An introduction to 90-90-90 in South Africa
S Afr Med J 2018;108(7):546-550. DOI:10.7196/SAMJ.2018.v108i7.13149
Antimicrobial stewardship programmes have been introduced worldwide in response to the rise in antimicrobial resistance. The World Health Organization has mandated each Member State to produce a plan to address this problem. We rep...ort on the organic development of an antibiotic stewardship programme in a rural regional hospital in a resource-limited setting in South Africa. This has resulted in organisational change with increased awareness, participation, monitoring and education in antibiotic stewardship throughout the hospital
more
The Knowledge Translation Unit is a group within the University of Cape Town’s Lung Institute and Department of Medicine who has worked on primary care programmes to strengthen provision of evidence-informed care in low-resources settings in South... Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Brazil for two decades. See here for more information. We are working around the clock to help health workers in these and similar settings to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. These can be accessed below. We are also working to expand these to support primary healthcare workers, patients and households. You can also access our free online training.
For purposes of assisting communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are making our COVID-19 and related materials freely available for others to use subject to some simple conditions.
more
Common Good creates opportunities for those marginalised by poverty and injustice to realise their full, God-given potential, and mobilizes the church to engage and act justly. (South Africa)
Masangane Case Study
The Vesper Society commissioned ARHAP to do research on the integrated Masangane HIV/AIDS programme affiliated with the Moravian Church in Eastern Cape, South Africa. Completed... in 2006, this study aimed to understand the role of the religious health assets of the Masangane ART programme for public health, as a model for a replicable response to HIV/AIDS. A crucial aspect of this research involved teasing out what value is added to this programme by its faith-based nature. Field work for this case study consisted of more than 20 key informant interviews of various stakeholders: Masangane staff and management; church leaders; health seekers; donors and health providers. Health seekers also answered 77 questionnaires and were involved in two focus groups.
more
Community health workers (CHWs) serve as a very important direct link between patients, communities and health services. As trusted on-the-ground support to community members, they therefore expand access to essential healthcare information as well as available treatment and prevention programmes.
...
This course book provides appropriate, cost-effective, and sustainable targeted learning for the large numbers of emerging community health workers in South Africa.
more
South Africa has recorded its first case of monkeypox today, 23 June 2022. The Minister of
Health Dr. Joe Phaahla explained that he received a report from the National Health
Laboratory Services... CEO that they have confirmed through laboratory tests the first case of
monkeypox in South Africa. South Africa's monkeypox patient zero is a 30-year-old man from
Johannesburg.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has prepared an
information sheet to better understand monkeypox, the symptoms to treatment.
more
Cardiology Training is offered only at universities with linked medical schools and training hospitals in South Africa. Limited training positions are available for this subspecialty training, accor...ding to government allocations in the respective provinces.
Cardiology Training follows strict guidelines. A logbook must be kept to prove proficiency in techniques, and a prescribed minimum number of each different procedure performed must be recorded.
The College of Medicine is responsible for conducting the qualifying examination.
more
This study investigated occupational risk factors and exposure–response relationships for airway disease among health workers (HWs) exposed to cleaning agents in two tertiary hospitals in South Africa...pan> and Tanzania.
Previous studies have demonstrated an association between asthma or respiratory symptoms and exposure to broad categories of cleaning-related exposures in healthcare settings. However, few studies have identified the specific cleaning agents responsible for asthma and other health outcomes. Products used for medical instrument cleaning and disinfection such as glutaraldehyde, orthophthalaldehyde (OPA) and quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) have been implicated in the causation and exacerbation of work-related asthma (WRA) and upper airway outcomes such as rhinitis.
more
This study compared clinical and autopsy findings for three asbestos-related diseases (asbestosis, mesothelioma and lung cancer) in former asbestos mineworkers, and explored factors that influenced agreement between clinical and autopsy findings using data from two compensation systems. In ...ss="attribute-to-highlight medbox">South Africa, statutory compensation for occupational lung diseases in mineworkers makes provisions for autopsy examinations of the cardio-respiratory organs at the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH) in Johannesburg. In addition, the Johannesburg-based Asbestos Relief Trust and Kgalagadi Relief Trust (the “Trusts”) compensate individuals with defined asbestos-related diseases who worked in or lived near qualifying asbestos mining or processing operations. The Trusts also compensate dependents of deceased qualifying mineworkers and therefore encourage statutory autopsies for the detection of previously undiagnosed asbestos-related disease or disease that may have progressed to higher compensation grades.
more
Malawi is a small and beautiful country in south-central Africa. It is divided into three administrative regions: south, central and north. The reg...ions are further subdivided into 28 districts. The Southern Region is the most densely populated, while the Northern Region is the least populated.
more
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002439
South Sudan has a high burden – among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa – of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). This adversely affects the health ...and social and economic well-being of people in the country. The prevention, control and eventual elimination of many NTDs depend heavily on improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and, once there is access, on sound sanitation and hygiene practices. This is especially the case in NTD endemic communities.
more
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.
more
Uganda is Africa's largest refugee-hosting country and ranks fifth globally. Over the decades, Uganda has hosted refugees from nations including South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritre...a, Somalia, Sudan, Burundi, and Rwanda. As of early 2024, it hosts 1 600 000 refugees, primarily in refugee settlements in northern and southwestern Uganda, and in Kampala City. Thirteen districts accommodate 94% of these refugees.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and Uganda’s Ministry of Health conducted a joint review mission to provide a comprehensive overview of the health system's response. The aim was to understand service delivery challenges and identify opportunities to further support Uganda in strengthening health system capacity and ensuring continued access to health services for refugees, migrants and host communities.
more
Dolutegravir HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) data from Africa remain sparse. We reviewed HIVDR results of Malawians on
dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy (November 2020– September 2021). Of 6462 eligible clients, 33 samples were submitted to <...span class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">South Africa, 27 were sequenced successfully, and 8 (30%) had dolutegravir HIVDR. Malawi urgently requires adequate HIVDR testing capacity.
more
Gambiense human African trypanosomiasis is a deadly infectious disease affecting West and Central Africa, South Sudan and Uganda, and transmitted b...etween humans by tsetse flies. The disease has caused several major epidemics, the latest one in the 1990s. Thanks to recent innovations such as rapid diagnostic tests for population screening, a single-dose oral treatment and a highly efficient vector control strategy, interruption of transmission of the causative parasite is now within reach. If indeed gHAT has an exclusively human reservoir, this could even result in eradication of the disease. Even if there were an animal reservoir, on the basis of epidemiological data, it plays a limited role. Maintaining adequate postelimination surveillance in known historic foci, using the newly developed tools, should be sufficient to prevent any future resurgence.
more
Founded in 1977, the Southern African Hypertension Society promotes the common interests of the members of the Society, being persons and organisations concerned with the study and treatment of hypertension. The Society is committed to the maintenan...ce of the highest professional and ethical standards in clinical practice and research and in all its affairs and activities. The Society strongly endorses internationally recognised human rights standards, particularly in medical practice and research as set out in the Declaration of Tokyo, 1975 and the Declaration of Helsinki, 2008. The Society is opposed to all forms of discrimination on the grounds of nationality, race, religion or sex. The Society was registered as a non-profit company in South Africa in 2002.
more
Factsheets with global and regional data from the IDF Diabetes Atlas 10th Edition are available for download below.
Diabetes around the world in 2021
Diabetes in Africa in 2021
Diabetes in Europe in 2021
Diabetes in Middle-East and North ...lass="attribute-to-highlight medbox">Africa in 2021
Diabetes in North America and Caribbean in 2021
Diabetes in South and Central America in 2021
Diabetes in South-East Asia in 2021
Diabetes in Western Pacific in 2021
more
(2016) ‘Combination Social Protection for Reducing HIV-Risk Behavior Among Adolescents in South Africa’. JAIDS 72(1): 96 -104
Community feedback considered in this report was collected through information received from Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA) focal points,as well as through primary data collection,in 10 African countries.Red Cross and Red Crescent Nat...ional Society CEA focal points were asked to share the main rumours, observation, beliefs, questions or suggestions they are hearing in their countries andto grade them according to their frequency. Focal points from the following countries provided information this way: Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Niger, South Africa.
more