Background Data on outcomes of antiretroviral treatment (ART) programs in rural sub-Saharan African are scarce. We describe early losses and long-term outcomes in six rural programs in Southern Africa with limited access to viral load monitoring and second-line ART. Methods Patients aged ≥16 years starting ART in two programs each in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Lesotho were included. We evaluated risk factors for no follow-up after starting ART and mortality and loss to follow-up (LTFU) over 3 years of ART, using logistic regression and competing risk models. Odds ratios and sub-distribution hazard ratios, adjusted for gender, age category, CD4 category and WHO stage at start of ART are reported. Results Among 7,725 patients, 449 (5.8%) did not return after initiation of ART. Over 9,575 person-years, 698 (9.6%) of those with at least one follow-up visit died and 1,319 (18.1%) were LTFU. At 3 years the cumulative incidence of death and LTFU were 12.5% (11.5–13.5%) and 25.4% (24.0–26.9%), respectively, with important differences between countries: in Zimbabwe 75.1% (72.8–77.3%) were alive and on ART at 3 years compared to 55.4% (52.8–58.0%) in Lesotho and 51.6% (48.0–55.2%) in Mozambique. In all settings young age and male gender predicted LTFU, whereas advanced clinical stage and low baseline CD4 counts predicted death. Conclusions In African ART programs with limited access to second-line treatment, mortality and LTFU are high in the first 3 years of ART. Low retention in care is a major threat to the sustainability of ART delivery in Southern Africa, particularly in rural sites.
BackgroundAFP is a rare syndrome and serves as a proxy for poliomyelitis. The main objective of AFP surveillance is to detect circulating wild polio virus and provide data for developing effective prevention and control strategies as well planning and decision making. Bikita district failed to detect a case for the past two years.FindingsA total of 31 health workers from 14 health centres were interviewed. Health worker knowledge on AFP was low in Bikita. The system was acceptable, flexible, and representative but not stable and not sensitive since it missed1 AFP case. The system was not useful to the district since data collected was not locally used in anyway. The cost of running the system was high. The district had no adequate resources to run the system. Reasons for not reporting cases was that the mothers were not bringing children with AFP and ignorance of health workers on syndromes captured under AFP.ConclusionHealth worker’s knowledge on AFP was low and all interviewed workers needed training surveillance. The system was found to be flexible but unacceptable. Reasons for failure to detect AFP cases could be, no cases reporting to the centres, lack of knowledge on health workers hence failure to recognise symptoms, high staff turnover.
BackgroundA measles outbreak was detected at Ndanga Hospital in Zaka district Masvingo Province on the 5th of May 2010 and there were five deaths. Source of infection was not known and an investigation was carried out to determine factors associated with contracting measles in Zaka district.Materials and methodsA 1:1 unmatched case control study was conducted. A case was a person residing in Zaka district who developed signs and symptoms of measles or tested IgM positive from 06 May 2010 to 30 August 2010. A control was a person residing in the same community who did not have history of signs and symptoms of measles during the same period. A structured interviewer administered questionnaire (translated into shona) was used to solicit information from cases and controls. Ethical consideration like written consent from all participants, respect and confidentiality were observed. Permission to carry out the study was obtained from the medical research Council of Zimbabwe and the provincial Medical Directors Masvingo. Epi info was used to calculate frequencies, odds ratios and perform logistic regression to control for confounding variables.FindingsA total of 110 cases and 110 controls were recruited. Most cases (63.03%) were from the apostolic sect while 44.7% of controls were from orthodox churches. Contact with a measles case [AOR= 41.14, 95% CI (7.47-226.5)],being unvaccinated against measles [AOR= 3.96, 95%CI (2.58-6.08)] and not receiving additional doses of measles vaccine [AOR 5.48, 95% CI (2.16-11.08)] were independent risk factor for contracting measles. Measles vaccination coverage for Zaka district was 75%. The median duration for seeking treatment after onset of illness was three days (Q1=2; Q3=7). There were no emergency preparedness plans in place.ConclusionThis outbreak occurred due to a large number of unvaccinated children and a boarding school that facilitated person to person transmission. We recommend mandatory vaccination for all children before enrolling into schools. As a result of the study one day training on outbreak management and surveillance was done with all District Nursing Officers and Environmental Health Officers in personnel in the province.
Background: Public health strategies are needed to curb antimalarial drug resistance. Theoretical argument points to an association between malaria transmission and drug resistance although field evidence remains limited. Field observations, made in Zimbabwe, on the relationship between transmission and multigenic drug resistance, typified by chloroquine, are reported here.
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