Causes, magnitude and management of burns in under-fives in district hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Objectives: To determine the causes, magnitude and management of burns in children under five years of age who were admitted in the district hospitals of Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania.

Methods: In this study, a total of 204 under fives were enrolled. Questionnaires were used to elicit if the parent/caretaker had the knowledge of the cause of the burns, what was done immediately after burn injury, first aid given immediately after burn, source of the knowledge of first aid and when the child was taken to the hospital.

Self-medication with chloroquine in a rural district of Tanzania: a therapeutic challenge for any future malaria treatment policy change in the country.

Background: Malaria continues to be a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children aged 5 years or younger in Tanzania. Children who develop mild disease can rapidly progress to severe malaria (cerebral malaria with convulsions) and even death, because of mismanagement, delays and inappropriate drug therapy in the remote areas where primary health care facilities are inaccessible or unavailable. The threat is particularly severe in those who are unable to take oral medications.

Artemisinin and thiabendazole are potent inhibitors of cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) activity in humans.

Objective: To investigate the likelihood of artemisinin and thiabendazole causing pharmacokinetic interactions involving cytochrome P450 (CYP1A2) in humans given their potent inhibitory effects on the isoform in vitro.

Methods: Ten healthy volunteers received caffeine (136.5 mg), and after a washout period of 48 h, the volunteers were given a caffeine tablet (136.

Comparative bioavailability of oral sugar-coated and plain formulation of chloroquine phosphate marketed in Tanzania.

The bioavailability of chloroquine from a single oral dose (10 mg/kg body weight) of a sugar-coated (Dawaquin) and a plain formulation (Shellyquine) of chloroquine phosphate were compared in two groups of 10 volunteers each, following an overnight fast. Whole blood chloroquine concentrations were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and bioavailability was determined by measuring area under the blood chloroquine concentration curve (AUC ng mL(-1) h) and the peak blood chloroquine concentration (Cpmax ng/mL). The AUC and Cpmax for Shellyquine were 4396.

Prescribing habits in church-owned primary health care facilities in Dar Es Salaam and other Tanzanian coast regions.

Objective: To assess prescribing practice of Primary Health Care (PHC) workers in church owned health care facilities using WHO drug use indicators.

Design: A cross-sectional study in which twenty primary health care facilities were randomly selected. Prescribing indicators were obtained by analysing outpatient records retrospectively for the past 14 months between January 1997 and February 1998.