Gastrointestinal endoscopy at Amana Municipal Referral Hospital in Tanzania: reasons for referral and findings

Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is a medical procedure for visualizing and treating diseases in the upper gastrointestinal tract. It is useful in the surveillance, diagnosis and treatment of acute conditions such as gastrointestinal haemorrhages, benign, malignancies or inflammatory conditions. Because of unavailability of specialist doctors, open access endoscopy referral system is the main system practiced in Tanzania. This study was carried out to investigate the appropriateness of referrals for endoscopy and to determine the endoscopic findings at Amana Municipal Referral Hospital in Tanzania. This cross-sectional study was carried out from March 2010 to June 2011 involved patients referred for endoscopy. Demographic characteristics, reasons for referral and endoscopic findings were recorded for each patient. A total of 393 patients were involved in the study. The mean age of the study subjects was 47.3±17.4 years. The main reasons for referral were epigastric pain (57%), vomiting blood (23%) and difficult in swallowing (20%). The most common endoscopic findings were gastritis (57.2%), oesophagitis (10.2%) and gastric tumours (6.5%). The main reasons for endoscopy referrals at Amana Municipal Referral Hospital are epigastric pain, difficult in swallowing and vomiting blood. The normal endoscopy findings observed falls within normal range. These findings are important for further development of the endoscopy unit, for streamlining services, training of the required skills, and for planning

Bivariate analysis of partner’s fertility desire and decision making variables versus unintended pregnancy, Ethiopia, 2011.

<p>Bivariate analysis of partner’s fertility desire and decision making variables versus unintended pregnancy, Ethiopia, 2011.</p

Socio-demographic characteristics of pregnant study participants, Ethiopia, 2011.

<p>Socio-demographic characteristics of pregnant study participants, Ethiopia, 2011.</p

Reproductive characteristics of pregnant study participants, Ethiopia, 2011.

<p>Reproductive characteristics of pregnant study participants, Ethiopia, 2011.</p

Bivariate analysis of socio-demographic and reproductive characteristics versus unintended pregnancy, Ethiopia, 2011.

<p>Bivariate analysis of socio-demographic and reproductive characteristics versus unintended pregnancy, Ethiopia, 2011.</p

HIV hospital admissions attributable to specific opportunistic infections and factors associated with them at a Botswana Referral Hospital

Hospital admissions among people living with HIV (PLWH) in Botswana are high. Opportunistic infections (OIs) are responsible for most of these admissions. Although leading OIs causing these admissions have been identified in the region, their correlates are poorly understood. This study aimed to: 1) evaluate major OIs responsible for admissions among HIV patients at Princess Marina Hospital (PMH) in Botswana; 2) estimate the proportion and identify the most frequent admissions attributable to specific OIs; 3) characterize major correlates of admissions attributable to each specific OIs and identify populations most at risk as a base for effective policy and resource orientation. HIV infected patients were randomly selected from hospital record lists. Biomedical, sociodemographic and economic data were collected from the records and from face-to-face patient interviews and analyzed. Tuberculosis was the most important OI responsible for 234.6 per 1000 HIV admissions. Cryptococcal meningitis accounted for 162.0 per 1000 admissions. Patients with a CD4-cell count 350/µL and females. The risk of admission due to cryptococcal meningitis was also high among patients with low socioeconomic status (SES). Females were more at risk for Cryptosporidium, Bacterial pneumonia (BP), Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia (PCP), Herpes and candidiasis-specific admissions than male and, patients not on co-trimoxazole were more likely to be admitted than those on co-trimoxazole.Comprehensive implementation strategies to address OIs among PLWH are needed. To be effective, such strategies should address not only biomedical factors but should also focus on PLWH’s SES