Health professionals' experiences and views on obstetric ultrasound in Tanzania: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Obstetric ultrasound is considered important for determining gestational age, identifying single or multiple pregnancies, locating the placenta and fetal anomalies and monitoring fetal growth and pregnancy-related complications in order to improve patient management.

Objectives: To explore health professionals' perspectives on different aspects of obstetric ultrasound in Tanzania regarding self-reported skills in performing ultrasound examinations and what could improve access to and utilization of obstetric ultrasound in the clinical setting.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Association between Periodontitis and Hypertension among Adult Population in Rwanda.

: Mortality due to various non-communicable diseases, including hypertension, is increasing globally. Studies have reported that periodontitis, a chronic inflammatory disorder caused by oral pathogens, is a potential risk factor for hypertension. These pathogens can invade arterial walls, leading to vascular inflammation and endothelial dysfunction, which then increases the likelihood of developing hypertension.

Species Assembly of Highland Anuran Communities in Equatorial Africa (Virunga Massif): Soundscape, Acoustic Niches, and Partitioning.

The soundscape is a complex arrangement of sounds originating from animals and the environment. It is considered a reliable proxy for ecosystem niche structure at the community level. Acoustic communities of anuran species include advertising males, which compete in acoustic space for conspecific females.

"Successful Living" Among Adolescents With HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis.

The concept of successful living in the context of adolescents with HIV lacks clarity and is unexplored. Without a common understanding of successful living among adolescents with HIV (AWH) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), health care interventions focusing on this population may continue to fall short, resulting in avoidable morbidity and mortality. Therefore, this analysis used Rodgers Evolutionary Concept Analysis method to identify attributes, antecedents, consequences, and related concepts of successful living among AWH in SSA.

Incorporating basic periodontal screening into antenatal care services provided in Rwanda: A policy brief.

Background: Preterm birth, which is child delivery before 37 weeks of pregnancy, is the primary cause of perinatal mortality worldwide. Preterm birth remains a major public health challenge in Rwanda, affecting approximately 13.8% of birth.

Impact of postpartum maternal fever or hypothermia on newborn and early infant illness and death in Southwestern Uganda.

Background: Deaths occurring during the neonatal period contribute close to half of under-five mortality rate (U5MR); over 80% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Poor maternal antepartum and perinatal health predisposes newborns to low birth weight (LBW), birth asphyxia, and infections which increase the newborn's risk of death.

Methods: The objective of the study was to assess the association between abnormal postpartum maternal temperature and early infant outcomes, specifically illness requiring hospitalisation or leading to death between birth and six weeks' age.

Land use land cover change in the African Great Lakes Region: a spatial-temporal analysis and future predictions.

The African Great Lakes Region has experienced substantial land use land cover change (LULCC) over the last decades, driven by a complex interplay of various factors. However, a comprehensive analysis exploring the relationships between LULCC, and its explanatory variables remains unexplored. This study focused on the Lake Kivu catchment in Rwanda, analysing LULCC from 1990 to 2020, identifying major variables, and predicting future LULC scenarios under different development trajectories.

Availability of self-care products for sexual and reproductive health provided by community pharmacists in Rwanda: A cross-sectional study.

Access to and use of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services remain a global public health concern, particularly in developing countries. This study aimed to understand the attitudes and perceptions of pharmacists in Rwandan community pharmacies and to assess the availability of sexual and reproductive health products in these pharmacies.In a cross-sectional study conducted in Rwanda from 1 September 2023 to 30 November 2023, registered and licensed pharmacists from 864 community pharmacies were surveyed, employing a quantitative research approach.

Assessing the experiences of teenage mothers in accessing healthcare in Rwanda.

Teen mothers are more susceptible to the negative consequences of pregnancy, due to system-wide and socio-cultural barriers to accessing needed services, posing higher pregnancy complications and health risks to the babies and mothers. Understanding their lived experience can inform context-specific health programs and interventions that address their needs and improve the health outcomes. Twenty-three women who had delivered her first child before the age of 18 years were interviewed using semi-structured interview guide.

Achieving Equity Through Global Neurosurgery Research.

Since the release of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery report in 2015, there has been an increase in the number of published papers on global neurosurgery, gaining widespread support from major neurosurgery journals. However, there remains no consensus on what may be considered part of global neurosurgery literature. Here, we propose that global neurosurgery research encompasses all scholarly work that measure, explore, or address inequity in the care of neurosurgical disease.

Determinants of costs of human papillomavirus vaccine delivery in six low- and middle-income countries.

Evidence on determinants of vaccine delivery costs can inform program design and planning. Given the dearth of this evidence for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, we conducted an analysis to identify programmatic and operational factors that are statistically associated with variations in economic costs for HPV vaccine delivery, within and across six low- and middle-income countries. HPV vaccine program operations and cost data were collected from Ethiopia, Guyana, Rwanda, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Uganda.

Proline, a unique amino acid whose polymer, polyproline II helix, and its analogues are involved in many biological processes: a review.

Proline is a unique amino acid in that its side-chain is cyclised to the backbone, thus giving proline an exceptional rigidity and a considerably restricted conformational space. Polyproline forms two well-characterized helical structures: a left-handed polyproline helix (PPII) and a right-handed polyproline helix (PPI). Usually, sequences made only of prolyl residues are in PPII conformation, but even sequences not rich in proline but which are rich in glycine, lysine, glutamate, or aspartate have also a tendency to form PPII helices.

Effect of a digital school-based intervention on adolescent family planning and reproductive health in Rwanda: a cluster-randomized trial.

We conducted a cluster-randomized hybrid effectiveness-implementation study of CyberRwanda, a digital family planning and reproductive health intervention for Rwandan adolescents. Sixty schools were randomized 1:1:1 to control or to one of two implementation models-self-service (self-guided access on tablets) or facilitated (peer-led clubs plus tablet access) with no masking. Eligible participants were aged 12-19 years, in secondary school levels 1 or 2, and willing to provide consent or assent/parental consent and contact information for follow-up.

Building a High-Level Isolation Unit in Rwanda and Establishing a Training Program for the Medical Management of Patients With High-Consequence Infectious Diseases.

Rwanda is a country in East Africa, a region characterized by highly mobile populations and outbreaks of high-consequence infectious diseases occurring on a regular basis. To increase the level of outbreak preparedness in the region, the Rwandan government and the German Ministry of Health signed a joint agreement to construct a new high-level isolation unit in Rwanda, the first in East Africa, and implement a training program for Rwandan healthcare workers to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge for medical management of patients under high-level isolation conditions, including intensive care treatment. To better understand the scope and format of the planned training program, a needs assessment was performed based on findings from a standardized survey of 4 intensive care units in Rwanda as well as observations from 2 members of a German high-level isolation unit who completed clinical internships at Rwandan hospitals.

Nurses' Experience of Using an Electronic Medical Records - OpenMRS Module for the Management of Hypertension and Diabetes in Rwanda: A Qualitative Study.

The management of NCDs require a secure and continuous collection and use of patient data to improve care and treatment. The OpenMRS NCDs module was developed and piloted in three districts to ascertain the possibility of using it in early detection and management of Hypertension and Diabetes in Rwanda. This paper explored the user experience NCDs module of OpenMRS, an open sources EMR used in health centers of Rwanda.

Muzima Mobile Application for Screening Hypertension and Diabetes: A User Experience of the App Among Community Health Workers in Rwanda.

Mobile technology has become the leading utility in the social and well-being of people especially in low-resource settings. The use of mobile applications in healthcare promise to improve care and treatment. This study explored the user experience of muzima mobile application among community health workers in Rwanda.

Towards regional access to medicines: the development of the East African Community pooled procurement mechanism.

Introduction: The East African Community (EAC) has been facing challenges in ensuring access to affordable and quality-assured medicines. To address these problems, the EAC Partner States have been working on implementing an inter-country pooled procurement mechanism since 2005. However, with limited progress to date.

Cross-subsidies are a viable option to fund formal pit latrine emptying services: Evidence from Kigali, Rwanda.

Pit latrines are the most common household sanitation system in East African cities. Urbanisation reduces the space available for new latrines to be constructed when pits fill and they increasingly require emptying. But formal services that empty and transport sludge to safe disposal or treatment are often unaffordable to low-income households.

Psychometric evaluation of the affiliate stigma scale for caregivers of people with mental illness in Uganda.

Background: Affiliate stigma is common among caregivers of people with mental illness and impacts negatively on the caregivers' quality of life and their ability to care for the patients. Although there is evidence of affiliate stigma in sub-Saharan Africa, the psychometric properties of commonly used tools are not available in the African context. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate the factor structure of the affiliate stigma scale among caregivers of people with mental illness in southwestern Uganda.

Snakebite incidence and healthcare-seeking behaviors in Eastern Province, Rwanda: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Snakebite envenoming (SBE) is a potentially life-threatening event that can lead to severe physical, mental, and economic hardships, particularly in under-resourced regions like sub-Saharan Africa. In Rwanda, there have been no epidemiological assessments of SBE to guide the Ministry of Health in its efforts to reduce the burden. This study had two main objectives: first, to estimate the incidence of snakebites across districts, and second, to describe formal versus informal healthcare seeking behaviors among snakebite victims in Eastern Province, Rwanda in 2020.

Perinatal intimate partner violence among teen mothers and children's attachment disorders in Rwanda: potential mediating factors.

The alarming prevalence of teen mothers' exposure to perinatal intimate partner violence (IPV, 8.3-67%) and attachment disorders (ADs) among their children is a global concern, especially in sub-Saharan Africa with high teenage pregnancy rates. This study, therefore, aimed to examine the link between teen IPV and AD in their offspring.

Short-Term Training, a Useful Approach for Sustainable Pharmacovigilance Knowledge Development in Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda.

Continuous professional development among stakeholders involved in drug safety monitoring and surveillance is imperative in strengthening pharmacovigilance (PV) systems. The "Pharmacovigilance infrastructure and post-marketing surveillance system capacity building for regional medicine regulatory harmonization in East Africa" (PROFORMA) project aims to enhance the national PV infrastructure, post-marketing surveillance systems and clinical trial regulatory capabilities in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda. To achieve this, training, including short-term training (STT) activities, at various levels is required.