Unlocking the health system barriers to maximise the uptake and utilisation of molecular diagnostics in low-income and middle-income country setting.

Background: Early access to diagnosis is crucial for effective management of any disease including tuberculosis (TB). We investigated the barriers and opportunities to maximise uptake and utilisation of molecular diagnostics in routine healthcare settings.

Methods: Using the implementation of WHO approved TB diagnostics, Xpert /rifampicin (MTB/RIF) and Line Probe Assay (LPA) as a benchmark, we evaluated the barriers and how they could be unlocked to maximise uptake and utilisation of molecular diagnostics.

Qualitative assessment of the impact of socioeconomic and cultural barriers on uptake and utilisation of tuberculosis diagnostic and treatment tools in East Africa: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: Early diagnosis and timely treatment are key elements of a successful healthcare system. We assessed the role of socioeconomic and cultural norms in accelerating or decelerating uptake and utilisation of health technologies into policy and practice.

Setting: Secondary and tertiary level healthcare facilities (HCFs) in three East African countries.

Spatial Analysis of Ambient Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Hospitalization Across Sweden.

The associations of multiple pollutants and cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity, and the spatial variations of these associations have not been nationally studied in Sweden. The main aim of this study was, thus, to spatially analyze the associations between ambient air pollution (black carbon, carbon monoxide, particulate matter (both <10 µm and <2.5 µm in diameter) and Sulfur oxides considered) and CVD admissions while controlling for neighborhood deprivation across Sweden from 2005 to 2010.

Establishing spatially-enabled health registry systems using implicit spatial data pools: case study - Uganda.

Background: Spatial epidemiological analyses primarily depend on spatially-indexed medical records. Some countries have devised ways of capturing patient-specific spatial details using ZIP codes, postcodes or personal numbers, which are geocoded. However, for most resource-constrained African countries, the absence of a means to capture patient resident location as well as inexistence of spatial data infrastructures makes capturing of patient-level spatial data unattainable.

Spatial analysis of HIV-TB co-clustering in Uganda.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death for individuals infected with Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Conversely, HIV is the most important risk factor in the progression of TB from the latent to the active status. In order to manage this double epidemic situation, an integrated approach that includes HIV management in TB patients was proposed by the World Health Organization and was implemented in Uganda (one of the countries endemic with both diseases).