8 research outputs found
Health Literacy Amongst Tuberculosis Patient in a General Hospital in North Central Nigeria
Background: Healthy literacy has been shown to improve health care access and adherence to Tuberculosis (TB) treatment. Still it remains largely unstudied in many high risks, underserved and low literacy African populations. This study aims to bridge the existing knowledge gap by assessing health literacy among patients with TB in a rural town in Northern Nigeria.Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among patients who attended the TB clinic of a secondary health care facility in Babura, Jigawa State, Nigeria between Oct 2008 and March 2009. All patients who visited the TB clinic during this period were interviewed.Result: Many (71.6%) reported having been educated about TB by a health worker, mostly on predisposing factors 43.2%, general facts (31.1%) and disease process (21.6%) but less on patient's role in disease management (1.4%). Functional health literacy was high; mean score was 7.9ยฑ0.3 out of 10. Knowledge about the disease process, diagnostic requirements and treatment regimen were the highest. However 97.3% felt drugs were no longer necessary once symptoms abated. Patient involvement in treatment decisions was also suboptimal as only 52.7% reported making a joint decision about drug โpick upโ options with their physicians.Conclusion: Very high functional literacy score seemed to have been achieved among these rural low literacy TB patients even without a structured health literacy program. However patient participation in treatment seems to be underemphasized and was thus suboptimal. An important gap in patient education regarding continued TB treatment was identified and should be targeted for intervention.Keywords: Health Literacy, Tuberculosis, General Hospital, Nigeri
Recommended from our members
Prevalence, years lived with disability, and trends in anaemia burden by severity and cause, 1990-2021: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
Background
Anaemia is a major health problem worldwide. Global estimates of anaemia burden are crucial for developing appropriate interventions to meet current international targets for disease mitigation. We describe the prevalence, years lived with disability, and trends of anaemia and its underlying causes in 204 countries and territories.
Methods
We estimated population-level distributions of haemoglobin concentration by age and sex for each location from 1990 to 2021. We then calculated anaemia burden by severity and associated years lived with disability (YLDs). With data on prevalence of the causes of anaemia and associated cause-specific shifts in haemoglobin concentrations, we modelled the proportion of anaemia attributed to 37 underlying causes for all locations, years, and demographics in the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.
Findings
In 2021, the global prevalence of anaemia across all ages was 24ยท3% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 23ยท9โ24ยท7), corresponding to 1ยท92 billion (1ยท89โ1ยท95) prevalent cases, compared with a prevalence of 28ยท2% (27ยท8โ28ยท5) and 1ยท50 billion (1ยท48โ1ยท52) prevalent cases in 1990. Large variations were observed in anaemia burden by age, sex, and geography, with children younger than 5 years, women, and countries in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia being particularly affected. Anaemia caused 52ยท0 million (35ยท1โ75ยท1) YLDs in 2021, and the YLD rate due to anaemia declined with increasing Socio-demographic Index. The most common causes of anaemia YLDs in 2021 were dietary iron deficiency (cause-specific anaemia YLD rate per 100โ000 population: 422ยท4 [95% UI 286ยท1โ612ยท9]), haemoglobinopathies and haemolytic anaemias (89ยท0 [58ยท2โ123ยท7]), and other neglected tropical diseases (36ยท3 [24ยท4โ52ยท8]), collectively accounting for 84ยท7% (84ยท1โ85ยท2) of anaemia YLDs.
Interpretation
Anaemia remains a substantial global health challenge, with persistent disparities according to age, sex, and geography. Estimates of cause-specific anaemia burden can be used to design locally relevant health interventions aimed at improving anaemia management and prevention.
Funding
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation