Risk factors for infertility and barriers to treatment in Tanzania: a survey and medical records study.

Background: The burden of infertility is serious for women in high-fertility countries.

Objectives: We sought to identify demographic, behavioral/environmental, and reproductive risk factors for various infertility factors (i.e.

Comparing infertility-related stress in high fertility and low fertility countries.

We surveyed 169 women seeking infertility treatment in Central Tanzania using an abbreviated version of the Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI) to measure infertility-related stress. We compared our FPI results to similar studies in another high fertility country (Ghana) and in three low fertility countries (the US, Canada, and Italy). Tanzanian women reported higher infertility-related stress than women in low-fertility countries but lower stress than Ghanaian women.

Risk-Taking Behaviors and Sexual Violence Among Secondary School Students in Tanzania.

There is limited district level data on drug or alcohol use as well as sex and reproductive history among secondary school students in Tanzania to inform prevention efforts. To address this, we conducted a survey of 2523 secondary school students in 2 districts (Bahi and Mpwapwa) and the Dodoma municipal area in Tanzania. Overall, fifty three percent were female and 67% were between the ages of 15 and 17 years old.

Setting up a community-based cervical screening service in a low-income country: a pilot study from north-western Tanzania.

Objectives: To report the results of a pilot study for a service for cervical cancer screening and diagnosis in north-western Tanzania.

Methods: The pilot study was launched in 2012 after a community-level information campaign. Women aged 15-64 years were encouraged to attend the district health centres.

Making Global Health Rotations a Two-Way Street: A Model for Hosting International Residents.

As US residency programs are increasingly offering global health electives for their trainees, there is a growing call for these opportunities to include bidirectional exchanges-where residents from both the US and international partner institutions rotate at the other's site. Curricular, logistical, and funding challenges of hosting residents from an international site may be barriers to developing these programs. In this report, the authors describe an 8-year experience of a US institution hosting residents from a resource-limited international partner and provide a framework for others institutions to develop bidirectional exchanges.

Effects of Prednisolone on Disease Progression in Antiretroviral-Untreated HIV Infection: A 2-Year Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.

Background: HIV-disease progression correlates with immune activation. Here we investigated whether corticosteroid treatment can attenuate HIV disease progression in antiretroviral-untreated patients.

Methods: Double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial including 326 HIV-patients in a resource-limited setting in Tanzania (clinicaltrials.

Maternal death reviews at Bugando hospital north-western Tanzania: a 2008-2012 retrospective analysis.

Background: Unacceptably high levels of maternal deaths still occur in many sub-Saharan countries and the health systems may not favour effective use of lessons from maternal death reviews to improve maternal survival. We report results from the analysis of data from maternal death reviews at Bugando Medical Centre north-western Tanzania in the period 2008-2012 and highlight the process, challenges and how the analysis provided a better understanding of maternal deaths.

Methodology: Retrospective analysis using maternal death review data and extraction of missing information from patients' files.

Sero-positivity rate of rubella and associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Background: Sero-positivity rates of the rubella virus among pregnant women vary widely throughout the world. In Tanzania, rubella vaccination is not included in the national immunization schedule and there is therefore no antenatal screening for this viral disease. So far, there are no reports on the sero-prevalence of rubella among pregnant women in Tanzania.

Sero-prevalence and factors associated with Toxoplasma gondii infection among pregnant women attending antenatal care in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Background: Serological screening of pregnant women for Toxoplasma gondii-specific antibodies is not practiced as an antenatal care in Tanzania; and there is a limited data about sero-prevalence of T. gondii infection in developing countries. We therefore conducted this study to determine the sero-prevalence and factors associated with T.

Hypertension-related diseases as a common cause of hospital mortality in Tanzania: a 3-year prospective study.

Objective: Hypertension is believed to be an increasingly common driver of the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in sub-Saharan Africa, but prospective data are scarce. The objective of this prospective study was to determine the contribution of hypertension to deaths, admissions, and hospital days at a Tanzanian zonal hospital.

Methods: Between 2009 and 2011, diagnoses were recorded for all medical admissions together with age, sex, length of hospitalization and in-hospital mortality.

HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) in antiretroviral therapy-naïve patients in Tanzania not eligible for WHO threshold HIVDR survey is dramatically high.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended guidelines for a HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) survey for resource-limited countries. Eligibility criteria for patients include age below 25 years in order to focus on the prevalence of transmitted HIVDR (tHIVDR) in newly-infected individuals. Most of the participating sites across Africa have so far reported tHIVDR prevalences of below 5%.