Validation of the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale and prevalence of depression among adolescent mothers in a Cameroonian context.

The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is the screening tool for perinatal depression, and its cut-off score varies according to context and population. In Cameroon, no study has yet defined a cut-off score or the prevalence of perinatal depression in adolescent mothers. Our aim is to determine the cut-off for teenage mothers in Cameroon.

Factors influencing cervical cancer re-screening in a semi-rural health district of Cameroon: a cohort study.

Background: Screening participation at recommended intervals is a crucial component of cervical cancer prevention effectiveness. However, little is known regarding the rate of re-screening in a Sub-Saharan context. This study aimed to estimate the re-screening rate of women in a semi-rural after an initial HPV-based screening and identify factors that influence adherence.

Barriers to COVID-19 Health Products in Low-and Middle-Income Countries During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Rapid Systematic Review and Evidence Synthesis.

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has intensified the urgency in addressing pressing global health access challenges and has also laid bare the pervasive structural and systemic inequities that make certain segments of society more vulnerable to the tragic consequences of the disease. This rapid systematic review analyses the barriers to COVID-19 health products in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). It does so from the canon of global health equity and access to medicines by proposing an access to health products in low-and middle-income countries framework and typology adapted to underscore the complex interactive and multiplicative nature and effects of barriers to health products and their root cause as they coexist across different levels of society in LMICs.

Leveraging human resources for outbreak analysis: lessons from an international collaboration to support the sub-Saharan African COVID-19 response.

Emerging infectious diseases are a growing threat in sub-Saharan African countries, but the human and technical capacity to quickly respond to outbreaks remains limited. Here, we describe the experience and lessons learned from a joint project with the WHO Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) to support the sub-Saharan African COVID-19 response.In June 2020, WHO AFRO contracted a number of consultants to reinforce the COVID-19 response in member states by providing actionable epidemiological analysis.

An in-depth statistical analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic's initial spread in the WHO African region.

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, sub-Saharan African countries experienced comparatively lower rates of SARS-CoV-2 infections and related deaths than in other parts of the world, the reasons for which remain unclear. Yet, there was also considerable variation between countries. Here, we explored potential drivers of this variation among 46 of the 47 WHO African region Member States in a cross-sectional study.

COVID-19 mortality in women and men in sub-Saharan Africa: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Since sex-based biological and gender factors influence COVID-19 mortality, we wanted to investigate the difference in mortality rates between women and men in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Method: We included 69 580 cases of COVID-19, stratified by sex (men: n=43 071; women: n=26 509) and age (0-39 years: n=41 682; 40-59 years: n=20 757; 60+ years: n=7141), from 20 member nations of the WHO African region until 1 September 2020. We computed the SSA-specific and country-specific case fatality rates (CFRs) and sex-specific CFR differences across various age groups, using a Bayesian approach.

SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence and associated risk factors in an urban district in Cameroon.

The extent of SARS-CoV-2 circulation in many African countries remains unclear, underlining the need for antibody sero-surveys to assess the cumulative attack rate. Here, we present the results of a cross-sectional sero-survey of a random sample of residents of a health district in Yaounde, Cameroon, conducted from October 14 to November 26, 2020. Among the 971 participants, the test-adjusted seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies was 29·2% (95% CI 24·3-34·1).

Teenage Mothers in Yaoundé, Cameroon-Risk Factors and Prevalence of Perinatal Depression Symptoms.

Background: Perinatal depression is defined as a non-psychotic depressive episode occurring during pregnancy or during the first year following childbirth. This depressive disorder is highly prevalent among teenage women but there is a lack of data in low- and middle-income countries. The objective of this study was to provide baseline data on the sociodemographic characteristics of pregnant teenagers or teenage mothers in an urban zone in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Biodiversity and Human Health Interlinkages in Higher Education Offerings: A First Global Overview.

Biodiversity is inextricably linked to human health. As an important area of research of the Convention on Biological Diversity and a key avenue for the dissemination of biodiversity and health knowledge, we investigated how well-embedded biodiversity and health interlinkages are in institutional higher education offerings. Using One Health education programs as a starting point, we collected a global list of institutions potentially carrying out education in the links between biodiversity and health through previously published research, academic partners of global conglomerates, and our own networks.

Safety profile of the meningococcal conjugate vaccine (Menafrivac™) in clinical trials and vaccination campaigns: a review of published studies.

The study aimed to assess the capacity of AEFI surveillance during vaccination campaigns with the new conjugate meningitis vaccine (MenAfrivac). A systematic review of studies on MenAfrivac™ published in English during 2001-2016 was done.AEFIs incidence (I) was estimated and compared between MenAfrivac™ clinical trials and immunization campaigns using incidence difference (Id).

SMS reminders to improve adherence and cure of tuberculosis patients in Cameroon (TB-SMS Cameroon): a randomised controlled trial.

Background: In Cameroon, the National Tuberculosis Control Program that applies selective directly observed treatments faces difficulties in its implementation for a lack of resources, leading to only 65% of patients with sputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis being cured after 6 months of treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of daily Short Message Service reminders to increase adherence and the proportion of adult tuberculosis patients cured after 6 months of treatment.

Methods: A simple blinded, randomised controlled, multicentre study carried out in 12 Treatment and Diagnostic Centres of Yaoundé.

A realistic evaluation approach highlighted the success factors and difficulties of an innovative and comprehensive malnutrition programme in Madagascar.

Aim: Malnutrition has multiple causes, not just a lack of calories. We explored the successes and barriers of an innovative, comprehensive programme in Madagascar that educated mothers in particular about nutrition.

Methods: The outpatient programme in Antananarivo treats 2400 malnourished children from 6 to 59 months each year.

Most children who took part in a comprehensive malnutrition programme in Madagascar reached and maintained the recovery threshold.

Aim: The benefits of including nutritional education in programmes that tackle moderate and severe acute malnutrition remain poorly documented. This study in Madagascar evaluated the nutritional status of children who took part in an innovative programme that included maternal education, on completion and after a year.

Methods: Each year, this outpatient programme admits 2400 malnourished children from six months to 59 months in the lower districts of Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Incidence and types of adverse events during mass vaccination campaign with the meningococcal a conjugate vaccine (MENAFRIVAC™) in Cameroon.

Purpose: A new vaccine against meningitis A was introduced in Africa meningitis belt in 2010. This study was planned to describe the incidence and types of adverse events following immunization (AEFIs) with a new conjugate vaccine against meningitis A (MenAfrivac™) in a Cameroonian vaccination campaign.

Methods: The campaign was conducted in Adamawa and North West regions in December 2012 and the AEFIs enhanced surveillance from December 2012 to January 2013.

Women and healthcare providers' perceptions of a midwife-led unit in a Swiss university hospital: a qualitative study.

Background: The development of medical-led care in obstetrics over the past decades has contributed to improving outcomes for both mother and child. Although efficiency has improved in complex situations, unnecessary interventions are still practiced in low-risk pregnancies, contrary to international recommendations. A shift to a less interventionist model of care has encouraged many countries to review their policies on maternal health care and develop models such as the "midwife-led unit" (MLU) where the midwife plays a predominant role with a minimum of routine intervention.

Vaccines safety; effect of supervision or SMS on reporting rates of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) with meningitis vaccine (MenAfriVac™): a randomized controlled trial.

Background: To ensure vaccines safety, given the weaknesses of the national pharmacovigilance system in Cameroon, there is a need to identify effective interventions that can contribute to improving AEFI reporting.

Objective: To assess the effect of: (i) sending weekly SMS, or (ii) weekly supervisory visits on AEFI reporting rate during a meningitis immunization campaign conducted in Cameroon in 2012 using the meningitis A conjugate vaccine (MenAfriVac™).

Methods: Health facilities that met the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to receive: (i) a weekly standardized SMS, (ii) a weekly standardized supervisory visits or (iii) no intervention.

SMS reminders to improve the tuberculosis cure rate in developing countries (TB-SMS Cameroon): a protocol of a randomised control study.

Background: Tuberculosis is a public health problem in Cameroon, just like in many other countries in the world. The National Tuberculosis Control Programme (PNLT) put in place by the state, aims to fight tuberculosis through the implementation of international directives (Directly Observed Treatment Short, DOTS). Despite the deployment of this strategy across the world, its implementation is difficult in the context of low-resource countries.

Computer literacy and E-learning perception in Cameroon: the case of Yaounde Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Background: Health science education faces numerous challenges: assimilation of knowledge, management of increasing numbers of learners or changes in educational models and methodologies. With the emergence of e-learning, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and Internet to improve teaching and learning in health science training institutions has become a crucial issue for low and middle income countries, including sub-Saharan Africa. In this perspective, the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (FMBS) of Yaoundé has played a pioneering role in Cameroon in making significant efforts to improve students' and lecturers' access to computers and to Internet on its campus.

Alumni evaluation of a community-oriented master of public health program.

Health workforce development is a public health priority for the World Health Organization. Public Health training programs need to be relevant in a public health perspective and efficient in and educational perspective. This implies evaluating the programs: in this regard student's perception might be interesting, or the opinion of external experts, or the experience of alumni.

Improved retention rates with low-cost interventions in hypertension and diabetes management in a rural African environment of nurse-led care: a cluster-randomised trial.

Objective: To compare the effects of low-level facility-based interventions on patient retention rates for cardiovascular (CV) disease in an environment of task shifting and nurse-led care in rural health districts in Central Cameroon.

Methods: This study is an open-label, three-arm, cluster-randomised trial in nurse-led facilities. All three groups implemented a treatment contract.

Improvement of measles immunity among migrant populations: lessons learned from a prevalence study in a Swiss prison.

Background: Measles persists worldwide despite the implementation of general vaccination campaigns. The environmental and demographic characteristics in many prisons increase the risk of measles epidemics. A large proportion of inmates come from countries where immunisation coverage is low.