scholarly journals Outcomes of Advanced Malignant Melanoma in a South African Public Health Sector Cohort: The Urgent Need for Effective Therapy

Author(s):  
Thulo Molefi

Abstract Background: Immunotherapy and molecularly targeted therapy have revolutionised the treatment of malignant melanoma however for South Africas public health sector patient population these treatment modalities are far out of reach and chemotherapy remains the only treatment option. Aim: To evaluate the outcomes of advanced melanoma and determine the need for therapies other than conventional chemotherapy in South Africas public health sector. Setting: The Department of Medical Oncology Steve Biko Academic hospital (SBAH) Pretoria South Africa. Methods: Files of patients with advanced malignant melanoma managed at SBAH from 01 January 2009 to 31 December 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Results: One hundred files meeting the inclusion criteria were analysed 24 with regional (stage III) and 76 with metastatic (stage IV) disease. 23 (96%) patients with regional disease didnt receive adjuvant therapy and had a median time to progression (mTTP) of 12 months (95%CI; 8.9-15.0). Within the metastatic melanoma cohort 34 (79.1%) patients received chemotherapy and had a median overall survival (mOS) of 5 months (95% CI; 4.3-5.6) while patients that didnt receive chemotherapy had a mOS of 2 months (95% CI; 0.8-3.1) (p=0.213). Conclusion: These results reaffirm the impotent effects of chemotherapy in treating malignant melanoma and it is imperative that South Africas public health sector expands its armamentarium against this lethal disease.

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tafadzwa Dhokotera ◽  
Julia Bohlius ◽  
Adrian Spoerri ◽  
Matthias Egger ◽  
Jabulani Ncayiyana ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Betty Mwingira ◽  
Ros Dowse

The patient information leaflet (PIL) is recognised as playing a key role in informing patients about their medicines. The objectives of this research were to evaluate the readability and understanding of a PIL for the first-line ARV (antiretroviral) regimen available in the South African public health sector, and investigate its acceptability in the target Xhosa population. Opsomming Daar word algemeen aanvaar dat die pasiëntinligtingsblaadjie (PIB) ‘n sleutelrol speel in die oordra van inligting ten opsigte van medikasie aan pasiënte. Die doelwitte van hierdie navorsing was om die leesbaarheid en begrip van ‘n PIB vir die eerste-linie antiretrovirale (ARV) regimen wat in die Suid-Afrikaanse openbare gesondheidsektor beskikbaar is, te evalueer, en om die aanvaarbaarheid daarvan in ‘n teiken-Xhosabevolking te ondersoek. *Please note: This is a reduced version of the abstract. Please refer to PDF for full text.


10.29007/vpdt ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tope Samuel Adeyelure ◽  
Billy Mathias Kalema

Health systems in South African comprises of both the private sector and the public sector, run by the government. Majority of the population access health services through public clinics and hospitals. Public health sectors are understaffed, with inadequate resources, especially in rural areas. Information and communication technology and its applications can be seen as a way forward to counteract some of the challenges faced in public health sectors. Telemedicine can be tool to assist in bridging the gaps in this regard. Telemedicine is health-care delivery concept that enables distant to be examined by medical practitioners using telecommunications technologies. Therefore, this research study aimed to investigate factors that influences users’ readiness to accept telemedicine in South African public health sectors environment. To achieve this objective, this study followed a positivism paradigm, supported by the quantitative research approach. Organization and Environment (in TOE framework) constructs, technology compatibility (in model of information technology implementation), perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use (in Technology Acceptance Model, (TAM))guided the development of hypotheses and their testing for this study. The findings reveal that technology, environment, organization, information quality, and security are factors that inform pre-implementation of telemedicine in South African public health sector.


2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1047-1057 ◽  
Author(s):  
Immo Kleinschmidt ◽  
Arthi Ramkissoon ◽  
Natashia Morris ◽  
Zonke Mabude ◽  
Bronwyn Curtis ◽  
...  

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