International medical electives in Sub-Saharan Africa: experiences from a 19-year NGO-driven initiative.

Background: Mainstream medical education remains largely focused on national health issues. Therefore, in order to expose medical students to international health issues, it is beneficial to facilitate international medical electives.

Methods: This article describes the Junior Project Officer (JPO) program, a medical experience based on clinical electives in Sub-Saharan Africa, supported by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).

Medical Electives in Sub-Saharan Africa: A 15-Year Student/NGO-Driven Initiative.

Medical schools are developing global health programmes, and medical students are requesting global health training and creating opportunities when these are not provided by medical schools. This article described the Wolisso Project (WP), a medical experience on clinical electives in Sub-Saharan Africa, driven by a collaboration between a student organisation and a Nongovernmental Organization (NGO). Preclinical medical students spent 4 weeks as part of a multidisciplinary medical team in Africa.

Views of European Drug Development Stakeholders on Treatment Optimization and Its Potential for Use in Decision-Making.

Background: The current drug development paradigm has been criticized for being too drug-centered and for not adequately focusing on the patients who will eventually be administered the therapeutic interventions it generates. The drug-driven nature of the present framework has led to the emergence of a research gap between the pre-approval development of anticancer medicines and their post-registration use in real-life clinical practice. This gap could potentially be bridged by transitioning toward a patient-centered paradigm that places a strong emphasis on treatment optimization, which strives to optimize the way health technologies are applied in a real-world environment.

Impact of Ebola outbreak on reproductive health services in a rural district of Sierra Leone: a prospective observational study.

Objectives: To assess the trends concerning utilisation of maternal and child health (MCH) services before, during and after the Ebola outbreak, quantifying the contribution of a reorganised referral system (RS).

Design: A prospective observational study of MCH services.

Setting: Pujehun district in Sierra Leone, 77 community health facilities and 1 hospital from 2012 to 2017.

Breast Tuberculosis in Women: A Systematic Review.

Breast tuberculosis (TB) is rarely reported and poorly described. This review aims to update the existing literature on risk factors, clinical presentations, constitutional symptoms, diagnostic procedures, and medical and surgical treatments for breast TB. In all, 1,478 cases of breast TB were collected.

The association between diabetes and cataract among 42,469 community-dwelling adults in six low- and middle-income countries.

Background: Cataract is a major cause of visual impairment in people with diabetes, yet a paucity of data is available in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) on this comorbidity. Thus we assessed the association between diabetes and cataract in 6 LMICs.

Methods: Cross-sectional, community-based data from the Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) was analyzed (n = 42,469 aged ≥18 years).

Breast tuberculosis in men: A systematic review.

Setting: Breast tuberculosis in male is a rarely reported and poorly described condition.

Objective: To quantify the number of breast tuberculosis in men, to describe clinical presentation and to present the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures applied.

Design: A systematic review of the literature including reports published in English, Spanish and French until December 2017.

An overview of future EU health systems. An insight into governance, primary care, data collection and citizens' participation.

Background: Health systems in the European Union (EU) are being questioned over their effectiveness and sustainability. In pursuing both goals, they have to conciliate coexisting, not always aligned, realities.

Methods: This paper originated from a workshop entitled 'Health systems for the future' held at the European Parliament.

Human health implications of organic food and organic agriculture: a comprehensive review.

This review summarises existing evidence on the impact of organic food on human health. It compares organic vs. conventional food production with respect to parameters important to human health and discusses the potential impact of organic management practices with an emphasis on EU conditions.

A Brief Outline of the Use of New Technologies for Treating Substance Use Disorders in the European Union.

Background: Clinicians in the field of drug addiction have started to exploit the growth of Technology-Based Interventions (TBIs). However, there is little information on how health personnel evaluate them.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted among 20 European experts.

Maintaining Maternal and Child Health Services During the Ebola Outbreak: Experience from Pujehun, Sierra Leone.

Background: During the Ebola outbreak the overall confidence of the population in the national health system declined in Sierra Leone, with a reduction in the use of health services. The objective of this study is to provide information on understanding of how Ebola impacted maternal and child health services in Sierra Leone. Data come from an operational setting which is representative of the communities affected by the outbreak.

Accelerating the health literacy agenda in Europe.

Health literacy can be defined as the knowledge, motivation and competence to access, understand, appraise and apply information to make decisions in terms of healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion. Health literacy is a European public health challenge that has to be taken seriously by policy-makers. It constitutes an emerging field for policy, research and practice.

Ebola: lessons learned and future challenges for Europe.

The Ebola virus epidemic has topped media and political agendas for months; several countries in west Africa have faced the worst Ebola epidemic in history. At the beginning of the disease outbreak, European Union (EU) policies were notably absent regarding how to respond to the crisis. Although the epidemic is now receding from public view, this crisis has undoubtedly changed the European public perception of Ebola virus disease, which is no longer regarded as a bizarre entity confined in some unknown corner in Africa.

Determinants of utilisation of antenatal care and skilled birth attendant at delivery in South West Shoa Zone, Ethiopia: a cross sectional study.

Background: Ethiopia has high maternal mortality ratio and poor access to maternal health services. Attendance of at least four antenatal care (ANC) visits and delivery by a skilled birth attendant (SBA) are important in preventing maternal deaths. Understanding the reasons behind the poor use of these services is important in designing strategies to address the problem.

Availability, utilisation and quality of maternal and neonatal health care services in Karamoja region, Uganda: a health facility-based survey.

Background: Maternal mortality is persistently high in Uganda. Access to quality emergency obstetrics care (EmOC) is fundamental to reducing maternal and newborn deaths and is a possible way of achieving the target of the fifth millennium development goal. Karamoja region in north-eastern Uganda has consistently demonstrated the nation's lowest scores on key development and health indicators and presents a substantial challenge to Uganda's stability and poverty eradication ambitions.