Community-based prevalence of rheumatic heart disease in rural Ethiopia: Five-year follow-up.

Background: As little is known about the prevalence and clinical progression of subclinical (latent) rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in sub-Saharan Africa, we report the results of a 5 year follow-up of a community based, echocardiographic study of the disease, originally carried out in a rural area around Jimma, Ethiopia.

Methods: Individuals with evidence of RHD detected during the baseline study as well as controls and their family members were screened with a short questionnaire together with transthoracic echocardiography.

Results: Of 56 individuals with RHD (37 definite and 19 borderline) in the original study, 36 (26 definite and 10 borderline) were successfully located 57.

Diabetic Retinopathy in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients Attending the Diabetic Clinic of the University of Gondar Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia.

Objective: To investigate the level of diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients attending the University of Gondar Hospital (UGH) Diabetic Clinic, Northwest Ethiopia.

Methods: An audit was carried out involving a total of 739 T2DM patients attending at the diabetic clinic of UGH. They represented approximately 90% and 50% of all T2DM patients under regular review at the urban and rural diabetic clinics of UGH, respectively.

Community-based prevalence study of rheumatic heart disease in rural Ethiopia.

Background Chronic Rheumatic Heart disease (RHD) continues to be a health problem in many low and middle income countries and especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Echocardiography has shown that the disease is far more widespread than may be detected by clinical assessment, but data are lacking on the prevalence and epidemiological features in rural Africa. Design Community-based prevalence survey Methods We used transthoracic echocardiography to carry out a population-based study of RHD in a rural area of Ethiopia.

Retinopathy in type 1 diabetes mellitus: Major differences between rural and urban dwellers in northwest Ethiopia.

Aim: To audit levels of diabetes-related eye disease in Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients in northwest Ethiopia. In particular to establish whether, despite identical clinical goals, major differences between the physically demanding life-style of rural subsistence farmers and the sedentary life-style of urban dwellers would influence the prevalence of diabetes-related eye complications.

Methods: A robust infrastructure for chronic disease management that comprehensively includes all rural dwellers was a pre-requisite for the investigation.

Epilepsy, poverty and early under-nutrition in rural Ethiopia.

Purpose: The incidence of epilepsy in Ethiopia is high compared with industrialised countries, but in most cases the cause of epilepsy is unknown. Childhood malnutrition remains widespread. We performed a case-control study to determine whether epilepsy is associated with poverty and markers of early under-nutrition.

State of surgery in tropical Africa: a review.

This is a review of recently published literature on surgery in tropical Africa. It presents the current state of surgical need and surgical practice on the continent. We discuss the enormous burden of surgical pathology (as far as it is known) and the access to and acceptability of surgery.

Endomyocardial fibrosis: still a mystery after 60 years.

The pathologist Jack N. P. Davies identified endomyocardial fibrosis in Uganda in 1947.

A primary healthcare approach to the management of chronic disease in Ethiopia: an example for other countries.

Chronic non-communicable diseases such as epilepsy, diabetes, cardiac disease and hypertension represent a growing but neglected burden in developing countries. Rural sufferers, distant from health facilities, bear this most acutely. In response, a community care programme has been developed at Jimma University Hospital and its allied health centres in rural southwest Ethiopia.

Working together to rebuild health care in post-conflict Somaliland.

In 1991, the Somali National Movement fighters recaptured the Somaliland capital city of Hargeisa after a 3-year civil war. The government troops of the dictator General Mohamed Siad Barre fled south, plunging most of Somalia into a state of anarchy that persists to this day. In the north of the region, the redeclaration of independence of Somaliland took place on May 18, 1991.

Migrants and health: a cultural dilemma.

Culture profoundly affects what those who come to the UK as migrants believe about disease and thus how they behave during illness. Their beliefs may be very different from the beliefs of healthcare professionals and so there can be difficulties in understanding and barriers which inhibit effective clinical management. The behaviour of healthcare professionals towards those of a different race can lead to feelings of discrimination and lack of sympathy, so that a gulf can be allowed to develop.