ABSTRACT The school supplementary feeding programme is a national initiative implemented by the Ministry of Education (MoE) with the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MOHSS). MOHSS offers technical expertise in health related issues through the National Policy for School Health. The objectives of the study were to assess how the implementation of the school supplementary feeding programme is helping to ease the malnutrition burden on school learners, determine the extent to which primar...
Abstract Attendance at antenatal clinic during pregnancy and delivery in health facilities by skilled birth attendants have been shown to reduce the incidence of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Despite efforts by the Namibian government through the Ministry of Health and Social Services to promote delivery at health facilities by pregnant women, many women still deliver at home resulting in high maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity in the country. Factors that influenc...
ABSTRACT Background: The quality of maternal healthcare women receive during pregnancy and delivery has attracted global attention. However, tools and empirical studies on quality of maternal healthcare women receive are lacking in many low-income settings including Ghana. Available literature shows that many of the current assessment tools are provider driven, focusing mainly on clinical care aspect of quality without considering clients' perspectives. This study aimed to fill these knowled...
ABSTRACT In sub-Saharan Africa, several hundreds of pregnancies are exposed to both malaria and HIV infections annually. Consequences of these infections include maternal anemia, immunosuppression, preterm delivery, low birth weight, low Apgar score, and cord malaria. Unfortunately, these infections in relation to these adverse outcomes are not well characterized in Ghana. This study determined whether maternal malaria and HIV infections during pregnancy are associated with increased risk of...
Background: Despite over three decades of HIV, its prevalence especially among adolescents remains a public health concern. In 2015, there were more than two million adolescents living with HIV, with a higher proportion coming from sub-Sahara Africa. In Cameroon, there are over 40,000 adolescents living with HIV and there are still concerns about the provision of care to them as adolescents are trapped between paediatric and adult services which are unable to address their specific needs. How...
The effect of pregnancy associated malaria (PAM) differs according to the level of malaria endemicity and the level of immunity to infection acquired by pregnant woman. Generally the incidence as well as severity of PAM is parity-linked. Immunologically naive primigravid women are at greater risk compared to multigravidae who have some level of immunity against the specific malaria parasites which colonize the placenta.
Introduction Globally. 2.6 million stillbirths are recorded annually 50% occur during labour (intrapartum). Ghana records 11,000 stillbirths annually and 40% occur during labour. The Greater Accra Region records 2000 stillbirths annually: 40 % of them occur intrapartum. An understanding of the contributory factors will facilitate the development of preventive strategies to reduce the huge numbers of intrapartum stillbirths
ABSTRACT Smoking is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases and remains a significant public health challenge in many lower and middle income countries (LMIC). Inspite that smoking cessation (SC) pharmacotherapy significantly reduces poor outcome, access to smoking cessation services in medical practice in Namibia is unknown. The study aims to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practice of SC pharmacotherapy among medical doctors in Khomas region, Namibia. A cross-sectional analyti...
ABSTRACT A quality improvement training programme is important to address the challenges that the health professionals are facing in their quest for quality health care delivery. In Namibia, most health care facilities have not been yielding good results in response to patients’ health care needs. Health care dynamics are complex and inundated with several factors; among others new methods, speed of improving medical science and technology, as well as increasing demands of the clients to ad...
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between age at first diagnosis and outcomes of women treated of breast cancer at Windhoek central hospital between 2009 and 2011 and to describe and compare the outcomes of young and older patients in relation to socio-demographic and clinical factors. The study was a retrospective cohort study involving a document review of 334 women diagnosed and treated of breast cancer at Windhoek central hospital between 2009 and 2011. P...
ABSTRACT This descriptive quantitative study was conducted out at Oshakati State Hospital. The purpose of the study was to assess the nursing care rendered to women who later died due to pregnancy related problems during 2001 – 2002 in Oshakati State Hospital. Thirty one clinical records of women who later died due to pregnancy related problems during 2001 – 2002 were evaluated. The checklist was used for document analysis. Data was analyzed through statistical analysis and presented as d...
ABSTRACT Namibia is a country with a high prevalence of HIV infection. Similar to many hospitals and health facilities around the country, Onandjokwe Health District is experiencing social, economic and health care problems related to HIV/AIDS patients. The home-based care option is seen as an alternative to cater for the needs of the HIV/AIDS patient with the support of family members and communities. People who are involved in providing home-based care are usually non-professionals caregive...
ABSTRACT This study is aimed at assessing knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) of Kangaroo Mother Care among Health Care Professionals (HCPs) in the care of low birth weight babies in the Keetmanshoop district. The study was a quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive study that was conducted in 6 health facilities with 100 health care professionals in the Keetmanshoop district. A self-reported questionnaire was used to collect information and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences...
ABSTRACT Overweight and obesity are reported to be increasing worldwide and currently constituting a public health problem. The consequences of these include hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyper-lipidemia, coronary artery diseases and some cancers. The reports from several regions of the world concerning overweight/obesity among children and adolescents are not consistent. In Nigeria there is no current national figure on overweight/obesity in the adult or children. The main objective of ...
ABSTRACT Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTIs) are viral in 80% of the cases (Mazur, 2010) but antibiotic prescribing in these illnesses still remains a problem in many places, where about 60% of patients with URTIs receive antibiotics inappropriately (WHO, 2010).This makes URTIs important targets for strategies aimed at reducing irrational antibiotic use because irrational use of antibiotics leads to the emergence and spread of bacterial resistance, which is a growing global public heal...