COVID-19 vaccine uptake and associated risk factors among first antenatal care attendees in Zambia, 2021-2022: A repeated cross-sectional study.

Pregnant women are considered a high-risk group for COVID-19, and a priority for vaccination. Routine antenatal care (ANC) provides an opportunity to track trends and factors associated with vaccine uptake. We sought to evaluate COVID-19 vaccine uptake among pregnant women attending ANC and assess the factors associated with vaccine in Zambia.

Enhancing economic multifunctionality without compromising multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality via forest enrichment.

Enriching tree species-poor and less productive forests by introducing economically valuable species is a strategy proposed for achieving multipurpose forest management. However, empirical evidence from managed and mature forests on the impact of this enrichment on ecological (multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality) and economic dimensions remains scarce, particularly when nonnative species are used. Here, we propose and test a framework that integrates economic multifunctionality, encompassing timber production-oriented goals and resistance against disturbances, with multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality in European beech forest stands enriched with conifers.

Modelling the impact of vaccination on COVID-19 in African countries.

The rapid development of vaccines to combat the spread of COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is a great scientific achievement. Before the development of the COVID-19 vaccines, most studies capitalized on the available data that did not include pharmaceutical measures. Such studies focused on the impact of non-pharmaceutical measures such as social distancing, sanitation, use of face masks, and lockdowns to study the spread of COVID-19.

Report from the child neurology education and training workshop at the International Child Neurology Congress 2024: Expert'saddressing the training gap.

This report summarizes the key findings of a workshop undertaken at the International Child Neurology Congress in 2024 by child neurologists with expertise in training education and invested colleagues. The workshop aimed to explore global issues which have impact on access to child neurology training. The major findings supported a great need for more training programs globally, that consensus is needed for the minimum standards of training, and that training programs can be strengthened via global health partnerships especially with collaborations from regions with more available resources.

Explaining socioeconomic inequality in food consumption patterns among households with women of childbearing age in South Africa.

The changing food environment shifts peoples' eating behaviour toward unhealthy food, including ultra-processed food (UPF), leading to detrimental health outcomes like obesity. This study examines changes in socioeconomic inequalities in food consumption spending between 2005/06 and 2010/11 in South African households with women of childbearing age (15 to 49) (WCBA). Data come from the 2005/06 and 2010/11 Income and Expenditure Surveys.

Spatial Risk Effects From Lions Compound Impacts of Prey Depletion on African Wild Dogs.

Prey depletion threatens many carnivore species across the world and can especially threaten low-density subordinate competitors, particularly if subordinates are limited to low densities by their dominant competitors. Understanding the mechanisms that drive responses of carnivore density to prey depletion is not only crucial for conservation but also elucidates the balance between top-down and bottom-up limitations within the large carnivore guild. To avoid predation, competitively subordinate African wild dogs typically avoid their dominant competitors (lions) and the prey rich areas they are associated with, but no prior research has tested whether this pattern persists in ecosystems with anthropogenically-reduced prey density, and reduced lion density as a result.

Perspectives of healthcare providers around providing family planning services to women living with HIV attending six HIV treatment clinics in Lusaka, Zambia.

While international guidelines recommend integration of family planning (FP) and HIV services, limited research has been done to explore how healthcare providers perceive the feasibility and utility of integrated services. To address this gap, we administered a standardized questionnaire to 85 providers from 6 HIV clinics in Lusaka, Zambia, before (April-May 2018) and after (May-June 2019) implementing an enhanced model of FP/HIV service integration. We tested for differences in FP knowledge, attitudes and practices between the two time periods with tests appropriate for paired observations.

Collaborative governance of an integrated system for collecting contributions for social health insurance, pension, and taxes from the informal sector: a synthesis of stakeholder perspectives.

Background: Many low-and middle-income countries have adopted social health insurance schemes. However, the collection of contributions from the large informal sector of these economies poses a significant challenge. Employing an integrated system of contribution collection from all relevant institutions may be cost-effective.

Pain Management and Sociology Implications: The Sociomedical Problem of Pain Clinic Staff Harassment Caused by Chronic Pain Patients.

Background: Patients with chronic pain often experience psychological issues. They may also exhibit harassing behaviors toward healthcare staff. This complex sociomedical issue necessitates increased attention.

Individual, community and health systems factors influencing time to notification of tuberculosis: situating software and hardware bottlenecks in local health systems.

Background: Despite several global interventions, tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of death affecting millions of people globally. Many TB patients either have no access to quality care or go undetected by national health systems. Several multilevel factors account for under-detection of persons with TB.

How to (or how not to) implement crowdsourcing for the development of health interventions: lessons learned from four African countries.

Crowdsourcing strategies are useful in the development of public health interventions. Crowdsourcing engages end users in a co-creation process through challenge contests, designathons or online collaborations. Drawing on our experience of crowdsourcing in four African countries, we provide guidance on designing crowdsourcing strategies across seven steps: deciding on the type of crowdsourcing strategy, convening a steering committee, developing the content of the call for ideas, promotion, evaluation, recognizing finalists and sharing back ideas or implementing the solutions.

The political economy of national health insurance schemes: evidence from Zambia.

Governments in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are increasingly considering the introduction of national health insurance scheme (NHIS) as a strategy to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) targets. The literature has widely documented the technical challenges associated with implementing UHC policies in LMICs but much less is known about the political process necessary to pass UHC legislation. In this article, we document the political economy issues surrounding the establishment of the Zambia NHIS in 2018.

Why does malaria transmission continue at high levels despite universal vector control? Quantifying persistent malaria transmission by Anopheles funestus in Western Province, Zambia.

Background: Some settings continue to experience a high malaria burden despite scale-up of malaria vector control to high levels of coverage. Characterisation of persistent malaria transmission in the presence of standard control measures, also termed residual malaria transmission, to understand where and when individuals are exposed to vector biting is critical to inform refinement of prevention and control strategies.

Methods: Secondary analysis was performed using data collected during a phase III cluster randomized trial of attractive targeted sugar bait stations in Western Province, Zambia.

Investigating drug residues in Mongolian milk using a newly developed method with high performance liquid chromatography and a photo diode array.

Despite the beneficial impacts of using drugs in animal husbandry, the risks of drug residues in animal products are a concern worldwide. Therefore, most countries have developed systems and methods to detect and monitor drug residues in animal products using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with mass spectrometry (MS). However, MS detectors are not available in all universities; thus, we developed a new method suitable for ultraviolet detection.

Family Planning, Reproductive Health, and Progress Toward the Sustainable Development Goals: Reflections and Directions on the 30th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development.

Investing in family planning and reproductive health—broadly defined as the services, policies, information, attitudes, practices, and commodities, including contraceptives, that help individuals achieve their fertility intentions—is integral to attaining many Sustainable Development Goals.

Global radiotherapy demands and corresponding radiotherapy-professional workforce requirements in 2022 and predicted to 2050: a population-based study.

Background: Addressing the challenge of cancer control requires a comprehensive, integrated, and global health-system response. We aimed to estimate global radiotherapy demands and requirements for radiotherapy professionals from 2022 to 2050.

Methods: We conducted a population-based study using data from the Global Cancer Observatory (GLOBOCAN) 2022 and predicted global radiotherapy demands and workforce requirements in 2050.

Molecular Epidemiology and AMR Perspective of Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Introduction: Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) persistently challenges public health in Africa, contributing substantially to the diarrhoeal disease burden. This systematic review and meta-analysis illuminate the distribution and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns of DEC pathotypes across the continent.

Methods: The review selectively focused on pathotype-specific studies reporting prevalence and/or AMR of human-derived DEC pathotypes from African nations, excluding data from extra-intestinal, animal, and environmental sources and studies focused on drug and mechanism experiments.

Antimicrobial stewardship situation analysis in selected hospitals in Zambia: findings and implications from a national survey.

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs are critical in combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In Zambia, there is little information regarding the capacity of hospitals to establish and implement AMS programs. The objective of this study was to conduct a baseline assessment of WHO core elements for an AMS program implementation in eight hospitals in Zambia.

Genotype x environment interaction and yield stability of soybean (Glycine max l.) genotypes in multi-environment trials (METs) in Nigeria.

Genotype × environment interaction (GEI) poses a critical challenge to plant breeders by complicating the identification of stable variety (ies) for performance across diverse environments. GGE biplot and AMMI analyses have been identified as the most effective and appropriate statistical techniques for identifying stable and high-performing genotypes across diverse environments. The objective of this study was to identify widely adapted and high-yielding soybean genotypes from Multi-Locational Trials (MLTs) using GGE and AMMI biplot analyses.