Introduction: Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a yeast infection of the vulva, which is caused by Candida species and affects women worldwide. Pregnant women are more vulnerable to VVC due to certain risks. Moreover, their offspring are also exposed to the risk of preterm birth. In this context, ascertaining the burden of VVC is of paramount importance and this meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the occurrence of VVC among pregnant women in Africa. Methodology: Database search was carried out through PubMed, Scopus, Science-Direct, and Google Scholar from the date of inception until December 2020. All the studies on the prevalence of VVC among African pregnant women were included in the analysis. The pooled prevalence was estimated based on the Random-effect model DerSimonian-Laird approach with Freeman- Tukey double arcsine transformed proportion. Heterogeneity was assessed using I2 test and subsequently explored using subgroup and meta-regression analysis. Results: A total of Sixteen records having a sample size 4,185 were included in this study. The overall prevalence of VVC was pooled at 29.2% (CI 95%: 23.4 – 33.0). Subgroup analysis revealed a higher prevalence in Eastern Africa, followed by Western Africa and North Africa (35%, 28%, and 15% respectively). Moderator analysis indicated that the studies that used advanced methods of detection had a higher prevalence (p = 0.048). In addition, the large sample size was associated with higher prevalence (p ≤ 0.001). No other moderators were found to be statistically significant. Conclusions: The overall prevalence of VVC among African pregnant women is comparable to other studies worldwide. However, appropriate identification techniques and larger sample size could likely be associated with an increased prevalence. Our findings necessitate the need for further investigations to determine the geographical distribution of VVC across African regions.
Background: Patient satisfaction is an important measure of health service and a key indicator of the quality of health service. Studies focus on how to improve quality rather than patient satisfaction. This study was conducted to identify patients’ satisfaction with the pharmaceutical service package of Health Insurance Corporation of Khartoum State in Jabal-Awliya locality, Khartoum, Sudan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January and August 2020. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Satisfaction was estimated using the Likert Scale. The association between patient’s satisfaction and patient care indicators, namely: average dispensing time, percentage of medicine dispensed and labelled, and patient correct dose knowledge were assessed using Chi- square test, where a p-value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Out of 378 participants, the mean age was 47 with a comparable frequency of male and female participants (49.3% and 50.7% respectively). The mean satisfaction was 62.2% (3.11 ± 0.68). Most of the participants were satisfied with the way the pharmacist dealt with them (3.7, ± 0.778), while a low mean of satisfaction was reported regarding the availability of medicine within the pharmaceutical benefit package (2.06, ± 1.17). Average dispensing time was 5.78 minutes (p = 0.002), a low percentage of medicine actually dispensed and labelled was observed at 67% and 58% respectively (p = 0.00). A higher patient knowledge was reported 96.6% (p = 0.00), and the majority of the patients were able to pay 65% (p = 0.00). Conclusion: The current study demonstrates a comparable satisfaction score. However, medication unavailability is the main factor that affects patient satisfaction.
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