Health information systems in Africa: descriptive analysis of data sources, information products and health statistics.

Objective: To identify key data sources of health information and describe their availability in countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region.

Methods: An analytical review on the availability and quality of health information data sources in countries; from experience, observations, literature and contributions from countries.

Setting: Forty-six Member States of the WHO African Region.

Resources, indicators, data management, dissemination and use in health information systems in sub-Saharan Africa: results of a questionnaire-based survey.

Objective: To describe the status of health information systems in 14 sub-Saharan African countries of the World Health Organization African Region.

Design: A questionnaire-based survey.

Setting: Fourteen sub-Saharan African countries of the African Region.

Density-dependent mortality of the human host in onchocerciasis: relationships between microfilarial load and excess mortality.

Background: The parasite Onchocerca volvulus has, until recently, been regarded as the cause of a chronic yet non-fatal condition. Recent analyses, however, have indicated that in addition to blindness, the parasite can also be directly associated with human mortality. Such analyses also suggested that the relationship between microfilarial load and excess mortality might be non-linear.

Economic burden of cholera in the WHO African region.

Background: In 2007, various countries around the world notified 178677 cases of cholera and 4033 cholera deaths to the World Health Organization (WHO). About 62% of those cases and 56.7% of deaths were reported from the WHO African Region alone.

Uptake of Onchocerca volvulus (Nematoda: Onchocercidae) by Simulium (Diptera: Simuliidae) is not strongly dependent on the density of skin microfilariae in the human host.

The relation between the number of microfilariae (mf) ingested by host-seeking vectors of human onchocerciasis and skin mf load is an important component of the population biology of Onchocerca volvulus, with implications for disease control and evaluation of the risk of transmission recrudescence. The microsimulation model ONCHOSIM has been used to assess such risk in the area of the Onchocerciasis Control Program (OCP) in West Africa, based on a strongly nonlinear relation between vector mf uptake and human mf skin density previously published. However, observed levels of recrudescence have exceeded predictions, warranting a recalibration of the model.