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