Approaches for psychosocial support towards orphans and vulnerable children by community-based workers in the Vhembe district, South Africa.

Introduction: The orphan and vulnerable children crisis has raised the need for alternative solutions to their problems. These new alternatives gave prominence to the growth of community-based organisations and their interventions. Community-based interventions are a crucial component of the response to ensure that the demands of orphans and vulnerable children are mitigated as they offer initial support and act as well-being nets.

Professional nurses' experiences of managing epilepsy at limited resource rural facilities in Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces, South Africa.

Background: Epilepsy is a neurological disorder affecting approximately 50 million individuals globally, contributing significantly to the global disease burden. Professional nurses play a crucial role in the care and treatment of people living with epilepsy, ensuring their safety and well-being. Professional nurses frequently encounter challenges, such as restricted access to drugs, specialised equipment, and epilepsy treatment training.

Protocol to develop strategies to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Village Health Workers in service delivery in a selected district of Zimbabwe.

Village Health Workers (VHWs) in Zimbabwe complement the healthcare staff in primary health care delivery. In 2015 the Ministry of Health streamlined services offered by the VHWs with the VHW Strengthening Plan to improve the effectiveness of the program. However, these continue to offer services not addressing the current and emerging health problems.

A systematic review of the risk management frameworks for potentially toxic chemical elements.

In the last 50 years, various frameworks have been used to control and manage potentially toxic chemical risks; however, these chemicals continue to negatively impact environmental and human health. This work was intended to provide a systematic review of the literature on essential aspects of current risk management frameworks for potentially toxic chemicals. The frameworks were reviewed using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) principles that focus on elements, successes, shortcomings, similarities, and dissimilarities premised on the experiences of many countries.

Growth Monitoring and Promotion Index Development: A Novel Approach.

Background: There are few growth monitoring and promotion indexes, and currently none of them include any metrics that measure caregiver behaviours. No index to date combines the metrics of both community health worker activeness and caregiver barriers and facilitators towards growth monitoring and promotion (GMP). This study developed a new growth monitoring and promotion index and validated it using the Delphi Technique.

Diagnosis of Epilepsy by Traditional Healers and Its Implications on Management in the Selected Rural Communities of Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces: A Qualitative Study.

Introduction: Epilepsy is a neurological disorder which causes seizures and may be accompanied by loss of unconsciousness and control of bowel or bladder function. However, other types of epilepsy are only characterised by rapid blinking or a few seconds of staring into space. Many people living with epilepsy in rural communities consult traditional healers as their first line of treatment for epilepsy.

Health risk management framework for heavy metals and cyanide in Kwekwe city of Zimbabwe: a mixed-method study protocol.

Background: According to WHO, in 2015, over 35% of ischaemic heart disease, the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, and about 42% of strokes, the second largest contributor to global mortality, could have been prevented by reducing or removing exposure to chemical pollutants. Heavy metal and cyanide pollution are prevalent in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where the effects of industrial pollutants are more severe, partly due to poor regulation. In Zimbabwe, the mining industry alone contributed to 25% of occupational conditions and injuries in 2020.

Development of a growth monitoring and promotion index to improve child health in Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe, growth monitoring and promotion as conducted by community health workers are part of the nutritional surveillance system. This study seeks to develop a new index which will combine both caregiver behaviours, attitudes and CHW growth monitoring and promotion activities. An explanatory sequential mixed method design will be conducted in three phases.

Occupational health and safety hazards among solid waste handlers at a selected municipality South Africa.

Background: Solid waste management is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world because of its potential harm from the waste to the environment and the public. Therefore, the protection of human health and the environment is a challenge that all countries are facing.

Aim: The study explored occupational health and safety hazards among waste handlers at a selected municipality in Limpopo Province.

I lack 'me-time': The experiences of family caregivers of elders with Diabetes Mellitus in a selected village in South Africa.

Background: Family caregiving is common in African countries where the family plays a crucial role in caring and supporting a family member in need of care. Most older people who suffer from chronic diseases, including Diabetes Mellitus, stay at home where family members and relatives are responsible for their day-to-day care.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of family caregivers of older people living with Diabetes Mellitus in a rural village in South Africa.

Alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking: a health-risk behaviour among secondary school learners in South Africa.

Background: Health-risk behaviours such as tobacco smoking and alcohol are now identified among adolescents in most of the secondary schools of South Africa.

Objective: The study investigated the prevalence of smoking and alcohol use as health risk behaviours among secondary school learners in Thembisile Hani municipality of Mpumalanga province in South Africa.

Methods: A quantitative descriptive research design was used for the study.

Working conditions in a mental health institution: An exploratory study of professional nurses in Limpopo province, South Africa.

Background: Professional nurses are responsible for the provision of care, treatment and rehabilitation of all mental healthcare users (MHCUs) in the institutions for mental healthcare. However, professional nurses find themselves in difficult circumstances under which they must provide quality healthcare services to MHCUs.

Objectives: The study explored and described the challenges experienced by the professional nurses working in a mental healthcare institution in Limpopo province of South Africa.

Self-reported impact of caregiving on voluntary home-based caregivers in Mutale Municipality, South Africa.

Background: The establishment of home-based care (HBC) programmes in developing countries has resulted in a shift of burden from hospitals to communities where palliative care is provided by voluntary home-based caregivers.

Aim: The study investigated the impact of caregiving on voluntary home-based caregivers.

Setting: The study was conducted at HBC organisations located in Mutale Municipality of Limpopo Province, South Africa.

Factors contributing to the low uptake of medical male circumcision in Mutare Rural District, Zimbabwe.

Background: Medical male circumcision (MMC) has become a significant dimension of HIV prevention interventions, after the results of three randomised controlled trials in Uganda, South Africa and Kenya demonstrated that circumcision has a protective effect against contracting HIV of up to 60%. Following recommendations by the World Health Organization, Zimbabwe in 2009 adopted voluntary MMC as an additional HIV prevention strategy to the existing ABC behaviour change model.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is thus to investigate the factors contributing to the low uptake of MMC.

Home-based carers' perceptions of health promotion on sexual health communication in Vhembe District.

Background: The introduction of home-based care in rural communities in the 1980s contributed immensely toward the upliftment of the personal and environmental health of communities. Women's groups provided health promotion skills and health education to communities and made a difference in health-related behaviour change.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the home-based carers' perception regarding health promotion concerning sexual health communication in Vhembe district, in the context of HIV, amongst communities still rooted in their culture.

Views of professional nurses regarding low tuberculosis cure rate in Greater Giyani Municipality, Limpopo Province.

Background: Management of patients suffering from tuberculosis (TB) after discharge from hospital plays a critical role in the cure rate of TB. Despite interventions developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to improve the cure rate, TB remains a worldwide health problem.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the views of professional nurses regarding the low TB cure rate in primary healthcare facilities of Greater Giyani Municipality in Limpopo Province, South Africa, with the aim of determining strategies that can be used to improve this low rate.