Publications by authors named "V Nyongesa"
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge in olfactory dysfunction (OD), increasing the need for specialized care. Thi study explores the prevalence, characteristics, and clinical implications of OD in a specialized Smell & Taste Clinic established at the ENT-HNS department of the University Hospitals Leuven (UZ Leuven) in 2021.
Methodology: We included consecutive patients with OD in the observational longitudinal ProspeRo'Scent registry at UZ Leuven between September 2021 and April 2024.
In Kenya, approximately one in five girls aged 15-19 years old are pregnant or already a mother. Adolescent girls and young women experience significant mental health vulnerabilities during the pregnancy and postpartum periods, leading to poor antenatal and postnatal care attendance and inferior infant and maternal health outcomes. Pregnant adolescents often experience stigma and disenfranchisement due to their pregnancy status and at the same time lack access to mental health support within health settings, schools, religious institutions, and communities.
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- The pregnancy rate among adolescent girls in Kenya is one of the highest globally, leading to increased risks of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression during pregnancy and postpartum.
- Mental health is often neglected in health policy planning in Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the urgent need for effective mental health promotion and preventative services targeted at young people.
- Interviews with 13 health and social policymakers revealed six key themes about the mental health needs of pregnant and parenting adolescent girls, suggesting a need for policy review and implementation to enhance mental health support.
Article Synopsis
- Adolescent parenthood can lead to serious mental health issues like depression and substance abuse, highlighting the need for understanding these risks in pregnant teens, especially in Nairobi, Kenya.
- A survey of 153 pregnant adolescents revealed that 43.1% showed signs of depression, with key risk factors including school attendance, intimate partner violence, and family substance use.
- The study's limitations include its cross-sectional design and the lack of local validation for the depression screening tool used, stressing the need for improved mental health screening in health services for adolescents.
Background: Understanding mental health treatment preferences of adolescents and youth is particularly important for interventions to be acceptable and successful. Person-centered care mandates empowering individuals to take charge of their own health rather than being passive recipients of services.
Methods: We conducted a discrete choice experiment to quantitatively measure adolescent treatment preferences for different care characteristics and explore tradeoffs between these.