Benefits, challenges, and best practices of collaborative partnerships among health supply chain stakeholders in Rwanda: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Strong partnerships, community engagement, and multisectoral collaboration in the health supply chain are synergistic pillars towards achieving universal health coverage. In Rwanda, the health supply chain involves the collaboration of various stakeholders, including distributors, manufacturers, wholesalers, and customers. However, since the eruption and ending of COVID-19, there has not been any study to assess stakeholders' perspectives on the status of the benefits, challenges, and best practices of collaborative partnerships among health supply chain stakeholders in Rwanda.

The effect of prescription patterns on the performance of the pharmacy department of a Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda.

Background: Poor drug prescription patterns (PP) result in irrational medicine use, avoidable stock outs and drug expiries.

Objective: This study primarily assessed the effects of PP on the performance of the pharmacy department (PD) of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) Uganda.

Methods: This was a mixed method cross-sectional study conducted in the outpatient department (OPD) of MRRH, questionnaires were administered to 86 prescribers and 300 patient prescriptions were reviewed.

Performance of Jazia Prime Vendor System in ensuring availability of health commodities in Singida Region, Tanzania: a pre- and post-evaluation study.

Background: Availability of the health commodities in public health facilities in Tanzania remains a challenge, and has been reported to be below 70%. Moreover, Medical Stores Department's capacity to supply health commodities has been only 40%. Therefore, Jazia Prime Vendor System (Jazia PVS) was outsourced to complement the Medical Stores Department.

Prevalence and factors associated with sputum smear non-conversion after two months of tuberculosis treatment among smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Rwanda: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Non-conversion of sputum smear prolongs the infectivity of pulmonary tuberculosis patients and has been associated with unfavorable tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcomes. Nevertheless, there is a limited evidence on predictors of sputum smear non-conversion among smear-positive PTB (SPPTB) patients in Rwanda. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the factors associated with sputum smear non-conversion after two months of treatment among SPPTB patients in Rwanda.

Prevalence and risk factors for delayed antenatal care visits in Rwanda: an analysis of secondary data from Rwanda demographic health survey 2019-2020.

Introduction: antenatal care (ANC) delivers services to prevent pregnancy complications and provides counseling for birth, and emergency preparedness. Having ANC on time has life-saving potential for the child and mother. Despite improvements in health infrastructure, human resources, and health insurance, hindrances to early ANC visits still exist in Rwanda.

Economic attributes and childhood stunting in Rwanda: case study of the City of Kigali.

Introduction: stunting in under five children is a great concern in low and middle-income countries including Rwanda. While over the past decades different developing countries have made remarkable efforts improving their economic growth, there is mixed evidence and lack of consensus on the impact of economic development on nutrition improvement. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between economic attributes and childhood stunting in the City of Kigali.

Use of an online medical database for clinical decision-making processes: assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice of oral health care providers.

This study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of oral health care providers toward the use of online medical databases for clinical decision-making processes. The study population included all the licensed oral health care providers living in Rwanda, registered either with the Rwanda Allied Health Professional Council (RAHPC) or Rwanda Medical and Dental Council (RMDC). A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect demographic data as well as data regarding knowledge, attitude, and practice of oral health care providers regarding the use of online medical databases for making clinical decisions.

Seroprevalence of Brucellosis among Patients Attending a District Hospital in Rwanda.

Studies on human brucellosis in Rwanda are scarce, and the incidence is likely to be higher than official estimates. In a recent study using Rose Bengal Test (RBT) on women who had aborted or had still births in Huye district, 25% were seroprevalent. Thus, purpose of the present study was to investigate the seroprevalence in patients presenting with the key signs and symptoms of brucellosis.

Effect of deworming on disease progression markers in HIV-1-infected pregnant women on antiretroviral therapy: a longitudinal observational study from Rwanda.

Background: Deworming human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals on antiretroviral therapy (ART) may be beneficial, particularly during pregnancy. We determined the efficacy of targeted and nontargeted antihelminth therapy and its effects on Plasmodium falciparum infection status, hemoglobin levels, CD4 counts, and viral load in pregnant, HIV-positive women receiving ART.

Methods: Nine hundred eighty HIV-infected pregnant women receiving ART were examined at 2 visits during pregnancy and 2 postpartum visits within 12 weeks.

Malaria and helminthic co-infection among HIV-positive pregnant women: prevalence and effects of antiretroviral therapy.

The impact of malaria on anemia and the interplay with helminths underline the importance of addressing the interactions between HIV/AIDS, malaria and intestinal helminth infections in pregnancy. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of malaria-helminth dual infections among HIV positive pregnant mothers after 12 months of ART. A cross sectional study was conducted on intestinal helminths and malaria dual infections among HIV-positive pregnant women attending antenatal health centers in Rwanda.

Is sickle cell disease sufficiently prioritized in policy and socio-economic research on diseases in Tanzania? Lessons for the past 50 years.

Catastrophic health consequences associated with chronic and genetic disorders, including those related to sickle cell disease (SCD) remain lowly measured and understood. Illnesses associated with SCD, especially the, sickle cell anaemia (SCA) pose significant tolls to individual patients and their families and contribute to poverty due to loss in production and retardation of economic development. This paper synthesises evidence from systematic literature reviews on policy priorities both in theory and practice and studies carried out on SCD.

Community views on health sector reform and their participation in health priority setting: case of Lushoto and Muheza districts, Tanzania.

Background: Community participation (CP) is a key concept under 'primary health care' programmes and 'Health Sector Reform' (HSR) in many countries. However, international literature with current empirical evidence on CP in health priority setting and HSR in Tanzania is scanty.

Objectives: To explore and describe community views on HSR and their participation in setting health priorities.

Malaria control at the district level in Africa: the case of the muheza district in northeastern Tanzania.

An assessment was done in Tanzania to determine the extent to which the primary health care services have contributed to reducing the burden of malaria since the system was initiated in the 1980s. Seven descriptive processes and outcome indicators of effectiveness were used: changes of malaria transmission and incidence over time; use of facility-based care services for malaria; patients' access to professional advice; the trend of treatment failure over time of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and chloroquine; survival rates of severe cases at the district hospital; a district malaria control strategy; number of malaria specific training for care providers; and the number of activities carried out on mosquito control measures. The data were collected from 1996 to 2003 in the Muheza district northeastern Tanzania.

Effect of community-wide use of insecticide-treated nets for 3-4 years on malarial morbidity in Tanzania.

Objectives: To investigate (1) benefits due to personal protection of individual net users vs. mass killing of mosquitoes within villages as a result of widespread net usage; (2) sustainability over several years of benefits against malarial morbidity of insecticide-treated nets; (3) distribution of the benefits in different age groups of children and (4) whether, as a result of fading immunity, older age groups 'paid for' the benefits which they had enjoyed when younger.

Methods: (1) Tabulation of earlier data to compare personal and community-wide effects against mosquito vectors; (2) two cross-sectional surveys for malaria parasitaemia, malarial fever, anaemia and splenomegaly in children in eight Tanzanian villages, in which there had been community-wide use of bednets which had been annually re-treated with alphacypermethrin for 3-4 years; (3) comparison between children of different age groups and with intact, torn or no nets in these villages and in 4-6 villages without nets.

Evidence for memorized site-fidelity in Anopheles arabiensis.

A mark-recapture experiment was carried out in northern Tanzania to determine whether Anopheles arabiensis exhibits memory, by investigating if bloodfed individuals would return to either the location or the host where or on which they had obtained a previous bloodmeal, behaviours termed site-fidelity and host-fidelity respectively. Over 4300 mosquitoes were collected from 2 houses, marked with different fluorescent colours according to whether they were caught in cattle sheds, 'cattle-fed', or within human bednets, 'human-fed', at either location, then released from a third location. Over 17,000 mosquitoes were collected and examined over the next 8 days.

Comparison of bednets impregnated with different pyrethroids for their impact on mosquitoes and on re-infection with malaria after clearance of pre-existing infections with chlorproguanil-dapsone.

Comparisons of bednets treated either with alphacypermethrin or lambdacyhalothrin showed similar effectiveness by various entomological criteria. Lambdacyhalothrin was associated with significantly more reports of nasal irritation than alphacypermethrin. The 2 net treatments were equally effective in reducing incidence of new malaria infections and the treated nets were much more effective than untreated nets.

A comparison of use of a pyrethroid either for house spraying or for bednet treatment against malaria vectors.

In an intensely malarious area in north-east Tanzania, microencapsulated lambdacyhalothrin was used in four villages for treatment of bednets (provided free of charge) and in another four villages the same insecticide was used for house spraying. Another four villages received neither intervention until the end of the trial but were monitored as controls. Bioassays showed prolonged persistence of the insecticidal residues.

Trial of pyrethroid impregnated bednets in an area of Tanzania holoendemic for malaria. Part 2. Effects on the malaria vector population.

The malaria vector population consisted mainly of Anopheles gambiae s.s. with a small contribution from An.

Trial of pyrethroid impregnated bednets in an area of Tanzania holoendemic for malaria. Part 1. Operational methods and acceptability.

In five Tanzanian villages, nets impregnated with permethrin or lambdacyhalothrin were given out. The people received them enthusiastically and brought their nets for re-impregnation at six monthly intervals. Bioassays showed that the insecticidal power of permethrin impregnated nets remained adequate for six months unless the nets were washed.

Seasonal patterns of rodents, fleas and plague status in the Western Usambara Mountains, Tanzania.

Field and commensal rodents were live-trapped at three villages in an active focus of plague (Yersinia pseudotuberculosis pestis) in Lushoto District, Western Usambara Mountains, Tanga Region, Tanzania, from December 1983 to November 1984. Their flea ectoparasites were collected, identified and counted. The rodent carcasses were serologically examined for specific plague antibodies and antigens, and bacteriologically examined for bipolar staining bacilli.