Unlabelled: In Belgium, nursing homes (NH) were disproportionately affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The objective of this study was to compare the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in vaccinated and unvaccinated staff members.
Methods: This was a prospective cohort study conducted between February 1 and April 02, 2021, in 99 nursing homes (NHs) in the Walloon Region, a few weeks after the start of the vaccination campaign.
Background: In Belgium, the first COVID-19 death was reported on 10 March 2020. Nursing home (NH) residents are particularly vulnerable for COVID-19, making it essential to follow-up the spread of COVID-19 in this setting. This manuscript describes the methodology of surveillance and epidemiology of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in Belgian NHs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackgroundCOVID-19-related mortality in Belgium has drawn attention for two reasons: its high level, and a good completeness in reporting of deaths. An ad hoc surveillance was established to register COVID-19 death numbers in hospitals, long-term care facilities (LTCF) and the community. Belgium adopted broad inclusion criteria for the COVID-19 death notifications, also including possible cases, resulting in a robust correlation between COVID-19 and all-cause mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Various studies have investigated geographical variations in the incidence of hysterectomy in Western countries and analyzed socioeconomic factors to explain those variations. However, few studies have used spatial analysis to characterize them. Geographically weighted Poisson regression (GWPR) explores the spatially varying impacts of covariates across a study area and focuses attention on local variations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnn Cardiol Angeiol (Paris)
March 2020
Objectives: The aim of the study consists of analyzing the comorbidities of acute ischemic stroke and those influencing its hospital lethality.
Methods: We considered patients from Wallonia aged 25 years or more and admitted to a Belgian hospital for an acute ischemic stroke in 2013 and 2014. The analyzed medico-administrative data are taken from the Minimum Hospital Summary.
Data presented in this article are related to the research paper entitled "Short-term effects of nitrogen dioxide on hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in Wallonia, Belgium." (Collart et al., in press) [1].
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany studies have shown a short-term association between NO and cardiovascular disease. However, few data are available on the delay between exposure and a health-related event. The aim of the present study is to determine the strength of association between NO and cardiovascular health in Wallonia for the period 2008-2011.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The use of antimicrobials is intense and often inappropriate in long-term care facilities. Antimicrobial resistance has increased in acute and chronic care facilities, including those in Belgium. Evidence is lacking concerning antimicrobial stewardship programmes in chronic care settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: In 2010, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Guinea introduced a free emergency obstetric care policy in all the public health facilities of the country. This included antenatal checks, normal delivery and Caesarean section.
Objective: This study aims at assessing the changes in coverage of obstetric care according to the Unmet Obstetric Need concept before (2008) and after (2012) the implementation of the free emergency obstetric care policy in a rural health district in Guinea.
In 2003, the Uganda Ministry of Health introduced the district league table for district health system performance assessment. The league table presents district performance against a number of input, process and output indicators and a composite index to rank districts. This study explores the use of hierarchical cluster analysis for analysing and presenting district health systems performance data and compares this approach with the use of the league table in Uganda.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Pregnancy Childbirth
December 2013
Background: Information about postpartum maternal morbidity in developing countries is limited and often based on information obtained from hospitals. As a result, the reports do not usually reflect the true magnitude of obstetric complications and poor management at delivery. In Morocco, little is known about obstetric maternal morbidity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To describe the evolution of family planning (FP) in Guinea and to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the current FP programme.
Methods: Descriptive study of the evolution of FP in Guinea between 1992 and 2010. First, national laws as well as health policies and strategic plans related to reproductive health and family planning were reviewed.
Background: The knowledge on emergency obstetric care (EmOC) is limited in Kenya, where only partial data from sub-national studies exist. The EmOC process indicators have also not been integrated into routine health management information system to monitor progress in safe motherhood interventions both at national and lower levels of the health system. In a country with a high maternal mortality burden, the implication is that decision makers are unaware of the extent of need for life-saving care and, therefore, where to intervene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Contracept Reprod Health Care
August 2011
Objective: To estimate the number of women with female genital mutilation (FGM) living in Belgium, the number of girls at risk, and the target population of medical and social services (MSSs) concerned.
Methods: Data about prevalence of FGM from the most recently published Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys were applied to females living in Belgium who migrated from countries where excision or infibulation are being practised, and to their daughters.
Results: Amongst the 22,840 women and girls living in Belgium who are from a country concerned, 6,260 have 'most probably already undergone a FGM' (women born in the country of origin), and 1,975 are 'at risk' (second generation born in Belgium).
Background: This paper presents the development of a study design built on the principles of theory-driven evaluation. The theory-driven evaluation approach was used to evaluate an adolescent sexual and reproductive health intervention in Mali, Burkina Faso and Cameroon to improve continuity of care through the creation of networks of social and health care providers.
Methods/design: Based on our experience and the existing literature, we developed a six-step framework for the design of theory-driven evaluations, which we applied in the ex-post evaluation of the networking component of the intervention.
Objective: The aim of this paper is to assess to what extent a Skilled Care Initiative (SCI) was associated with pregnancy-related mortality in Ouargaye district, Burkina Faso.
Methods: We used a quasi-experimental design to compare pregnancy-related mortality within the intervention district (health facility areas covered by the SCI vs. areas not covered) and between the intervention district (Ouargaye) and a comparison district (Diapaga).
Objective: To describe the implementation of a cost-sharing system for emergency obstetric care in an urban health district of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and analyse its results after 1 year of activity.
Methods: Service availability and use, service quality, knowledge of the cost-sharing system in the community and financial viability of the system were measured before and after the system was implemented. Different sources of data were used: community survey, anthropological study, routine data from hospital files and registers and specific data collected on major obstetric interventions (MOI) in all the hospitals utilized by the district population.
Background: Uganda has hosted an estimated 200,000 refugees in post-emergency phase settlements interspersed within host communities since 1990. However, refugee health service runs parallel to host in most refugee-affected districts. The process of integration of health services began in 1999.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBull World Health Organ
June 2005
Objective: To examine the reliability of reported rates of caesarean sections from developing countries and make recommendations on how data collection for surveys and health facility-based studies could be improved.
Methods: Population-based rates for caesarean section obtained from two sources: Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and health facility-based records of caesarean sections from the Unmet Obstetric Need Network, together with estimates of the number of live births, were compared for six developing countries. Sensitivity analyses were conducted using several different definitions of the caesarean section rate, and the rates obtained from the two data sources were compared.
A national retrospective survey on the unmet need for major obstetric surgery using the Unmet Obstetric Need Approach was carried out in Mali in 1999. In Koutiala, the district health team decided to carry on the monitoring of the met need for several years in order to assess their progress over time. The first prospective study, for 1999, estimated that more than 100 women in need of obstetric care never reached the hospital and probably died as a consequence.
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