Analysis of secondary data from Mycobacterium vaccae tuberculosis clinical trial

Background: Sputum culture conversion at two months is an important indicator for the effectiveness of treatment and the infectivity of a patient with pulmonary TB. This study aimed at investigating factors that are associated with tuberculosis culture conversion at two months as well as investigating whether sputum culture conversion at two months is a reliable predictor of relapse. Methods: The study makes use of data obtained from 347 newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients who participated in a randomized placebo controlled immunotherapy trial at King George V hospital in Durban. Above objectives were met by carrying out statistical analysis of the secondary data. Chi-square tests for categorical explanatory variables such as HIV status and smoking status and (b) t-tests for continuous variables such as age were used for investigating factors associated with 2-month culture conversion. Multivariate models were used to find the most important variables for predicting 2-month culture conversion. Kaplan Meier curves were used for investigating whether culture conversion at two months is a reliable predictor of relapse. Findings: Of the 347 tuberculosis patients, 34 % were HIV sero-positive. Age, body mass index (BMI), smoking status and gender were found to be important variables that affect sputum culture conversion at two months. At 5 % significance level there was no evidence that those who culture convert at two months were less likely to relapse than those who had not culture converted at two months (p=0.1165). However the trend shown is striking to report as it may be of clinical significance. Among those who had not culture converted at two months, more people (40) than expected (34) relapsed an among those who had culture converted at to months, less people (19) than expected (24) relapsed. Interpretation and recommendations: Some behavioral and biological factors affect two month tuberculosis culture conversion therefore successful tuberculosis management need to take into account the effect of these factors. This study did not show that the sterilizing potential of an anti-tuberculosis regimen can be obtained by evaluation of the culture conversion rates at two months and this may be due to small sample size

Zimbabwe’s COVID- 19 vaccination roll-out: Urgent need to rethink strategies to improve the supply chain

No abstract

Zimbabwe’s COVID19 vaccination roll-out : urgent need to rethink strategies to improve the supply chain

No abstract available.http://www.samj.org.zaSchool of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH

Travel motivations: a comparative assessment of Zimbabwe’s major international source markets.

Extant literature on travel motivations, especially from a comparative perspective, has largely been constructed in the context of European and American destinations. Little has been documented on destinations elsewhere. The study therefore sought to investigate and compare the motivations of international tourists to Zimbabwe from the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa. Using the quantitative approach, data were collected from 267 respondents and analysed both at item level and factor level. Exploratory Factor Analysis of the 19 motivation variables yielded five factors: ‘novelty and knowledge enhancement’, ‘escape’ and ‘nature experience’ emerged as the major motivation factors, while egoism and social interaction were least important. The study revealed that tourist motivations vary between nations. ‘Novelty and knowledge enhancement’ was an overarching motivation across the three nations. However, this factor scored higher for tourists from the USA compared to South Africa and the UK. Tourists from the UK placed a higher value on the ‘Nature experience’ and ‘escape’ motivations. South African tourists had no distinct motivations, although at item level ‘to rest and relax’ featured among the country’s top five motivations. Likewise, some sociodemographic and trip characteristics varied between nations. It is recommended that Zimbabwe should take cognisance of the key motivations, including inimitable attributes of tourists from different source markets, and develop customised products and marketing messages. Furthermore, network marketing, taking advantage of the high numbers of repeat visits, can be used to circumvent image related challenges bedevilling the country

Travel motivations of domestic tourists: The case of Zimbabwe.

The quantity of research on domestic tourism for destinations in Africa is significantly lower than that on international tourism. The paper sought to investigate the motivations of domestic tourists in Zimbabwe with a view to gain greater insights on the needs of the domestic market. Five motivation factors were identified using a survey method. Data was analysed by means of descriptive statistics and Exploratory Factor Analysis. Novelty, nature seeking and escape and relaxation emerged as the major motivation factors which stimulate domestic tourists to engage in tourism, while prestige and socialisation were the least motivation factors. Identification of the motivations is useful in the design and production of tailormade tourism products and services which can effectively meet the needs of tourists thereby creating optimal satisfaction levels. The priority given to the novelty motivation by domestic tourists partially implies that most Zimbabweans are alienated from their own tourist attractions. There is a need to develop strategies to encourage more local people to participate in tourism. Product development and marketing messages should place more emphasis on novelty, nature seeking needs including opportunities for escape and relaxation to induce more domestic demand for tourism goods and services among Zimbabweans

COVID-19 : comparison of the response in Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact worldwide with regions experiencing varying degrees of severity. African countries have mounted different response strategies eliciting varied outcomes. Here, we compare these response strategies in Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe and discuss lessons that could be shared. In particular, Rwanda has a robust and coordinated national health system that has effectively contained the epidemic. South Africa has considerable testing capacity, which has been used productively in a national response largely funded by local resources but affected negatively by corruption. Zimbabwe has an effective point-of-entry approach that utilizes an innovative strategic information system. All three countries would benefi t having routine meetings to share experiences and lessons learned during the COVD-19 pandemic.http://mediccreview.orgam2022School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH

The landscape of COVID-19 vaccination in Zimbabwe : a narrative review and analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the programme

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges for the population. The advent of national COVID-19 vaccination programmes was therefore welcome as a key control strategy for the COVID-19 pandemic, as evidence has shown that vaccination is the best strategy to reduce the adverse individual and population level adverse outcomes associated with infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Zimbabwe rolled out its vaccination programme in February 2021 with an ambitious target to vaccinate at least 60% of its eligible population by December 2021. However, by that time, the country was still to reach that target. To move the vaccination programme towards achieving this target, it is crucial to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the programme. We, therefore, with this narrative review, discuss some of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the programme since its rollout in February 2021. Though the programme has several strengths and opportunities to leverage on, we argue that among other challenges, the emergence of new variants of concern poses one of the biggest threats to local, regional and international vaccination programmes and requires concerted multistakeholder efforts to deal with. Additionally, addressing vaccine hesitancy remains as important as availing the vaccines to the population, to obtain the most benefits out of the programme.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/vaccinesdm2022School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH