scholarly journals ASCP's Partners for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 8s-8s
Author(s):  
Danny A. Milner ◽  
Blair Holladay

Abstract 38 A primary goal of any health care system should be to attain universal access for all patients within a catchment area. The cancer care model requires that physicians encountering patients who they suspect of having a malignancy have access to a system that ensures rapid, accurate, and reliable pathology for primary diagnosis of cancer. Sub-Saharan Africa faces immense challenges in providing adequate coverage. Each region, country, and district has unique obstacles to overcome when meeting the health needs of the population. The American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP), in partnership with the White House Office of Science Technology Policy and the Clinton Global Initiative, recently launched a $26.5 million multi-year initiative. The initiative begins with assessment of potential countries with the greatest need--including collaboration and capacity program building with local officials and staff--to deploy full service pathology infrastructure for eligible countries to strategically meet their population needs. Working in parallel and together, steering committees for Diagnostics and Technology, Care and Treatment, In-Country Medical Education, Bioethics, and Monitoring & Evaluation have focused on each potential country to optimize success. The maximal intervention includes deployment of automated histopathology systems and integrated whole slide imaging systems. Imaging systems are linked through a customized laboratory information system to a dedicated team of pathologists from the United States. This long-term project will roll out to 10 or more countries in Africa as well as Haiti. An overview of the project will be presented as well as experiences data from countries launched to date. AUTHORS' DISCLOSURES OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: No COIs from either author.

Significance Trump's statements on foreign policy have vexed the leaders of countries allied with the United States, particularly NATO members and in East Asia. Both Clinton and Trump have sought to distinguish their approach to foreign policy from that of President Barack Obama. However, the next president will face structural constraints on a dramatic overhaul of the US national security architecture. Impacts The unknown quality of Trump's foreign policy advisers could lead to erratic policymaking. Washington's ability to promote nuclear restraint in international institutions is likely to diminish. US allies' uncertainty will probably encourage greater national expenditure on defence procurements. A Trump victory would likely undermine international climate governance arrangements. Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America policy is likely to be set by lower-level policy officials than the immediate White House circle.


2021 ◽  
pp. bmjsrh-2020-200944
Author(s):  
Celia Karp ◽  
Shannon N Wood ◽  
Georges Guiella ◽  
Peter Gichangi ◽  
Suzanne O Bell ◽  
...  

IntroductionEvidence from health emergencies suggests COVID-19 will disrupt women’s sexual and reproductive health (SRH). In sub-Saharan Africa, which experiences the highest rates of unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion globally, COVID-19 is projected to slow recent progress toward universal access to contraceptive services.MethodsWe used longitudinal data collected from women at risk of unintended pregnancy in Burkina Faso (n=1186) and Kenya (n=2784) before (November 2019–February 2020) and during (May–July 2020) COVID-19 to quantify contraceptive dynamics during COVID-19; examine sociodemographic factors and COVID-19 experiences related to contraceptive dynamics; and assess COVID-19-related reasons for contraceptive non-use. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to examine correlates of contraceptive dynamics amid COVID-19.ResultsMost women did not change their contraceptive status during COVID-19 (68.6% in Burkina Faso and 81.6% in Kenya) and those who did were more likely to adopt a method (25.4% and 13.1%, respectively) than to discontinue (6.0% and 5.3%, respectively). Most women who switched contraceptives were using methods as or more effective than their pre-pandemic contraception. Economic instability related to COVID-19 was associated with increased contraceptive protection in Burkina Faso but not in Kenya. Altogether, 14.4% of non-contraceptive users in Kenya and 3.8% in Burkina Faso identified COVID-19-related reasons for non-use.ConclusionsThe vast majority of women at risk of unintended pregnancy did not change their contraceptive status during COVID-19, and more women adopted than discontinued methods. A minority of women reported COVID-19-related reasons for non-use, underscoring the importance of expanding safe modes of service delivery during health crises.


2017 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. E52-E59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sikolia Wanyonyi ◽  
Charles Mariara ◽  
Sudhir Vinayak ◽  
William Stones

AbstractThe potential benefits of obstetric ultrasound have yet to be fully realized in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), despite the region bearing the greatest burden of poor perinatal outcomes. We reviewed the literature for challenges and opportunities of universal access to obstetric ultrasound and explored what is needed to make such access an integral component of maternity care in order to address the massive burden of perinatal morbidity and mortality in SSA. Original peer-reviewed literature was searched in various electronic databases using a ‘realist’ approach. While the available data were inconclusive, they identify many opportunities for potential future research on the subject within the region that can help build a strong case to justify the provision of universal access to ultrasound as an integral component of comprehensive antenatal care.


2018 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. S155 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Grover ◽  
M. Narasimhamurthy ◽  
R. Bhatia ◽  
C. Benn ◽  
K. Fearnhead ◽  
...  

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 796-796
Author(s):  
Samuel L. Katz

Drs Terry and Schneider raise legitimate questions regarding changes in polio immunization recommendations. In response to the former, although two doses of inactivated polio vaccine provide humoral immunity that will protect an individual against central nervous system invasion by wild or revertant attenuated polioviruses, they do not provide intestinal immunity, a valued asset of oral polio vaccine (OPV). Because we live in a global community where jet transportation enables one to move from a polio-endemic area to a polio-free area in less than one day, the introduction of wild polio viruses from sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia poses a legitimate threat and concern to those who wish to maintain community protection, in addition to individual protection, against possible reintroduction of wild virus to the United States.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Sutton ◽  
John Butterworth

While governments and development partners focus on improving community and utility-managed water supplies to ensure access for all, hundreds of millions of people are taking actions to supply their own water. In the WASH sector household investment in construction and improvement of facilities is widely employed in sanitation but in water similar efforts are ignored. Recognition of the contribution of self-supply towards universal access to water and its full potential, is hampered by a lack of data, analysis and guidance. This well-reasoned source book highlights the magnitude of the contribution of self-supply to urban and rural water provision world-wide, and the gains that are possible when governments recognise and support household-led supply development and up-grading. With limited public finances in low- (and many middle-) income countries, self-supply can fill gaps in public provision, especially amongst low-density rural populations. The book focuses on sub-Saharan Africa as the region with the greatest predicted shortfall in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal for water. Household supplies can be created, or accelerated to basic or safely managed levels, through approaches that build on the investment and actions of families, with the availability of technology options and cost-effective support from the private and public sectors. The role of self-supply needs greater recognition and a change in mindset of governments, development partners and practitioners if water services are to be extended to all and no-one is to be left behind.


2020 ◽  
pp. 135-164
Author(s):  
Dan Royles

This chapter describes the work of The Balm in Gilead, which grew out of the efforts of Pernessa Seele, an immunologist at Harlem Hospital, to organize local Black faith leaders to address AIDS through the Harlem Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS. As Seele trained African American clergy to incorporate AIDS education into their ministry, she also confronted entrenched homophobia in Black religious institutions. Accordingly, The Balm in Gilead designed programs that would help churches accept and include gay members. In 2001, Seele contracted with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to extend her work with Black churches to sub-Saharan Africa, setting up programs in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania. She argued that because of Black people’s particular relationship with church and faith, the approach that The Balm in Gilead had developed in the United States would work in Africa as well. At the same time, this work intersected with a growing interest in addressing “global AIDS” among U.S. leaders, including Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who saw the spread of the disease in Africa as a growing threat to international security.


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