Evaluation of methods for linking household and health care provider data to estimate effective coverage of management of child illness: results of a pilot study in Southern Province, Zambia.

Background: Existing population-based surveys have limited accuracy for estimating the coverage and quality of management of child illness. Linking household survey data with health care provider assessments has been proposed as a means of generating more informative population-level estimates of effective coverage, but methodological issues need to be addressed.

Methods: A 2016 survey estimated effective coverage of management of child illness in Southern Province, Zambia, using multiple methods for linking temporally and geographically proximate household and health care provider data.

Mathematical models of human mobility of relevance to malaria transmission in Africa.

As Africa-wide malaria prevalence declines, an understanding of human movement patterns is essential to inform how best to target interventions. We fitted movement models to trip data from surveys conducted at 3-5 sites throughout each of Mali, Burkina Faso, Zambia and Tanzania. Two models were compared in terms of their ability to predict the observed movement patterns - a gravity model, in which movement rates between pairs of locations increase with population size and decrease with distance, and a radiation model, in which travelers are cumulatively "absorbed" as they move outwards from their origin of travel.

Validity of maternal report of care-seeking for childhood illness.

Background: Accurate data on care-seeking for child illness are needed to improve public health programs and reduce child mortality. The accuracy of maternal report of care-seeking for child illness as collected through household surveys has not been validated.

Methods: A 2016 survey compared reported care-seeking against a gold-standard of health care provider documented care-seeking events among a random sample of mothers of children <5 years in Southern Province, Zambia.

Effects of Airborne Particulate Matter on Respiratory Health in a Community near a Cement Factory in Chilanga, Zambia: Results from a Panel Study.

We conducted a panel study to investigate seasonal variations in concentrations of airborne PM and PM and the effects on respiratory health in a community near a cement factory; in Chilanga; Zambia. A panel of 63 and 55 participants aged 21 to 59 years from a community located at the edge of the factory within 1 km and a control community located 18 km from the factory respectively; were followed up for three climatic seasons July 2015 to February 2016. Symptom diary questionnaires were completed and lung function measurements taken daily for 14 days in each of the three climatic seasons.

Key traveller groups of relevance to spatial malaria transmission: a survey of movement patterns in four sub-Saharan African countries.

Background: As malaria prevalence declines in many parts of the world due to widescale control efforts and as drug-resistant parasites begin to emerge, a quantitative understanding of human movement is becoming increasingly relevant to malaria control. However, despite its importance, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding human movement, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: A quantitative survey of human movement patterns was conducted in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Mali, Burkina Faso, Zambia, and Tanzania, with three to five survey locations chosen in each country.

Antibiotic prescribing practices for patients with fever in the transition from presumptive treatment of malaria to 'confirm and treat' in Zambia: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: To evaluate antibiotic use among patients presenting to primary healthcare facilities with febrile illness in Zambia.

Methods: We analysed data from a 2011 nationwide cross-sectional health facility survey of routine malaria case management in Zambia. Patient consultation observation and medical record charts were used to calculate the proportion of febrile patients who were prescribed antibiotics, stratified by symptoms, health workers' diagnosis and malaria test results.

Prevalence and determinants of mucous membrane irritations in a community near a cement factory in Zambia: a cross sectional study.

Exposure to cement dust has been associated with deleterious health effects in humans. This study investigated whether residing near a cement factory increases the risk of irritations to the mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory system. A cross sectional study was conducted in Freedom Compound, a community bordering a cement factory in Chilanga, Zambia and a control community, Bauleni, located 18 km from the cement plant.

Documenting malaria case management coverage in Zambia: a systems effectiveness approach.

Background: National malaria control programmes and their partners must document progress associated with investments in malaria control. While documentation has been achieved through population-based surveys for most interventions, measuring changes in malaria case management has been challenging because the increasing use of diagnostic tests reduces the denominator of febrile children who should receive anti-malarial treatment. Thus the widely used indicator, "proportion of children under five with fever in the last two weeks who received anti-malarial treatment according to national policy within 24 hours from onset of fever" is no longer relevant.

Improved diagnostic testing and malaria treatment practices in Zambia.

Context: Improving the accuracy of malaria diagnosis with rapid antigen-detection diagnostic tests (RDTs) has been proposed as an approach for reducing overtreatment of malaria in the current era of widespread implementation of artemisinin-based combination therapy in sub-Saharan Africa.

Objective: To assess the association between use of microscopy and RDT and the prescription of antimalarials.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Cross-sectional, cluster sample survey, carried out between March and May 2006, of all outpatients treated during 1 working day at government and mission health facilities in 4 sentinel districts in Zambia.