ABSTRACT The Livestock sector plays a vital role in the economies of many developing countries. It provides food, income, employment and possibly foreign exchange. Consumption and trade of livestock and livestock products in developing countries is rapidly growing however, animal diseases have a permanent threat to livestock keepersand major economic implications both through public and private costs of outbreaks. An example of such diseases is transboundary animal diseases (TADs). One of th...
ABSTRACT Emerging and re-emerging diseases in middle and low income countries particularly in agro-pastoral and pastoral communities pose major concern in animal and public health sectors which affect livelihoods and economy of communities. Improved surveillance system approaches could help to ensure prompt detection, reporting, recording and analyzing the incidence of diseases and response to outbreaks. A retrospective epidemiological study, was conducted to investigate common clinical sig...
ABSTRACT Porcine cysticercosis and human neurocysticercosis/taeniosis are two forms of a zoonotic disease caused by Taenia solium tapeworm. There is a perceived inefficient diagnosis and reporting of both forms of this parasitic disease in Tanzania. The aim of this study was to identify the challengesassociated with diagnosis and reporting of both forms of the parasitic disease in medical and veterinary sectors. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Babati, Mbulu, Kongwa, Mbinga and Ny...
ABSTRACT About 1.6 million Kenyans are living with HIV and AIDS while an estimated 1.5 million have already died of the virus. Marrying or looking for a lifetime soul mate or partner in the era of HIV and AIDS pandemic is therefore problematic, worrying and a nightmare. Due to changing lifestyles and limited time for interaction amongst age groups in any one given population, dating has been elevated to media platform amongst sexually active men and women. However, HIV and AIDS is a reality a...
ABSTRACT Substance abuse is a worldwide public health challenge. Globally, 210 million people abuse drugs resulting in approximately 263,000 deaths annually. An estimated 10-15 % of medical students risk substance abuse in their lifetime as they are not immune to the predisposing factors associated with the abuse. Substance abuse by students in medical training colleges (MTCs) may impact negatively on their health, future professional conduct and consequently, safety of patients. In Kenya, su...
ABSTRACT Trachoma is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, which produces a characteristic scarring of the inner surface of the eyelids. It affects all age groups but is more prevalent among young children, aged less than 9 years, who are the reservoirs of the disease. Trachoma is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world, accounting for more than 1.4% of the world‟s blindness. It‟s transmitted through direct contact of infected ocular material ...
ABSTRACT Immunization alone averts 2-3 million deaths annually. Immunization coverage of above 80% is need for herd immunity. Kenya’s immunization coveragefor childhood vaccines is at 68%, which is below herd immunity levels and continues to experience decline trajectory. Vaccine coverage is not uniform across the regions in the country and varies by type of vaccine. Urban informal settlements experiences low coverage, which leaves many children at risk of vaccine preventable diseases.The m...
Abstract Zimbabwe has a generalized HIV epidemic. Since 2015, the national ART program has been rolling out a suite of differentiated models of care in line with the 2013 WHO guidelines. One of the common models adopted by the country is Multi-Month Scripting (MMS) for stable ART patients. Insufficient evidence exists in the country around the contribution of MMS to patient level ART outcomes, almost two years after it was rolled nationally. A retrospective cohort study was conducted at the ...
ABSTRACT Malaria accounts for approximately 21% of all out-patient visits in Kenya annually. Accurate diagnosis is the key to proper treatment of the disease. In Kenya, parasitological testing using either microscopy or malaria rapid diagnostic test (mRDT) are the recommended malaria diagnostic methods. Microscopy is the „gold standard‟ for laboratory diagnosis of malaria, and is the primary method for malaria diagnosis in Kisumu county referral hospital, yet its diagnostic quality has ne...
ABSTRACT Congenital heart defects (CHD) remain one of the most common categories of birth defects worldwide. In many developing countries, high early childhood mortality and limited diagnostic facilities often obscure the true scope of the problem. In this review, we provide an overview of the clinical epidemiology and management of CHD in a developing country: Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. We describe the types of CHD and the clinical presentation, echocardiographic diagnosis, man...
Abstract Antiretroviral therapy is currently the major intervention against HIV infection.However, with increased access to treatment through the universal test and treat approach, poten- tial barriers to the overall success of this strategy such as treatment dropouts and treat- ment failure arise.We constructed a deterministic mathematical model of HIV/AIDS to study the possible eects of treatment failure and treatment dropouts on the population dynamics of the infection.The model incorporat...
ABSTRACT Globally an estimate of 350 000 to 500 000 women die annually from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. An adverse pregnancy outcome is an incident which reduces the chance of having a healthy baby, two or more 1st trimester miscarriage. Previous studies reveal that adverse pregnancy outcomes were threatening the lives of both the mother and child. The burden of adverse pregnancy outcomes among women who deliver at Intermediate Hospital Oshakati is a major public ...
ABSTRACT Salmonella infection in humans is a major public health problem worldwide. There is an increasing concern with this pathogen due to the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistant and potentially more pathogenic strains. Failure to control Salmonella in a country presents a potential problem for other countries. To minimise the burden of this pathogen, it is helpful to monitor Salmonella serovars distribution in many countries, implement Salmonella control measures throughout the fo...
ABSTRACT Early diagnosis in cancer greatly affects treatment success of which the most important components are education (knowledge) and encouragement of the target population to participate in early diagnostic procedures (World Health Organisation). Statistics from Cancer Namibia (CAN) show that prostate cancer has been on the rise with 126 and 311 cases reported in 2006 and 2012. In 2014 and 2015, 52 and 68 prostate cancer cases were recorded in Intermediate Hospital Oshakati (IHO). Out of...
ABSTRACT Food safety is a key component of food security as food can only be considered to exist, if it is safe for human consumption. Food handlers play a massive role in food safety, it is for this purpose we conducted a study to determine knowledge, attitudes and practices of food safety among food handlers in Opuwo District. An analytical cross sectional study was conducted, using a multi-staged probability sampling method. A total of 137 food handlers participated in the study from 24 ki...