Tuberculosis (TB) prevention is essential for reaching the End TB targets in the South-East Asia Region (SEAR) of World Health Organization (WHO)1. The targets of 80% reduction in TB incidence rate and 90% reduction in TB mortality by 2030 (compared to 2015 levels) can be achieved only with addition...al interventions aimed at preventing TB, according to epidemiological modelling studies commissioned by the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (WHO SEARO). Optimal implementation of TB preventive treatment (TPT) is a critical intervention to accelerate reduction in TB burden in the SEA Region, which bears nearly 43% of the global TB burden. TPT by itself has the potential to reduce the overall annual TB incidence rates by 8.3% (95% CrI 6.5–10.8) relative to 2015.
more
Advocacy, communication and social mobilization for TB control
Supportive supervision is considered critical to community health worker programme performance, but there is relatively little understanding of how it can be sustainably done at scale. Supportive supervision is a holistic concept that encompasses three key functions: management (ensuring performance...), education (promoting development) and support (responding to needs and problems). Drawing on the experiences of the ward-based outreach team (WBOT) strategy, South Africa’s national community health worker (CHW) programme, this paper explores and describes approaches to supportive supervision in policy and programme guidelines and how these are implemented in supervision practices in the North West Province, an early adopter of the WBOT strategy. Outreach teams typically consist of six CHWs plus a nurse outreach team leader (OTL).
more
Introduction Community health workers (CHWs) are increasingly being tasked to prevent and manage cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors in underserved populations in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs); however, little is known about the required training necessary for them to ...accomplish their role. This review aimed to evaluate the training of CHWs for the prevention and management of CVD and its risk factors in LMICs.
Methods A search strategy was developed in line with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, and five electronic databases (Medline, Global Health, ERIC, EMBASE and CINAHL) were searched to identify peer-reviewed studies published until December 2016 on the training of CHWs for prevention or control of CVD and its risk factors in LMICs. Study characteristics were extracted using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and quality assessed using Effective Public Health Practice Project’s Quality Assessment Tool. The search, data extraction and quality assessment were performed independently by two researchers.
Results The search generated 928 articles of which 8 were included in the review. One study was a randomised controlled trial, while the remaining were before–after intervention studies. The training methods included classroom lectures, interactive lessons, e-learning and online support and group discussions or a mix of two or more. All the studies showed improved knowledge level post-training, and two studies demonstrated knowledge retention 6 months after the intervention.
Conclusion The results of the eight included studies suggest that CHWs can be trained effectively for CVD prevention and management. However, the effectiveness of CHW trainings would likely vary depending on context given the differences between studies (eg, CHW demographics, settings and training programmes) and the weak quality of six of the eight studies. Well-conducted mixed-methods studies are needed to provide reliable evidence about the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of training programmes for CHWs.
more
PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183180 October 9, 2017
Shoman et al. Globalization and Health (2017) 13:1 DOI 10.1186/s12992-016-0224-2
Dziva Chikwari et al. Implementation Science (2018) 13:70 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-018-0762-5
Review
published: 12 August 2016 doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2016.00166
Frontiers in Public Health | www.frontiersin.org 1 August 2016 | Volume 4 | Article 166
Orientations provisoires 19 juillet 2021
DHS Working Papers No. 103
Тщательно взвесив все за и против, мы предлагаем в начальной главе первого учебника по детской и подростковой психиатрии IACAPAP сосредоточить внимание на взаимоотно...шениях между этой областью знаний и этикой. Несмотря на то, что эта, посвященная этике, глава обращена главным образом к практикующим врачам, большинство приве-
денных здесь этических проблем обсуждены применительно также и к другим профессионалам, работающим в психиатрии и принимающим участие в процессе лечения детей и подростков (например, психологам, социальным работникам, среднему медицинскому персоналу, терапевтам).
more
Q&A on COVID-19, HIV and antiretrovirals - Hỏi Đáp về COVID-19, HIV và thuốc antiretrovirals (ARVs)
Historically, the discovery of the sulfa drugs in the 1930s and the subsequent development of penicillin during World War II ushered in a new era in the treatment of infectious diseases. Infections that were common causes of death and disease in the pre-...antibiotic era - rheumatic fever, syphilis, cellulitis and bacterial pneumonia - became treatable, and over the next 20 years most of the classes of antibiotics that find clinical use today were discovered and changed medicine in a profound way. The availability of antibiotics enabled revolutionary medical interventions such as cancer chemotherapy, organ transplants and essentially all major invasive surgeries from joint replacements to coronary bypass. Antibiotics, though, are unique among drugs in that their use precipitates their obsolescence. Paradoxically, these cures select for organisms that can evade them, fueling an arms race between microbes, clinicians and drug discoverers.
Wright BMC Biology 2010, 8:123 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/12
more
New England Journal of Medicine
April 9, 2021
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2104840
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.
more
Interferon-γ Assays - Description and Assessment of a New Tool in the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis.
Haür B et al. Interferon-γ-Tests in der ...Pneumologie 2006; 60: 29-44
The Lancet. Published Online December 22, 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)32621-6. Open Access