Integrated Mobile and web-based Application for Enhancing delivery of HIV/AIDS Healthcare Information in Tanzania

This study aims to develop an integrated e-health platform for enhancing delivery of HIV/AIDS healthcare information in Tanzania, which consists of a mobile application and a web-based system. The study is based on the system's functional and non-functional requirements for an e-health system for delivery of HIV/AIDS healthcare information. The Rapid Application Development (RAD) model was adopted during the system development. The system requirements were modelled into Data Flow Diagram (DFD) in order to obtain the clear flow of the HIV/AIDS healthcare information between the clients and HIV/AIDS healthcare practitioners. With the use of different software development tools and environment such as Android studio and Symfony framework; both android application and web-based system were developed. Finally, the developed system was tested for individual module functioning as well as the functioning of the fully integrated system. The user acceptance survey gave the mean score of above 4 on the scale of 5 for each tested aspect of the system. These scores show that the developed system was positively accepted by the users and commended the Ministry of Health and to deploy the system for enhanced delivery of HIV/AIDS healthcare information

Using rapid research to develop a national strategy to assist families affected by AIDS in Tanzania

Although information on African family adaptation to the AIDS epidemic is critical to planning and managing government, donor and NGO programs of assistance, current knowledge is limited to a small number of research studies. An AIDS prevention project in Tanzania undertook a rapid national assessment to identify the major problems for families in Tanzania in adapting to the epidemic. The methodology used for the work was distinct from prior studies: the research covered a wide cross-section of Tanzanian population groups to gauge the extent of ethnic, urban–rural and regional variation; it was rapid and qualitative, to gather data on broad trends in a short time; and it was designed in co-operation with policymakers so they could understand the approach being used and were receptive to the findings. The study identified common problems in AIDS care, counselling and survivor assistance. Many of the problems for families with AIDS have their origin in poverty and changes in African family structures over the past 20 years, which African demographers are just beginning to describe. Stresses arising from these changes are now being aggravated by AIDS, but families with sufficient resources, whether female or male-headed, are coping better than those without

Handover Management in Dense Networks with Coverage Prediction from Sparse Networks

Millimeter Wave (mm-Wave) provides high bandwidth and is expected to increase the capacity of the network thousand-fold in the future generations of mobile communications. However, since mm-Wave is sensitive to blockage and incurs in a high penetration loss, it has increased complexity and bottleneck in the realization of substantial gain. Network densification, as a solution for sensitivity and blockage, increases handover (HO) rate, unnecessary and ping-pong HO’s, which in turn reduces the throughput of the network. On the other hand, to minimize the effect of increased HO rate, Time to Trigger (TTT) and Hysteresis factor (H) have been used in Long Term Evolution (LTE). In this paper, we primarily present two different networks based on Evolved NodeB (eNB) density: sparse and dense. As their name also suggests, the eNB density in the dense network is higher than the sparse network. Hence, we proposed an optimal eNB selection mechanism for 5G intra-mobility HO based on spatial information of the sparse eNB network. In this approach, User Equipment (UE) in the dense network is connected only to a few selected eNBs, which are delivered from the sparse network, in the first place. HO event occurs only when the serving eNB can no longer satisfy the minimum Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) threshold. For the eNBs, which are deployed in the dense network, follow the conventional HO procedure. Results reveal that the HO rate is decreased significantly with the proposed approach for the TTT values between 0 ms to 256 ms while keeping the radio link failure (RLF) at an acceptable level; less than 2% for the TTT values between 0 ms to 160 ms. This study paves a way for HO management in the future 5G network

Towards an EU measure of child deprivation

This paper proposes a new measure of child material and social deprivation (MSD) in the European Union (EU) which includes age appropriate child-specific information available from the thematic deprivation modules included in the 2009 and 2014 waves of the “EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions” (EU‑SILC). It summarises the main results of the in-depth analysis of these two datasets, identifies an optimal set of robust children MSD items and recommends a child‑specific MSD indicator for use by EU countries and the European Commission in their regular social monitoring. In doing this, the paper replicates and expands on the methodological framework outlined in Guio, Gordon and Marlier (2012), particularly by including additional advanced reliability tests

Massive subcutaneous emphysema with pneumoscrotopenis secondary to chest trauma: Case report

Chest injury commonly leads to subcutaneous emphysema of the chest, neck and face. It is usually non-life threatening. Massive subcutaneous  emphysema may occur and very rarely may spread to involve the scrotal sac and subcutaneous tissue planes of the penis to cause pneumoscrotopenis. This case report presents and discusses a patient who developed massive subcutaneous emphysema and pneumoscrotopenis secondary to bluntchest injury.KEYWORDS:Blunt chest injury, Massive subcutaneous emphysema,Pneumoscrotopenis, Chest tub

Media Analysis of Albino Killings in Tanzania: A Social Work and Human Rights Perspective

Murders of people with albinism are a recently emerging human rights issue in Africa, particularly Tanzania. Thus far, public debates about albino killings in Tanzania and other African countries have been dominated by media reports rather than academic writing. This paper presents the findings of a content analysis of Swahili and English Tanzanian media reports published between 2008 and 2011 on albinism and albino murders in Tanzania, and the diverse activities that have unfolded in response to these attacks. Using a human rights framework, the article explores these responses from a social work perspective. It finds that interventions are often framed with reference to African conceptions of humanness. These conceptions are found to be compatible with notions of human rights as relational, in which the various rights and responsibilities of different members of society are seen as interconnected. In practice however, some interventions have resulted in trade-offs between competing rights, causing further harm to victims and their families. To become sustainable therefore, interventions should aim to support all the human rights necessary for the well-being of Africans with albinism, their families and communities. Further research to this effect is recommended

Treatment of Burkitt lymphoma in equatorial Africa using a simple three-drug combination followed by a salvage regimen for patients with persistent or recurrent disease.

Prior to the introduction of the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research (INCTR) protocol INCTR 03-06, survival of patients with Burkitt lymphoma at four tertiary care centres in equatorial Africa was probably no more than 10-20%. The results reported here for 356 patients have demonstrated marked improvement in survival through the use of a uniform treatment protocol consisting of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, vincristine, and intrathecal therapy, and the introduction of non-cross resistant second-line (salvage) therapy, consisting of ifosfamide, mesna, etoposide and cytarabine, when patients failed to achieve a complete response to first-line therapy or relapsed early. Overall survival rates of 67% and 62% were observed at 1 and 2 years (relapse is rare after 1 year of remission). Of interest was the small impact of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and bone marrow involvement on outcome. However, the presence or absence of abdominal involvement clearly defined two prognostic groups. An additional finding was the association between CSF pleocytosis and orbital tumours, suggesting that spread of tumour cells to the central nervous system may sometimes occur via direct involvement of cranial nerves in the orbit. Survival rates may be increased in patients with abdominal involvement by combining first- and second-line therapy, but verification will require a further clinical study