Economic Evaluation of User-Fee Exemption Policies for Maternal Healthcare in Burkina Faso: Evidence From a Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.

Objectives: The reduction and removal of user fees for essential care services have recently become a key instrument to advance universal health coverage in sub-Saharan Africa, but no evidence exists on its cost-effectiveness. We aimed to address this gap by estimating the cost-effectiveness of 2 user-fee exemption interventions in Burkina Faso between 2007 and 2015: the national 80% user-fee reduction policy for delivery care services and the user-fee removal pilot (ie, the complete [100%] user-fee removal for delivery care) in the Sahel region.

Methods: We built a single decision tree to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the 2 study interventions and the baseline.

Social ecological factors affecting substance abuse in Ghana (West Africa) using photovoice.

Introduction: Substance abuse is an important public health issue affecting West Africa; however, there is currently a dearth of literature on the actions needed to address it. The aim of this study was to assess the risks and protective factors of substance abuse in Ghana, West Africa, using the photovoice method.

Methods: This study recruited and trained 10 participants in recovery from substance abuse and undergoing treatment in the greater Accra region of Ghana on the photovoice methodology.

Prevalence and factors associated with overweight and obesity among rural and urban women in Burkina Faso.

Introduction: Low- and middle-income countries, including Burkina Faso, are facing increasing urbanization with health challenges related to nutrition transition that impact body weight change. This study reported the prevalence and factors associated with overweight/obesity among women living in rural and urban Burkina Faso.

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis using data from the Burkina Faso 2013 WHO STEPwise survey.

Prevalence of wasting and associated factors among 6 to 23 months old children in the Sahel Region of Burkina Faso.

Introduction: Despite the efforts of nutrition stakeholders in Burkina Faso to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices, the country is still struggling to stem undernutrition. Wasting, or acute malnutrition, is the form of malnutrition that has the most harmful short-term consequences for children. The objective of our study was to estimate the prevalence of wasting in children aged 6-23 months in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso and to identify its associated factors.

Specific slow tests are not mandatory in patients with extremely short standard (3.2 km/hr 10% slope) test durations during exercise oximetry.

Aim: To compare the transcutaneous oxygen pressure results observed in patients with severe walking limitation during standard procedures (3.2 km/hr, 10% slope) versus during a test performed at a low speed (2 km/hr, 10% slope).

Methods: In 31 patients, the decrease from rest of oxygen pressure (DROP) index was measured on both buttocks, both thighs and both calves during two consecutive tests on treadmill.

Patients' preferences of cutaneous leishmaniasis treatment outcomes: Findings from an international qualitative study.

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a disease that often affects exposed skin areas and may heal leaving lifelong scars. Patients' expectations from treatment are rarely considered in drug development for CL. An initiative aiming to address shortcomings in clinical trial design and conduct for CL treatments involving the researchers' community is on-going.

HIV treatment response among female sex workers participating in a treatment as prevention demonstration project in Cotonou, Benin.

Objectives: Female sex workers (FSWs) play a key role in HIV transmission in West Africa, while they have limited access to antiretroviral therapy (ART). In line with UNAIDS recommendations extending ART to all HIV-infected individuals, we conducted this demonstration project on immediate treatment as prevention (TasP) among FSWs in Cotonou, Benin. We report data on treatment response and its relation to adherence, as well as on ART-resistant genotypes.

Long-term immunogenicity and immune memory response to the hepatitis B antigen in the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine in African children: a randomized trial.

RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine contains the hepatitis B virus surface antigen and may thus serve as a potential hepatitis B vaccine. To evaluate the impact of RTS,S/AS01 when implemented in the Expanded Program of Immunization, infants 8-12 weeks old were randomized to receive either RTS,S/AS01 or a licensed hepatitis B control vaccine (HepB), both co-administered with various combinations of the following childhood vaccines: diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis- type b, trivalent oral poliovirus, pneumococcal non-typeable protein D conjugate and human rotavirus vaccine. Long-term persistence of antibodies against the circumsporozoite (CS) protein and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) were assessed, together with the immune memory response to the HB antigen following a booster dose of HepB vaccine.

In vivo/ex vivo efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate-amodiaquine as first-line treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria in children: an open label randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso.

Background: Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) is recommended to improve malaria treatment efficacy and limit drug-resistant parasites selection in malaria endemic areas. 5 years after they were adopted, the efficacy and safety of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ), the first-line treatments for uncomplicated malaria were assessed in Burkina Faso.

Methods: In total, 440 children with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria were randomized to receive either AL or ASAQ for 3 days and were followed up weekly for 42 days.

Occurrence of phlebitis related to peripheral venous catheterization in the emergency services of the Souro Sanou National Teaching Hospital in Burkina Faso.

Patients must receive high-quality and safe health care. Peripheral venous catheterization (PVC) exposes patients to complications, mostly phlebitis. This study investigated the incidence of phlebitis and its PVC-related risk factors among patients in the medical and surgical emergency departments of the Souro Sanou University Hospital Center (CHUSS) in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.

Serological profile of hepatitis B in children after the introduction of its vaccination in Burkina Faso.

Viral hepatitis B is a public health issue. We establish the children serological profile of hepatitis B in Bobo-Dioulasso, six years after the introduction of hepatitis B vaccine into the Expanded Program on Immunization. This was a descriptive study of prospective data collection carried out in the Department of Pediatrics and the laboratory of virology of the Centre MURAZ of Bobo-Dioulasso between March 2013 and May 2013.

Experimental hut evaluation of DawaPlus 3.0 LN and DawaPlus 4.0 LN treated with deltamethrin and PBO against free-flying populations of Anopheles gambiae s.l. in Vallée du Kou, Burkina Faso.

Background: In view of widespread pyrethroid resistance in malaria vectors in Africa, two long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) incorporated with a synergist, piperonyl butoxide (PBO), DawaPlus 3.0 (deltamethrin + PBO in the roof panel; deltamethrin alone in the side panels) and DawaPlus 4.0 (deltamethrin + PBO in all panels), were evaluated in an experimental hut trial in a rice growing irrigated area in Burkina Faso.

Impact of Baseline Fatigue on a Physical Activity Intervention to Prevent Mobility Disability.

Objectives: Our aim was to examine the impacts of baseline fatigue on the effectiveness of a physical activity (PA) intervention to prevent major mobility disability (MMD) and persistent major mobility disability (PMMD) in participants from the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) study.

Design: Prospective cohort of individuals aged 65 years or older undergoing structured PA intervention or health education (HE) for a mean of 2.6 years.

Clinical and epidemiologic characteristics associated with dengue during and outside the 2016 outbreak identified in health facility-based surveillance in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Background: In Africa, the magnitude of dengue virus (DENV) transmission is largely unknown. In Burkina Faso, several outbreaks have been reported and data are often based on findings from outbreak investigations.

Methods: To better understand dengue epidemiology and clinical characteristics in Burkina Faso, a fever surveillance study was conducted among patients aged 1-55 years, who presented with non-malarial febrile illness at five primary healthcare facilities in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from December 2014 to February 2017, encompassing a 3-month dengue outbreak in September-November 2016.

Correction to: Responding to policy makers' evaluation needs: combining experimental and quasi-experimental approaches to estimate the impact of performance based financing in Burkina Faso.

Due to an error introduced during copyediting of this article [1], there are two corrections about the Figs. 1. The caption of Fig.

Suboptimal infant and young child feeding practices in rural Boucle du Mouhoun, Burkina Faso: Findings from a cross-sectional population-based survey.

Introduction: In Burkina Faso in 2016, 27% and 8% of children under-5 were estimated to suffer from stunting and wasting respectively. Here, we report on infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in rural areas of the Boucle du Mouhoun region.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional population-based survey was performed in 2017 in a representative sample of mothers of children aged 6 to 23 months.

Transactional sex among men who have sex with men participating in the CohMSM prospective cohort study in West Africa.

Although the HIV epidemic is generalized in West Africa, some population groups such as men who have sex with men (MSM), especially those engaged in transactional sex (TS), are thought to be particularly more vulnerable to HIV than others. However, few data are available to help identify their health-related needs with a view to implementing targeted prevention interventions. To fill this knowledge gap, we aimed to characterize MSM reporting TS (MSM-TS) and to identify factors associated with their sexual practices using data from the prospective cohort study CohMSM, which was conducted in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Togo.

Impact of 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine on Pneumococcal Meningitis, Burkina Faso, 2016-2017.

Background: In 2013, Burkina Faso introduced 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) into the routine childhood immunization program, to be administered to children at 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age. We evaluated the impact of PCV13 on pneumococcal meningitis.

Methods: Using nationwide surveillance, we gathered demographic/clinical information and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) results for meningitis cases.

Evaluation of the Impact of Meningococcal Serogroup A Conjugate Vaccine Introduction on Second-Year-of-Life Vaccination Coverage in Burkina Faso.

Background: After successful meningococcal serogroup A conjugate vaccine (MACV) campaigns since 2010, Burkina Faso introduced MACV in March 2017 into the routine Expanded Programme for Immunization schedule at age 15-18 months, concomitantly with second-dose measles-containing vaccine (MCV2). We examined MCV2 coverage in pre- and post-MACV introduction cohorts to describe observed changes regionally and nationally.

Methods: A nationwide household cluster survey of children 18-41 months of age was conducted 1 year after MACV introduction.

Impact of the addition of azithromycin to antimalarials used for seasonal malaria chemoprevention on antimicrobial resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Objective: A trial was conducted in Burkina Faso and Mali to investigate whether addition of azithromycin to the antimalarials used for seasonal malaria chemoprevention reduces mortality and hospital admissions of children. We tested the sensitivity of nasal isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae obtained during this trial to azithromycin and other antibiotics.

Methods: Azithromycin or placebo was administered monthly, in combination with the antimalarials used for seasonal malaria chemoprevention, for four months, over the annual malaria transmission seasons of 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Responding to policy makers' evaluation needs: combining experimental and quasi-experimental approaches to estimate the impact of performance based financing in Burkina Faso.

Background: The last two decades have seen a growing recognition of the need to expand the impact evaluation toolbox from an exclusive focus on randomized controlled trials to including quasi-experimental approaches. This appears to be particularly relevant when evaluation complex health interventions embedded in real-life settings often characterized by multiple research interests, limited researcher control, concurrently implemented policies and interventions, and other internal validity-threatening circumstances. To date, however, most studies described in the literature have employed either an exclusive experimental or an exclusive quasi-experimental approach.

Supporting evidence for a human reservoir of invasive non-Typhoidal Salmonella from household samples in Burkina Faso.

Background: Salmonella Typhimurium and Enteritidis are major causes of bloodstream infection in children in sub-Saharan Africa. This study assessed evidence for their zoonotic versus human reservoir.

Methods: Index patients were children with blood culture confirmed Salmonella infection recruited during a microbiological surveillance study in Nanoro, rural Burkina between May 2013 and August 2014.

Liver retinol estimated by C-retinol isotope dilution at 7 versus 14 days in Burkinabe schoolchildren.

Unlabelled: Vitamin A status assessment is not straightforward. Retinol isotope dilution (RID) testing requires time for the tracer dose to mix with the total body stores of vitamin A (TBS). Researchers are interested in shortening the time interval between tracer administration and follow-up blood draws, and in re-examining current assumptions about liver mass for calculation of total liver vitamin A reserves (TLR, in µmol/g liver).