A Spatial Analysis of Tuberculosis Related Mortality in South Africa.

South Africa, with an estimated annual tuberculosis (TB) incidence of 360,000 cases in 2019, remains one of the countries with the largest burden of TB in the world. The identification of highly burdened TB areas could support public health policy planners to optimally target resources and TB control and prevention interventions. To investigate the spatial epidemiology and distribution of TB mortality in South Africa in 2010 and its association with area-level poverty and HIV burden.

Student travel health and the role of universities and health clinics in New Zealand to prevent imported infections: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Tertiary students are at risk of acquiring infectious diseases during overseas travel as they visit low-income countries, have low perceptions of risk and are unlikely to access travel health advice. Some will visit friends and relatives abroad, a group identified as disproportionately affected by imported infections. There is no national student travel health policy in NZ.

Imported infections: What information should be collected by surveillance systems to inform public health policy?

Background: International travel carries the risk of imported diseases, which are an increasingly significant public health problem. There is little guidance about which variables should be collected by surveillance systems for strategy-based surveillance.

Methods: Surveillance forms for dengue, malaria, hepatitis A, typhoid and measles were collected from Australia and New Zealand and information on these compared with national surveillance forms from the UK and Canada by travel health experts.

Imported malaria among people who travel to visit friends and relatives: is current UK policy effective or does it need a strategic change?

Background: The proportion of all imported malaria reported in travellers visiting friends and relatives (VFRs) in the UK has increased over the past decade and the proportion of Plasmodium falciparum malaria affecting this group has remained above 80% during that period. The epidemiological data suggest that the strategies employed in the UK to prevent imported malaria have been ineffective for VFRs. This paper attempts to identify possible reasons for the failure of the malaria prevention strategy among VFRs and suggest potential alternatives.

Factors affecting delay in seeking treatment among malaria patients along Thailand-Myanmar border in Tak Province, Thailand.

Background: Malaria is a major health problem in Thailand, especially in areas adjacent to the borders of Myanmar. Delay in seeking treatment is an important factor in the development of severe complications, death and the transmission of the disease. This study aimed to investigate factors affecting delays in seeking treatment of malaria patients.

"You're losing your Ghanaianess": understanding malaria decision-making among Africans visiting friends and relatives in the UK.

Background: In the UK, the majority of imported malaria infections occur in the London area among UK residents of African origin who travel to Africa visiting friends and relatives (VFRs). Effective malaria prevention measures are available but there is little understanding of the factors that enhance and constrain their use among VFRs.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with Africans resident in London who visited friends and relatives in Nigeria and Ghana (n = 20) and with African VFRs recently treated for malaria (n = 6).

Challenges facing providers of imported malaria-related healthcare services for Africans visiting friends and relatives (VFRs).

Background: In many non-malarious countries, imported malaria disproportionately affects Africans visiting friends and relatives (VFRs). Most previous research has focused on understanding the knowledge, attitudes and practices of these travellers, but has not examined the quality of prevention, diagnosis and treatment services provided. The aim of this study was to understand the perspective of providers of malaria-related healthcare services to VFRs about factors impacting on the quality of these and to make recommendations about improvements.

Barriers to malaria control in rural south-west Timor-Leste: a qualitative analysis.

Background: Malaria is an important health problem in Timor-Leste. Although funding has been provided to reduce the burden of this disease, few studies have investigated whether this has improved malaria-related knowledge, management of symptoms, and treatment in rural communities. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and practices undertaken in relation to all aspects of malaria control by members of two rural communities in Timor-Leste.

Does public subsidy of the cost of malaria chemoprophylaxis reduce imported malaria? A comparative policy analysis.

Background: Chemoprophylaxis is recommended for at-risk travellers visiting malaria endemic regions. The majority of travellers with imported malaria have not used this, and travellers visiting friends and relatives have the largest burden of malaria and the lowest compliance to chemoprophylaxis. In 1995, the UK's Department of Health (DH) implemented a policy to make travellers fully responsible for the cost when purchasing chemoprophylaxis.