Background
Asthma education, a key component of long-term asthma management, is challenging in resource-limited settings with shortages of clinical staff. Task-shifting educational roles to lay (non-clinical) staff is a potential solution. We conducted a randomised controlled trial of an enhanced a...sthma care intervention for children in Malawi, which included reallocation of asthma education tasks to lay-educators. In this qualitative sub-study, we explored the experiences of asthmatic children, their families and lay-educators, to assess the acceptability, facilitators and barriers, and perceived value of the task-shifting asthma education intervention.
Methods
We conducted six focus group discussions, including 15 children and 28 carers, and individual interviews with four lay-educators and a senior nurse. Translated transcripts were coded independently by three researchers and key themes identified.
Results
Prior to the intervention, participants reported challenges in asthma care including the busy and sometimes hostile clinical environment, lack of access to information and the erratic supply of medication. The education sessions were well received: participants reported greater understanding of asthma and their treatment and confidence to manage symptoms. The lay-educators appreciated pre-intervention training, written guidelines, and access to clinical support. Low education levels among carers presented challenges, requiring an open, non-critical and individualised approach.
Discussion
Asthma education can be successfully delivered by lay-educators with adequate training, supervision and support, with benefits to the patients, their families and the community. Wider implementation could help address human resource shortages and support progress towards Universal Health Coverage.
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Preliminary version for country introduction
The content of these guidelines acknowledges that wasting and undernutrition in HIV-infected children reflect a series of failures within the health system, the home and community and not just a biological process related to virus and host interacti...ons.
The guidelines do not cover the feeding of infants 0 to 6 months old, because the specialised care in this age group is already addressed in other WHO guidelines and documents.
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A 2013 Plan study across 30 countries found that children with disabilities were on average 10 times less likely to go to school than children without disabilities. This report presents the findings... of a follow-up second phase to the research with a qualitative study on barriers and enablers to education for children with disabilities in Nepal.
The Full Report and Executive Summary Reports in English, French and Spanish are now available for download at:
http://disabilitycentre.lshtm.ac.uk/include-us-education-study-available-now/
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This report from Human Rights Watch found that South Africa has failed to guarantee the right to education for many of the country’s children and young adults due to widespread discrimination against chi...ldren with disabilities in enrollment decisions. Human Rights Watch research in five out of South Africa’s nine provinces showed that children with disabilities face discriminatory physical and attitudinal barriers, often beginning early in children’s lives when government officials classify them according to their disabilities. Human Rights Watch August 2015
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Scant data exists on the prevalence of violence against children worldwide. However, available information, including the United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children, sho...ws that violence against children is a global problem. This desktop study aims to glean from published and grey literature the extent of sexual violence and exploitation against children in Lesotho. The goal of this study is to better understand the government of Lesotho's national response efforts to reduce violence against children.
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Naicker et al. BMC Palliative Care (2016) 15:41 DOI 10.1186/s12904-016-0114-7
BMJ Global Health2020;5:e002014. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2019-002014
This guideline provides evidence-based recommendations on parenting interventions for parents and caregivers of children aged 0–17 years that are designed to reduce child maltreatment and harsh parenting, enhance the parent–child relationship, a...nd prevent poor mental health among parents and emotional and behavioural problems among children.
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This status report shows how far we have come—and how much further we must go—if we hope to meet the global commitments to end AIDS in children. It offers a snapshot of global progress and permits an early assessment of the impact of the Global ...Alliance’s work.
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Skin and mucosal conditions are extremely common in all children and adults in particular in HIV-infected adults and children and are one of the commonest daily management problems faced by health c...are workers caring for patients with HIV infection
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The purpose of this paper is to clarify relevant terminologies and approaches relating to psychosocial well-being and social and emotional learning (SEL) in education in crisis affected contexts, and to explore how psychosocial support (PSS) and social and emotional learning relate to one another.