Individual, community and health systems factors influencing time to notification of tuberculosis: situating software and hardware bottlenecks in local health systems.

Background: Despite several global interventions, tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of death affecting millions of people globally. Many TB patients either have no access to quality care or go undetected by national health systems. Several multilevel factors account for under-detection of persons with TB.

Health service utilisation during the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020: a multicountry empirical assessment with a focus on maternal, newborn and child health services.

Introduction: There are concerns about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the continuation of essential health services in sub-Saharan Africa. Through the Countdown to 2030 for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health country collaborations, analysts from country and global public health institutions and ministries of health assessed the trends in selected services for maternal, newborn and child health, general service utilisation.

Methods: Monthly routine health facility data by district for the period 2017-2020 were compiled by 12 country teams and adjusted after extensive quality assessments.

A needs assessment for postgraduate training in selected public health disciplines: evidence from health services organisations in Lusaka, Zambia.

Background: As most low and middle-income countries seek to achieve universal health coverage targets, there is an ever-increasing need to train human resources with the required core skills and competencies. This study reports on a needs assessment conducted among health services organisations (HSOs) to understand postgraduate training needs and service gaps for selected public health disciplines - Health Policy and Systems, Health Economics, and Healthcare Management and Planning - at the University of Zambia.

Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional design, comprising qualitative and quantitative components.

The potential health and revenue effects of a tax on sugar sweetened beverages in Zambia.

The global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has been rising. A key risk factor for NCDs is obesity, which has been partly linked to consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs). A tax on SSBs is an attractive control measure to curb the rising trend in NCDs, as it has the potential to reduce consumption of SSBs.