BackgroundThe government of Kenya launched its community health strategy in 2006 to improve certain aspects of its community health program. Under the strategy, community units (CUs) were established as level one of the Kenyan health system. A core member at this level is the community health worker (CHW). The objective of this study was to assess the relationship among the performance of the CUs, the prevalence of childhood diarrhea and appropriate treatment for it by controlling individual and community-level factors.MethodsThe main dataset used in this study was the 2011 Nyanza Province county-based Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). In addition, based on the list of community units in Nyanza Province, Kenya, we identified the area’s CUs and their performance. MICS data and data on CUs were merged using sub-location names. There were 17 individual and two community-level independent variables in this study. Bivariate analysis and a multilevel logistic regression were performed.ResultsFactors significantly associated with a lower prevalence of diarrhea among children under five were the child’s increasing age, middle-aged household heads, children who received more attention, water treatment and rural versus urban area residence, while male children and highly performing CUs were significantly associated with a higher prevalence of diarrhea. In addition, middle wealth index, severity of diarrhea and middle- and high-CU performance were significantly associated with appropriate treatment for childhood diarrhea.ConclusionsAlthough this study found that children living in areas of high CU performance were more likely to have diarrhea, these areas would have been identified as being more at risk for diarrhea prevalence and other health concerns, prioritized for the establishment of a CU and allocated more resources to improve the performance of CUs. A higher CU performance was significantly associated with the appropriate treatment. It was suggested that CHWs could have a positive effect on the community, as demonstrated and promoted by appropriate health-seeking behavior and treatment for childhood diarrhea.
Primary breast lymphoma is a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and usually affects women, although a few cases have been reported in men. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy, or a combination of both, are frequently administered for treatment of primary breast lymphoma, as local control by surgical resection is poor. No standard therapy has been established, and the optimal radiation dose and irradiation field for male patients are unknown. The present report describes a 75-year-old man with bilateral cirrhosis-induced gynecomastia who was diagnosed with primary breast lymphoma; specifically, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Because of his hepatic dysfunction, he was treated with radiation therapy alone. Radiation therapy was followed by eight cycles of rituximab monotherapy. Clinical response was good, with no signs of relapse. Clinicians may benefit from knowledge regarding effective treatment of primary breast lymphoma in male patients, which has been rarely reported owing to the low incidence of this condition. The outcome in the present case may help to establish effective treatment guidelines in similar cases.
We investigated stress responses of ayu Plecoglossus altivelis under the hypothesis that overcrowding during transport can be a stressor and the stress predisposes fish to disease by decline in immunocompetence. The extent of stress response was determined under different fish densities. As inferred from the serum concentration of cortisol 1 day after the treatment, the density at more than 23 kg/m3, which was within the range of normal transporting procedures, acutely evoked intense stress responses. To examine a possible way to reduce the stress response of fish under crowding conditions, we compared two fish groups established in water tanks with circulating (whirling) and turbulent currents at the same density. The cortisol levels 1 day after the treatment were 2.5‐fold higher in turbulent current than in whirling current. Fish in whirling current formed a school, while those in turbulent current aggregated with each other. Schooling of fish induced by water flow may reduce their stress responses during transport. A transport system with a directional water flow should keep fish in good condition without reducing the number of fish contained.
Background
Voice messages have been employed as an effective and efficient approach for increasing health service utilization and health promotion in low- and middle-income countries. However, unlike SMS, voice message services require their users to pick up a phone call at its delivery time. Furthermore, voice messages are difficult for the users to review their contents afterward. While recognizing that voice messages are more friendly to specific groups (eg, illiterate or less literate populations), there should be several challenges in successfully operationalizing its intervention program.
Objective
This study is aimed to estimate the extent to which voice message service users pick up the phone calls of voice messages and complete listening up to or beyond the core part of voice messages.
Methods
A voice message service program composed of 14 episodes on maternal, newborn, and child health was piloted in Lagos, Nigeria, from 2018 to 2019. A voice message call of each of 14 episodes was delivered to the mobile phones of the program participants per day for 14 consecutive days. A total of 513 participants in the voice message service chose one of five locally spoken languages as the language to be used for voice messages. Two multilevel logistic regression models were created to understand participants’ adherence to the voice message: (a) Model 1 for testing whether a voice message call is picked up; and (b) Model 2 for testing whether a voice message call having been picked up is listened to up to the core messaging part.
Results
The greater the voice message episode number became, the smaller proportion of the participants picked up the phone calls of voice message (aOR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.97–0.99; P = .01). Only 854 of 3765 voice message calls having been picked up by the participants (22.7%) were listened to up to their core message parts. It was found that picking up a phone call did not necessarily ensure listening up to the core message part. This indicates a discontinuity between these two actions.
Conclusions
The participants were likely to stop picking up the phone as the episode number of voice messages progressed. In view of the discontinuity between picking up a phone call and listening up to the core message part, we should not assume that those picking up the phone would automatically complete listening to the entire or core voice message.
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