12 research outputs found
Social Justice Approach to Road Safety in Kenya: Addressing the Uneven Distribution of Road Traffic Injuries and Deaths across Population Groups
Road traffic injury and deaths (RTID) are an important public health problem in Kenya, primarily affecting uneducated and disenfranchised people from lower socioeconomic groups. Studies conducted by Kenyan experts from police reports and surveys have shown that pedestrian and driver behaviors are the most important proximal causes of crashes, signifying that the occurrence of crashes results directly from human action. However, behaviors and risk factors do not fully explain the magnitude of RTID neither does it account for socioeconomic gradient in RTID. Instead, a social justice approach to RTID highlights the need for emphasizing distal causal factors. They allow us to understand how social inequities determine risk for RTID. Hence, designing policies that focus on behaviors will simply mask the underlying systemic causes of this growing phenomenon. To eradicate the RTID and address the gradient, a broader policy framework that includes the social dimension of injury, a strong political will to address the underlying causes of RTID and an effective partnership with stakeholders needs to be developed
The problem of lost to follow-up of mother-child pairs enrolled in the PMTCT program in Dschang District Hospital-Cameroon
Summa r y : High rates of lost to follow-up (LTFU) in the Prevention of Mother-To-Child
Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programs in Cameroon will only contribute in hindering the
successful implementation of the program. The objective of this study was to determine the
reasons of LTFU of mother-child pairs enrolled in the PMTCT program in Dschang District
Hospital (DDH): Cameroon. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was carried out in
HIV+ exposed children delivered in the DDH from1st Jan 2012 – 31st Dec 2014, who were
greater than or equal to 18 months at the study period (1st August – 30th September 2016)
and whose mothers were enrolled in the PMTCT program for at least 3 months. Children
were considered LTFU if they did not return to the hospital for the establishment of their
HIV status at 18 months. A complementary cross-sectional study was done whereby a
structured questionnaire was administered to the LTFU group via telephone calls, in order
to determine the causes of LTFU. Data was collected from hospital registers and analyses
done using Epi info 7.1.3.3 software. Results: A total of 141 mother-child pairs were
eligible for the study, 76 were reachable via phone calls and 36 (47.37%) met the case
definition of LTFU. Out of the 36 (47.37%) children LTFU, lack of information, 19(65.52%);
lack of support from male partners, 4(11.11%); Poor behavior of health personnel, 2 (5.56%);
forgetfulness, negligence/time wasting, unavailability of results, fear of child being infected,
and family problems were all listed at equal proportions of, 3(6.90%) as well as financial
problem, 1 (2.78%) were all causes of LTFU identified in this study