Publications by authors named "L Viljoen"
Background: TB preventive treatment (TPT) prevents the development of TB disease in individuals at risk of progression from infection to disease. However, implementation of TPT for children is poor in most high-burden settings. The long duration and pill burden of the 6-month once-daily isoniazid regimen (6H) pose significant barriers to completion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Anticipated, internal, and enacted stigma are major barriers to tuberculosis (TB) care engagement and directly impact patient well-being. Unfortunately, targeted stigma interventions are lacking. We aimed to co-develop a person-centred stigma intervention with TB-affected community members and health workers in South Africa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Case-Finding Strategies: Scoping Review.
JMIR Public Health Surveill
June 2024
Background: Finding individuals with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is important to control the pandemic and improve patient clinical outcomes. To our knowledge, systematic reviews assessing the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, acceptability, and feasibility of different DR-TB case-finding strategies to inform research, policy, and practice, have not been conducted and the scope of primary research is unknown.
Objective: We therefore assessed the available literature on DR-TB case-finding strategies.
Article Synopsis
- Anticipated, internal, and enacted stigma surrounding tuberculosis (TB) significantly hinders patient care and well-being, prompting the need for targeted interventions co-developed with TB-affected individuals and health workers in South Africa.
- Utilizing community-based participatory research, discussions were held with 87 participants in Khayelitsha to identify stigma drivers and potential solutions, emphasizing the importance of lived experiences of TB survivors in crafting effective messaging.
- Recommended intervention strategies included education and support at various levels, such as counselling at the individual level, support clubs at the interpersonal level, training for health workers, community awareness events, and school curricula integration to combat stigma.