Publications by authors named "M Straetemans"

Background: Access to healthcare is a major challenge in South Sudan, but evidence on the factors influencing health seeking behaviour (HSB) and the magnitude of their effect is limited. This study aims to identify which determinants are associated with seeking care for perceived health needs and with seeking care at private or public healthcare facilities in South Sudan.

Methods: A cross-sectional household survey was conducted in three purposefully-selected states (Central Equatoria, Western Equatoria and Warrap).

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Introduction: In the past decade, global health research has seen a growing emphasis on research integrity and fairness. The concept of research integrity emerged in response to the reproducibility crisis in science during the late 2000s. Research fairness initiatives aim to enhance ownership and inclusivity in research involving partners with varying powers, decision-making roles and resource capacities, ultimately prioritising local health research needs.

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Background: Indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities in fragile and conflict-affected settings may be severe due to reduced access and use of healthcare, as happened during the 2015 Ebola Virus Disease outbreak. Achieving a balance between short-term emergency response and addressing long-term health needs is particularly challenging in fragile and conflict-affected settings such as South Sudan, given the already significant barriers to accessing healthcare for the population. This study sought to characterise the effect of COVID-19 on healthcare access and South Sudan's healthcare response.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Non-adherence to tuberculosis (TB) treatment is a global issue, but Digital Adherence Technologies (DATs) can help support patients by monitoring their treatment progress in a more personalized way.
  • - A meta-analysis of data from various TB projects found that, while adherence rates decreased over a six-month period, a significant portion of patients maintained a high adherence level (≥90%) during their treatment, particularly in the first month.
  • - Factors such as sex, age, and health care facility impacted adherence rates, with younger patients and males showing greater declines, indicating the need for targeted support from healthcare workers to improve adherence over time.
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While Tanzania is among the high TB burden countries to reach the WHO's End TB 2030 milestones, 41% of the people estimated to have had TB in 2020 were not diagnosed and notified. As part of the response to close the TB treatment coverage gap, SHDEPHA+ Kahama conducted a TB REACH active case-finding (ACF) intervention among rural and mining communities in Northwest Tanzania to increase TB/HIV case notification from July 2017 to June 2020. The intervention successfully linked marginalized mining communities with integrated TB/HIV screening, diagnostic, and referral services, screening 144,707 people for TB of whom 24,200 were tested for TB and 4,478 were tested for HIV, diagnosing 1,499 people with TB and 1,273 people with HIV (including at least 154 people with TB/HIV coinfection).

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