A study investigating infant and young child feeding practices in Foni Kansala district, western region, Gambia

It has been documented and a well-established fact that good nutrition including appropriate infant and young child feeding practices is central to the growth and development of all infants and young children. A study to investigate infant and young child feeding practices was conducted in Foni Kansala District, The Republic of The Gambia. The overall aim of the study was to explore the situation of infant and young child feeding practices that are prevalent and perceived effective in promoting the health and nutritional status of young children in the study area. A total of three focus group discussion (FGDs) and five in-depth interviews were conducted, and interviews were conducted in natural settings. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit the participants. Thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the responses from the interviews. The results of the study found that exclusive breastfeeding up to six months was rarely practiced in the area due to strong cultural and traditional beliefs and inadequate information on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding. Colostrum was perceived as impure and unsafe to be given to the infant. Breastfeeding is the most common method of infant feeding, while bottle was practiced by only two mothers who participated in the FGD. Initiating breastfeeding after delivery is usually delayed due to cultural and traditional practices and the involvement of partners. The role of health workers, opinion leaders, traditional communicators, NGOs and grand mothers in supporting mothers to adequately feed their infants have been highly valued in the area. In addition, increased workload of women, maternal illness or death after delivery, breast milk insufficiency and the involvement of grand mothers, husbands, friends and other family members play an influential role in the early introduction of complementary foods to infants. Also, mothers’ socio-economic status, culture and tradition have been found to have an influence on early introduction of complementary foods. This article presents an analysis and summary of the data collected during the course of the explorative research conducted in the study area

Development of a Pain Management Protocol for a Paediatric Ward in the Gambia, West Africa

Despite recent advances in our understanding of paediatric pain and its management, pain continues to be undertreated globally, particularly in children and in low income countries. This article describes the development of a paediatric analgesia and sedation protocol, tailored to the specific setting of the Medical Research Council (MRC) paediatric ward in the Gambia, West Africa. An iterative process was used throughout development, with inputs from the medical literature, local providers, and pain experts, incorporated to ensure a safe, effective, and locally appropriate protocol. We demonstrate that evidence-based published guidelines, can and should be adapted to allow for optimal pain management given the resources and capabilities of specific health care settings. It is hoped that the process and protocol described here, will not only help to improve care on the MRC ward, but serve as an example to others working toward improving pain management in similar health care settings

Disparities among 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) hospital admissions: A mixed methods analysis - Illinois, April-December 2009

During late April 2009, the first cases of 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) (pH1N1) in Illinois were reported. On-going, sustained local transmission resulted in an estimated 500,000 infected persons. We conducted a mixed method analysis using both quantitative (surveillance) and qualitative (interview) data; surveillance data was used to analyze demographic distribution of hospitalized cases and follow-up interview data was used to assess health seeking behavior. Invitations to participate in a telephone interview were sent to 120 randomly selected Illinois residents that were hospitalized during April-December 2009. During April-December 2009, 2,824 pH1N1 hospitalizations occurred in Illinois hospitals; median age (interquartile range) at admission was 24 (range: 6-49) years. Hospitalization rates/100,000 persons for blacks and Hispanics, regardless of age or sex were 2-3 times greater than for whites (blacks, 36/100,000 (95% Confidence Interval ([95% CI], 33-39)); Hispanics, 35/100,000 [95%CI,32-37] (; whites, 13/100,000[95%CI, 12-14); p<0.001). Mortality rates were higher for blacks (0.9/100,000; p<0.09) and Hispanics (1/100,000; p<0.04) when compared with the mortality rates for whites (0.6/ 100,000). Of 33 interview respondents, 31 (94%) stated that they had heard of pH1N1 before being hospitalized, and 24 (73%) did not believed they were at risk for pH1N1. On average, respondents reported experiencing symptoms for 2 days (range: 1-7) before seeking medical care. When asked how to prevent pH1N1 infection in the future, the most common responses were getting vaccinated and practicing hand hygiene. Blacks and Hispanics in Illinois experienced disproportionate pH1N1 hospitalization and mortality rates. Public health education and outreach efforts in preparation for future influenza pandemics should include prevention messaging focused on perception of risk, and ensure community wide access to prevention messages and practices

The gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase to platelet ratio (GPR) predicts significant liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in patients with chronic HBV infection in West Africa

BACKGROUND: Simple and inexpensive non-invasive fibrosis tests are highly needed but have been poorly studied in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: Using liver histology as a gold standard, we developed a novel index using routine laboratory tests to predict significant fibrosis in patients with chronic HBV infection in The Gambia, West Africa. We prospectively assessed the diagnostic accuracy of the novel index, Fibroscan, aspartate transaminase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), and Fib-4 in Gambian patients with CHB (training set) and also in French and Senegalese CHB cohorts (validation sets). RESULTS: Of 135 consecutive treatment-naïve patients with CHB who had liver biopsy, 39% had significant fibrosis (Metavir fibrosis stage ≥F2) and 15% had cirrhosis (F4). In multivariable analysis, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and platelet count were independent predictors of significant fibrosis. Consequently, GGT-to-platelet ratio (GPR) was developed. In The Gambia, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of the GPR was significantly higher than that of APRI and Fib-4 to predict ≥F2, ≥F3 and F4. In Senegal, the AUROC of GPR was significantly better than Fib-4 and APRI for ≥F2 (0.73, 95% CI 0.59 to 0.86) and better than Fib-4 and Fibroscan for ≥F3 (0.93, 0.87 to 0.99). In France, the AUROC of GPR to diagnose ≥F2 (0.72, 95% CI 0.59 to 0.85) and F4 (0.87, 0.76 to 0.98) was equivalent to that of APRI and Fib-4. CONCLUSIONS: The GPR is a more accurate routine laboratory marker than APRI and Fib-4 to stage liver fibrosis in patients with CHB in West Africa. The GPR represents a simple and inexpensive alternative to liver biopsy and Fibroscan in sub-Saharan Africa

A practical tool for managing change: cross-sectional psychometric assessment of the safe surgery organizational readiness tool

Background: Strengthening health systems through planned safety and quality improvement initiatives is an imperative to achieve more equitable, resilient, and effective care. And yet, years of organizational behavior research demonstrate that change initiatives often fall short because managers fail to account for organizational readiness for change. This finding remains true especially among surgical safety and quality improvement initiatives in low-income countries and middle-income countries. In this study, our aim was to psychometrically assess the construct validity and internal consistency of the Safe Surgery Organizational Readiness Tool (SSORT), a short survey tool designed to provide change leaders with insight into facility infrastructure that supports learning and readiness to undertake change. Materials and methods: To demonstrate generalizability and achieve a large sample size (n=1706) to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), a collaboration between seven surgical and anesthesia safety and quality improvement initiatives was formed. Collected survey data from health care workers were divided into pilot, exploration, and confirmation samples. The pilot sample was used to assess feasibility. The exploration sample was used to conduct EFA, while the confirmation sample was used to conduct CFA. Factor internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Results: Results of the EFA retained 9 of the 16 proposed factors associated with readiness to change. CFA results of the identified 9 factor model, measured by 28 survey items, demonstrated excellent fit to data. These factors (appropriateness, resistance to change, team efficacy, team learning orientation, team valence, communication about change, learning environment, vision for sustainability, and facility capacity) were also found to be internally consistent. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that communication, team learning, and supportive environment are components of change readiness that can be reliably measured prior to implementation of projects that promote surgical safety and quality improvement in low-income countries and middle-income countries. Future research can link performance on identified factors to outcomes that matter most to patients

The predominance of Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) circulating recombinant form 02 (CRF02_AG) in West Central Africa may be related to its replicative fitness

BACKGROUND: CRF02_AG is the predominant HIV strain circulating in West and West Central Africa. The aim of this study was to test whether this predominance is associated with a higher in vitro replicative fitness relative to parental subtype A and G viruses. Primary HIV-1 isolates (10 CRF02_AG, 5 subtype A and 5 subtype G) were obtained from a well-described Cameroonian cohort. Growth competition experiments were carried out at equal multiplicity of infection in activated T cells and monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MO-DC) in parallel. RESULTS: Dual infection/competition experiments in activated T cells clearly indicated that CRF02_AG isolates had a significant replication advantage over the subtype A and subtype G viruses. The higher fitness of CRF02_AG was evident for isolates from patients with CD4+ T cell counts >200 cells/μL (non-AIDS) or CD4+ T cell counts <200 cells/μL (AIDS), and was independent of the co-receptor tropism. In MO-DC cultures, CRF02_AG isolates showed a slightly but not significantly higher replication advantage compared to subtype A or G isolates. CONCLUSION: We observed a higher ex vivo replicative fitness of CRF02_AG isolates compared to subtype A and G viruses from the same geographic region and showed that this was independent of the co-receptor tropism and irrespective of high or low CD4+ T cell count. This advantage in replicative fitness may contribute to the dominant spread of CRF02_AG over A and G subtypes in West and West Central Africa

Acceptability and feasibility of a screen-and-treat programme for hepatitis B virus infection in The Gambia: the Prevention of Liver Fibrosis and Cancer in Africa (PROLIFICA) study.

BACKGROUND: Despite the introduction of immunisation for hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the 1990s, HBV-related morbidity and mortality remain high in sub-Saharan Africa. Identification and treatment of asymptomatic people with chronic HBV infection should reduce the disease burden. We therefore assessed the feasibility of a screen-and-treat programme for HBV infection in The Gambia, west Africa, and estimated the proportion of HBV-infected people who had significant liver disease in need of treatment. METHODS: Between Dec 7, 2011, and Jan 24, 2014, individuals living in randomly selected communities in western Gambia were offered hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) screening via a point-of-care test. The test was also offered to potential blood donors attending the central hospital in the capital, Banjul. HBsAg-positive individuals were invited for a comprehensive liver assessment and were offered treatment according to international guidelines. We defined linkage to care as visiting the liver clinic at least once. Eligibility for treatment was judged in accordance with the 2012 European Association for the Study of the Liver guidelines. FINDINGS: HBsAg screening was accepted by 5980 (weighted estimate 68·9%, 95% CI 65·0-72·4) of 8170 adults from 27 rural and 27 urban communities and 5559 (81·4%, 80·4-82·3) of 6832 blood donors. HBsAg was detected in 495 (8·8%, 7·9-9·7) individuals in communities and 721 (13·0%, 12·1-13·9) blood donors. Prevalence was higher in men (239 [10·5%, 8·9-12·1] of 2328 men vs 256 [7·6%, 6·5-8·7] of 3652 women; p=0·004) and middle-aged participants. Linkage to care was high in the communities, with 402 (81·3%) of 495 HBsAg-positive individuals attending the clinic. However, only 300 (41·6%) of 721 HBsAg-positive people screened at the blood bank linked into care. Of those who attended the clinic, 18 (4·4%, 2·5-7·7) patients from the communities and 29 (9·7%, 6·8-13·6) from the blood bank were eligible for treatment. Male sex was strongly associated with treatment eligibility (odds ratio 4·35, 1·50-12·58; p=0·007). INTERPRETATION: HBV infection remains highly prevalent in The Gambia. The high coverage of community-based screening, good linkage into care, and the small proportion of HBsAg carriers who need treatment suggest that large-scale screening and treatment programmes are feasible in sub-Saharan Africa. FUNDING: European Commission (FP7)

A systematic review of hepatitis B screening economic evaluations in low- and middle-income countries

Background: Chronic hepatitis B infection is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide; low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are disproportionately affected. Economic evaluations are a useful decision tool to assess costs versus benefits of hepatitis B virus (HBV) screening. No published study reviewing economic evaluations of HBV screening in LMICs has been undertaken to date. Methods: The following databases were searched from inception to 21 April 2017: MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL Plus, the Cochrane Library, Global Health and the Cost-effectiveness Analysis Registry. English-language studies were included if they assessed the costs against the benefits of HBV screening in LMICs. PROSPERO registration: CRD42015024391, 20 July 2015. Results: Nine studies fulfilled the eligibility criteria. One study from Thailand indicated that adding hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) to HBV vaccination for newborns following screening of pregnant women might be cost-effective for some LMICs, though inadequate total funding and health infrastructure were likely to limit feasibility. A similar study from China indicated a benefit to cost ratio of 2.7 from selective HBIG administration to newborns, if benefits were considered from a societal perspective. Of the two studies assessing screening amongst the general adult population, a single cost-benefit analysis from China found a benefit to cost ratio (BCR) of 1.73 with vaccination guided by HBV screening of adults aged 21–39, compared to 1.42 with vaccination with no screening, both from a societal perspective. Community-based screening of adults in The Gambia with linkage to treatment yielded an incremental cost per disability-adjusted life year averted of $566 (in 2017 USD), less than two-times gross domestic product per capita for that country. Conclusions: Screening with ‘catch-up’ vaccination for younger adults yielded benefits above costs, and screening linked with treatment has shown cost-effectiveness that may be affordable for some LMICs. However, interpretation needs to account for total cost implications and further research in LMICs is warranted as there were only nine included studies and evidence from high-income countries is not always directly applicable