Critical barriers to sustainable capacity strengthening in global health: a systems perspective on development assistance.

Development assistance for health (DAH) is an important mechanism for funding and technical support to low-income countries. Despite increased DAH spending, intractable health challenges remain. Recent decades have seen numerous efforts to reform DAH models, yet pernicious challenges persist amidst structural complexities and a growing number of actors.

Lead levels of new solvent-based household paints in Zimbabwe and Botswana: A preliminary study.

Background: Lead paint remains a major potential source of lead poisoning globally, but there has been no documentation on lead content in solvent paints available on the markets in Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Aim: To determine the lead content of solvent-based paints available on the market in Zimbabwe and Botswana and identify a need for a larger study to inform policy.

Methods: This pilot study was conducted in Harare, Zimbabwe, and Gaborone, Botswana.

Clinical predictors of low CD4 count among HIV infected pulmonary tuberculosis clients: a health facility-based survey.

Objectives: The study aimed to determine the clinical and laboratory predictors of a low CD4+ cell count (<200 cells/microl) in HIV-infected patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB).

Design And Setting: A prospective cohort study on HIV-positive patients with smear-positive PTB attending an outpatient clinic in Zimbabwe.

Participants: Consecutively consenting HIV-positive adults, aged 18 years and over, who had positive sputum smears for acid-fast bacilli and were naïve to both antituberculosis drugs and ART.