Investment in SARS-CoV-2 sequencing in Africa over the past year has led to a major increase in the number of sequences generated, now exceeding 100,000 genomes, used to track the pandemic on the continent. Our results show an increase in the number of African countries able to sequence domestically, and highlight that local sequencing enables faster turnaround time and more regular routine surveillance. Despite limitations of low testing proportions, findings from this genomic surveillance study underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic and shed light on the distinct dispersal dynamics of Variants of Concern, particularly Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron, on the continent. Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve, while the continent faces many emerging and re-emerging infectious disease threats. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century.

ABSTRACT. Falls in long-stay institutions for elderly people have a high prevalence, contributing to the physical and mental deterioration of institutionalized elderly. Objective: To determine the prevalence of falls among institutionalized elderly with and without cognitive decline, and to characterize the practices and behaviors of those with and without cognitive decline in managing fall risks, and relate them to some factors. Methods: The present correlational study was carried out with a sample of 204 institutionalized elderly, 50% of whom had cognitive decline. Results: The elderly with cognitive decline (40.2%) fell less often than those who did not have cognitive decline (42.2%) (p>0.05). Safety practices and behaviors were better in the elderly with cognitive decline (p<0.05). Most of the elderly with cognitive decline who fell took benzodiazepines (65.9%), in contrast with those without cognitive decline (32.2%). It was observed that 81.4% of the elderly without cognitive decline and 43.9% of those with cognitive decline who fell had a performance of over 12 seconds on the Timed Up and Go Test, where differences reached statistical significance in both groups of elderly. Conclusion: Data collected in the present study further the knowledge on risk factors in the genesis of falls and on the behavior of elderly with and without cognitive decline in maintaining their safety in self-care and accessibility.

BackgroundInternationally-accredited laboratories are recognised for their superior test reliability, operational performance, quality management and competence. In a bid to meet international quality standards, the Mozambique National Institute of Health enrolled the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory (NTRL) in a continuous quality improvement process towards ISO 15189 accreditation. Here, we describe the road map taken by the NTRL to achieve international accreditation.MethodsThe NTRL adopted the Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA) programme as a strategy to implement a quality management system. After SLMTA, the Mozambique National Institute of Health committed to accelerate the NTRL’s process toward accreditation. An action plan was designed to streamline the process. Quality indicators were defined to benchmark progress. Staff were trained to improve performance. Mentorship from an experienced assessor was provided. Fulfilment of accreditation standards was assessed by the Portuguese Accreditation Board.ResultsOf the eight laboratories participating in SLMTA, the NTRL was the best-performing laboratory, achieving a 53.6% improvement over the SLMTA baseline conducted in February 2011 to the Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) assessment in June 2013. During the accreditation assessment in September 2014, 25 minor nonconformities were identified and addressed. In March 2015, the NTRL received Portuguese Accreditation Board recognition of technical competency for fluorescence smear microscopy, and solid and liquid culture. The NTRL is the first laboratory in Mozambique to achieve ISO 15189 accreditation.ConclusionsFrom our experience, accreditation was made possible by institutional commitment, strong laboratory leadership, staff motivation, adequate infrastructure and a comprehensive action plan.

Objective: determine the psychometric properties of the safety practices and behaviors dimension of the Scale of Practices and Behaviors of Institutionalized Elderly People to Prevent Falls in a sample of elderly people with cognitive decline. Method: methodological study, with a quantitative approach, to assess the psychometric properties of the mentioned scale in a sample with 102 elderly people with cognitive decline who lived in two long-term care institutions for the public in this age group. Internal consistency evaluation was carried out by calculating the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient; interobserver reliability was expressed by Cohen’s kappa coefficient; and temporal stability, by obtaining Spearman correlation. Compliance with all ethical procedures was observed. Results: the dimension of safety practices and behaviors showed α = 0.895 for its 11 items. Seven out of the 11 items reached good to excellent agreement among the experts for interobserver reliability. Kappa index values indicated that the instrument is valid and reliable. Safety practices and behaviors were influenced by institutionalization time, being at least 85 years old, and gait skills. Conclusion: the results pointed out that the instrument has good reproducibility and is valid and reliable, which allows its use in clinical practice in elderly people with cognitive decline as well as in research.

Tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics are centralised, requiring long-distance transportation of specimens in most resource-limited settings. We evaluated the ability of OMNIgene.SPUTUM (OM-S) to obviate cold-chain transport of TB specimens.A two-arm (same-day and after 5 days sample processing) study was conducted to assess contamination rates and Mycobacterium tuberculosis viability in OM-S-treated samples against the standard decontamination procedure (SDP) in Mozambique, using Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) and mycobacterial growth indicator tube (MGIT) culture and molecular bacterial load assay.270 specimens were processed using OM-S and SDP in same-day and 5-day arms. Contamination was lower in OM-S-treated than SDP-treated cultures: 12% versus 15% and 2% versus 27% in the same-day and 5-day arms, respectively. M. tuberculosis recovery in OM-S-treated LJ cultures was 10% and 56% higher in the same-day and 5-day arms, respectively, than SDP-treated cultures, but lower in MGIT (52% and 28% lower in the same-day and 5-day arms, respectively). M. tuberculosis viable count was 1log estimated CFU·mL−1 lower in 5-day OM-S-treated sputa. OM-S was more effective at liquefying sputum with a shorter sample processing time: 22 min for culture.OM-S is simple to use and has demonstrated a high potency to suppress contaminants, maintenance of viability at ambient temperatures and higher M. tuberculosis recovery, particularly in the solid LJ cultures. Optimisation of OM-S to achieve higher MGIT culture positivity and shorter time to result will increase its application and utility in the clinical management of TB.

The present study about falls among the older adult population essentially explores bio-physiological factors. In light of the complexity of the factors that cause these accidents, it is important to identify the safety and self-care practices of institutionalized older adults and their relationship with falls in order to introduce prevention measures and personalized cognitive–behavioral strategies. The objective of this study was to: (a) determine the frequency of falls and their recurrence among institutionalized older adults, and (b) to associate the occurrence of falls among institutionalized adults with or without cognitive impairment to communication and safety practices. This was a quantitative, correlational, and longitudinal study with 204 institutionalized older adults living in two long-term care facilities in Portugal. The Scale of Practices and Behaviors for Institutionalized Elderly to Prevent Falls was administered to the sample. The prevalence of falls at a 12-month follow-up was 41.6%, of which 38.3% were recurring episodes. Older adults with cognitive decline showed lower mean scores for safety practices. Further research with larger samples should explore the relationships between communication and safety practices and falls, their recurrence, and fear of new falls.

In recent years, nurses have developed projects in the area of hospital to community transition. The objective of the present study was to analyze the transitional care offered to elderly people after they used emergency services and were discharged to return to the community. The action research method was chosen. The participants were nurses, elderly people 70 years old or older, and their caregivers. The study was carried out from October 2018 to August 2019. The data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews with the nurses, analysis of medical records, participatory observation, phone calls to the elderly people and caregivers, and team meetings. The qualitative data were submitted to Bardin’s content analysis. Statistical treatment was carried out by applying SPSS version 23.0. The institution’s research ethics committee approved the research. Only 31.4% of the sample experienced care continuity after discharge, and the rate of readmission to emergency services during the first 30 days after discharge was 33.4%. The referral letters lacked data on information provided to patients or caregivers, and nurses mentioned difficulties in communication between care levels, as well as obstacles to teamwork; they also mentioned that the lack of health policies and clinical rules to formalize transitional care between the hospital and the community perpetuated non-coordination of care between the two contexts. The low level of literacy of patients and their relatives are mentioned as a cause for not understanding the information regarding seeking primary health care services and handing the discharge letter. It was concluded that there is an urgent need to mobilize health teams toward action in the patients’ process of returning home, and this factor must be taken into account in care planning.

Background: Mozambique is among the highest tuberculosis, tuberculosis–HIV and multidrug-resistant-tuberculosis burden countries. Although molecular technologies are available in-country, mycobacterial isolation through culture remains an important tool for tuberculosis diagnostics and drug susceptibility testing.Objective: We evaluated the use of the Ogawa-Kudoh (OK) mycobacterial culture, a simple technique, to isolate Mycobacterium tuberculosis in two health units, in Maputo City, Mozambique.Methods: From May to December 2014, 122 patient samples were collected in Chamanculo General Hospital and Polana Caniço General Hospital. The specimens were first tested in the health units using the OK method and afterwards shipped to the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory for mycobacterial culture using the NALC-NaOH-Citrate (NALC) decontamination method followed by inoculation in Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) solid media as the reference standard.Results: Among 107 samples with valid results, 98 (91.6%) had concordant results in both methods; 9 (8.4%) had discordant results. The contamination rate was 4.1% (5/122) for the OK and 9.0% (11/122) for the NALC/LJ methods. The sensitivity of OK was 80% (95% confident interval [CI]: 51.4–94.7) and the specificity was 94% (95% CI: 85.8–97.3). The degree of agreement between both methods was moderate (Kappa: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.48–0.89).Conclusion: The OK method showed satisfactory sensitivity and specificity. The method also had a lower contamination rate when compared to the NALC/LJ. Similar to other studies in resource-limited settings, our findings showed that the OK method can effectively be implemented in settings with limited laboratory capacity to isolate tuberculosis bacteria by culture for further testing.