Adolescent school retention post COVID-19 school closures in Kenya: A mixed-methods study.

This mixed methods study investigated factors associated with school retention among marginalized adolescents in four different settings in Kenya, following COVID-19 school closures. Logistic regressions were used to examine factors associated with school retention in 2022 among 1798 adolescent students aged 10-19 in 2020. Qualitative data from 89 in-depth interviews (64 adolescents aged 11-19 and 25 parents), and 21 key informants were thematically analysed.

The Economic Costs of Tobacco Related Illnesses in Kenya.

Objective: To estimate the economic costs of selected tobacco-related illnesses (TRI) in Kenya in 2022.

Research Design And Methods: This study was conducted in 2 phases. Phase 1, conducted between 2021 and 2022, entailed conducting a cross-sectional study conducted in 4 national public referral hospitals in Kenya.

Determinants of Willingness to Pay for Fecal Sludge Management Services and Knowledge Gaps: A Scoping Review.

Achieving universal access to safely managed sanitation services is one of the Sustainable Development Goal 6 targets (SDG6.2). The cost and availability of services to ensure the safe management of on-site sanitation, such as pit latrines and septic tanks, can be major barriers for poor households.

Health service utilisation during the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020: a multicountry empirical assessment with a focus on maternal, newborn and child health services.

Introduction: There are concerns about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the continuation of essential health services in sub-Saharan Africa. Through the Countdown to 2030 for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health country collaborations, analysts from country and global public health institutions and ministries of health assessed the trends in selected services for maternal, newborn and child health, general service utilisation.

Methods: Monthly routine health facility data by district for the period 2017-2020 were compiled by 12 country teams and adjusted after extensive quality assessments.

Carotid Atherosclerosis, Microalbuminuria, and Estimated 10-Year Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Importance: Carotid atherosclerosis and microalbuminuria are associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) but are understudied in sub-Saharan Africa.

Objective: To evaluate the association of carotid atherosclerosis and microalbuminuria with 10-year ASCVD risk in middle-aged sub-Saharan African individuals.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study conducted analyses of baseline data from the African-Wits-INDEPTH (International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries) genomic study (AWI-Gen).

Population genomics of Escherichia coli in livestock-keeping households across a rapidly developing urban landscape.

Quantitative evidence for the risk of zoonoses and the spread of antimicrobial resistance remains lacking. Here, as part of the UrbanZoo project, we sampled Escherichia coli from humans, livestock and peri-domestic wildlife in 99 households across Nairobi, Kenya, to investigate its distribution among host species in this rapidly developing urban landscape. We performed whole-genome sequencing of 1,338 E.

Poor cardiovascular health is associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in apparently healthy sub-Saharan African populations: an H3Africa AWI-Gen study.

Background: The cardiovascular health index (CVHI) introduced by the American Heart Association is a valid, accessible, simple, and translatable metric for monitoring cardiovascular health in a population. Components of the CVHI include the following seven cardiovascular risk factors (often captured as life's simple 7): smoking, dietary intake, physical activity, body mass index, blood pressure, glucose, and total cholesterol. We sought to expand the evidence for its utility to under-studied populations in sub-Saharan Africa, by determining its association with common carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT).

Mapping 123 million neonatal, infant and child deaths between 2000 and 2017.

Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2-to end preventable child deaths by 2030-we need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends.

Health disparities across the counties of Kenya and implications for policy makers, 1990-2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016.

Background: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 provided comprehensive estimates of health loss globally. Decision makers in Kenya can use GBD subnational data to target health interventions and address county-level variation in the burden of disease.

Methods: We used GBD 2016 estimates of life expectancy at birth, healthy life expectancy, all-cause and cause-specific mortality, years of life lost, years lived with disability, disability-adjusted life-years, and risk factors to analyse health by age and sex at the national and county levels in Kenya from 1990 to 2016.

Variation in the quality and out-of-pocket cost of treatment for childhood malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia: Community and facility based care in rural Uganda.

Background: A key barrier to appropriate treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia (MDP) in children under 5 years of age in low income rural settings is the lack of access to quality health care. The WHO and UNICEF have therefore called for the scale-up of integrated community case management (iCCM) using community health workers (CHWs). The current study assessed access to treatment, out-of-pocket expenditure and the quality of treatment provided in the public and private sectors compared to national guidelines, using data collected in a large representative survey of caregivers of children in 205 villages with iCCM-trained CHWs in mid-Western Uganda.

The evolution of non-communicable diseases policies in post-apartheid South Africa.

Background: Redressing structural inequality within the South African society in the post-apartheid era became the central focus of the democratic government. Policies on social and economic transformation were guided by the government's blueprint, the Reconstruction and Development Programme. The purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of non-communicable disease (NCD) policies in South Africa and the extent to which the multi-sectoral approach was utilised, while explicating the underlying rationale for "best buy" interventions adopted to reduce and control NCDs in South Africa.

Influence of the WHO framework convention on tobacco control on tobacco legislation and policies in sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: The World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, enforced in 2005, was a watershed international treaty that stipulated requirements for signatories to govern the production, sale, distribution, advertisement, and taxation of tobacco to reduce its impact on health. This paper describes the timelines, context, key actors, and strategies in the development and implementation of the treaty and describes how six sub-Saharan countries responded to its call for action on tobacco control.

Methods: A multi-country policy review using case study design was conducted in Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, South Africa, and Togo.

Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV-1 Coinfection in Two Informal Urban Settlements in Nairobi, Kenya.

Background: HIV-1 and Hepatitis B and C viruses coinfection is common in Sub-Saharan Africa due to similar routes of transmission and high levels of poverty. Most studies on HIV-1 and Hepatitis B and C viruses have occurred in hospital settings and blood transfusion units. Data on Hepatitis B and C viruses and HIV-1 coinfection in informal urban settlements in Kenya are scanty, yet they could partly explain the disproportionately high morbidity and mortality associated with HIV-1 infections in these slums.

The health and well-being of older people in Nairobi's slums.

Background: Globally, it is estimated that people aged 60 and over constitute more than 11% of the population, with the corresponding proportion in developing countries being 8%. Rapid urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), fuelled in part by rural-urban migration and a devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic, has altered the status of older people in many SSA societies. Few studies have, however, looked at the health of older people in SSA.