Publications by authors named "A Mwinga"
Tuberculosis (TB) mortality in Zambia remains high at 86 per 100,000 populations, translating to approximately 15,000 TB-related deaths annually. We conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study to understand predictors, time to death, and probable causes of mortality among persons on TB treatment in Zambia. We reviewed medical records for persons with TB registered in 54 purposively selected hospitals in Zambia between January and December 2019.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The USAID-funded Eradicate TB Project (ETB) partnered with the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Program (NTLP) to establish an operational research (OR) training program in order to generate local evidence to enhance TB care in Zambia.
Method: Between 2017 and 2021, healthcare workers (HCWs) from district teams underwent two 10-day intensive training sessions. The program evolved to include a competitive application process and an additional primer workshop on developing feasible research questions.
Article Synopsis
- - Itezhi-Tezhi District, Zambia, has a tuberculosis (TB) mortality rate that's significantly higher than the national average, prompting a study to identify factors associated with these deaths among TB patients.
- - Out of 506 TB patients treated between 2015 and 2018, 71 (16.7%) died during treatment, with most deaths occurring within the first month; the study found that the type of TB and treatment setting were major predictors of mortality.
- - The primary causes of death included pulmonary TB (66%), highlighting the need for thorough clinical evaluations and support for patients, especially those with clinically diagnosed TB starting treatment.
Losses along the tuberculosis sputum sample referral cascade for Mpongwe District, Zambia.
Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med
February 2023
Background: In resource limited-settings, timely tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis depends upon referral of sputum samples from non-diagnostic to diagnostic facilities for examination. The TB programme data for 2018 suggested losses in Mpongwe District's sputum referral cascade.
Aim: This study aimed to identify the referral cascade stage where loss of sputum specimen occurred.
Background: HIV self-testing (HIVST) has the potential to increase coverage of HIV testing, but concerns exist about intended users' ability to correctly perform and interpret tests, especially in poor communities with low literacy rates. We assessed the clinical performance of the 2016 prototype OraQuick® HIV Self-Test in rural and urban communities in Zambia to assess the sensitivity and specificity of the test compared to the national HIV rapid diagnostic test (RDT) algorithm and a laboratory reference standard using 4th generation enzyme immunoassays and HIV RNA detection.
Methods: Participants were recruited from randomly selected rural and urban households and one urban health facility between May 2016 and June 2017.