scholarly journals HIV and AIDS Programmes in Zimbabwe: Implications for the Health System

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tafadzwa Chevo ◽  
Sandra Bhatasara

This paper analyzes the implications of HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, and care programmes on the health system in Zimbabwe. The programmes have been spearheaded by various stakeholders that include the public and private sectors, nongovernmental organizations, formal and informal institutions, and intergovernmental organizations. There has been a tremendous increase of the programmes as they adapt to local contexts, accommodate new funders, and changes in population attitudes, and expectations in the country. Through a comprehensive literature review, this paper focuses on Behaviour Change, the Antiretroviral Therapy, Home-Based Care, Prevention to Mother To Child Transmission and Voluntary Counselling and Testing programmes and services in relation to the components of the health system that include health service delivery, human resources, finance, leadership and governance, and the medical products and technologies. Thus far, the implications are uneven throughout the health system and there is need to integrate the HIV and AIDS programmes within the health system in order to achieve positive heath outcomes.

2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 43-52
Author(s):  
Richard Tomlinson

The background to this paper is the increasing interest in the relationship between housing and municipal services and HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this paper is to clarify what, precisely, one has in mind when thinking that housing and municipal services might prevent HIV infection and associated opportunistic infections. The focus is not on the socioeconomic dimensions but on the modes of transmission associated with specific opportunistic infections. That is, the paper first disputes the relevance of housing and services to HIV prevention, but then demonstrates that housing and municipal services are important for (a) the prevention of certain opportunistic infections to which people affected by HIV/AIDS are particularly vulnerable, and (b) for the provision of home-based care. In addition to the medical focus of the paper, there is attention to the empirical backdrop on the relation between housing, municipal services and HIV/AIDS, analysing survey findings regarding among whom and where HIV prevalence is highest, and projections regarding the extent of HIV infections and AIDS based on the World Health Organization clinical staging system. Using Johannesburg as a case study, it is demonstrated that the number of persons having AIDS is smaller than one might expect and also that the number is already declining, which has implications for the provision of home-based care. However, it is also shown that the number of households that lost one or several members is increasing rapidly. In this context, labour force surveys are employed to identify the impacts on specific categories of households. At this stage, a defining unknown is the scale, nature and location of these reconstituted households and what this means for housing policy. Finally, a feature of the research was the extent to which medical practitioners viewed housing as a quixotic sideline within the broader struggle for HIV prevention and the provision of treatment. In sum, the paper provides an argument for incorporating housing and municipal services into both HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment programmes.


Author(s):  
Elizabeth Adamson

This chapter presents historical overviews of in-home childcare in Australia, the UK and Canada. It discusses the policy trajectories across these countries within the context of early childhood education and care policy and migration policy. Particular attention is given to debates about how childcare policies and funding positioned home-based care arrangements – in both the caregiver and child’s home – across the public, private, informal and formal domains. In all three countries similar debates took place regarding the role of care versus education across the public and private, and formal and informal spheres. Dominant ideas about the care of young children being the responsibility of the family hindered the success of advocacy efforts, particularly by the feminist movement, for regulated, centre-based early childhood education and care. However, by looking at the details of the debates, pressures and actors through the lens of in-home childcare, contrasting attitudes are revealed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mouhamadou Faly Ba ◽  
Valéry Ridde ◽  
Amadou Ibra Diallo ◽  
Jean Augustin Diégane Tine ◽  
Babacar Kane ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTIntroductionIn mid-2020, due to the health system challenges from increased COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Health and Social Action in Senegal opted for contact management and care of simple cases at home. The study’s objective was to determine the acceptability of contact management, home care of simple cases of COVID-19, and its associated factors.MethodThis was a sequential mixed-method study. We collected data from June 11, 2020, to July 10, 2020, for the quantitative survey (N=813) and from August 24 to September 16, 2020, for the qualitative survey (N=30). We carried out a sampling strategy using marginal quotas at the national level. We collected data using a structured questionnaire in a telephone interview for the quantitative survey and using an interview guide formulated from the quantitative survey’s initial results for the qualitative data. We assessed acceptability using binomial logistic regression combined with content analysis.ResultsThe care of simple cases of COVID-19 at home was well accepted (78.5%). This result was justified for some (saturation of the health system) but not for others (risk of contamination). The use of home contact management was less accepted (51.4%), with risk limitation as the main reason given. The acceptability of home-based care for simple cases was positively associated with knowledge of the modes of transmission of the virus (ORaj: 1.55 [95%CI: 1.04,2.28]), regular research into COVID-19 (ORaj: 2.12 [95%CI: 1.45,3.12]), belief in the existence of treatment (ORaj: 1.82 [95%CI: 1.19,2.83]), and confidence in institutional information (ORaj: 2.10 [95%CI: 1.43,3.10]). The acceptability of home-based contact management was positively associated with knowledge of the modes of transmission of the virus (ORaj: 1.77 [95%CI: 1.27,2.48]), regular research for information on COVID-19 (ORaj: 2.39 [95%CI: 1.76,3.26]), and confidence in the government in the fight against the epidemic (ORaj: 1.51 [95%CI: 1.10,2.08]).ConclusionRegular information on the disease, knowledge of its mode of transmission and trust in institutions are factors in accepting COVID-19 management at the community level. Authorities should take these factors into account for better communication to improve the acceptability of home-based care.


2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (spe) ◽  
pp. 799-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Cyntia Paulin Baraldi ◽  
Zaira Prado Daud ◽  
Ana Maria de Almeida ◽  
Flavia Azevedo Gomes ◽  
Ana Márcia Spanó Nakano

This is a comparative and descriptive study of adolescent mothers who were attended in three maternities of the public health system and three private maternities in a city in São Paulo, Brazil, between 2000 and 2002. This study aimed to compare the profile of mothers attended in both systems. The database of Ribeirão Preto was used and 5,286 adolescent mothers between 10 and 19 years old were selected according to type of delivery, level of instruction, number of prenatal consultations and parity. We found that the users of the public health system had less prenatal consultations, lower level of education, higher parity and the vaginal delivery was most frequent. The users of the private health system, on the contrary, had more prenatal consultations, higher level of instruction, and primiparity and cesarean sections were more frequent.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. e223886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Cnop ◽  
Boris Martinez ◽  
Kirsten E Austad

A 28-year-old indigenous Guatemalan woman presented with 7 months of progressive weakness and numerous dermatological findings. She initially sought care within the free government-run health system and was treated with oral steroids for presumed dermatomyositis. Her symptoms progressed, including severe dysphagia, hypophonia and weakness preventing sitting. She was lost to follow-up in the public system due to financial and cultural barriers. A non-governmental organisation tailored to the needs of Maya patients provided home intravenous pulse dose methylprednisolone in the absence of first-line biologicals. With longitudinal home-based care, she achieved symptom free recovery. The rising burden of chronic non-communicable diseases highlights shortcomings in health systems evident in this case, including lack of provider capacity, limited infrastructure to test for and treat rare diseases and poor continuity of care. We provide potential solutions to help care delivery in low-resource settings adapt to the demans of chronic disease control with particular attention to social determinants of health.


Homeopathy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 108 (01) ◽  
pp. 002-011
Author(s):  
Divya Taneja ◽  
Anil Khurana ◽  
Anil Vichitra ◽  
Sarabjit Sarkar ◽  
Arun Gupta ◽  
...  

Background During primary teething, children suffer from running nose, mild fever, diarrhoea and other mild irritations and inflammations. A public health programme, ‘Homoeopathy for the Healthy Child’, was undertaken on a pilot basis focusing on promotion of healthy teething by provision of home-based care through six pre-identified homeopathic medicines for complaints commonly observed during primary teething. This article assesses the feasibility of this programme and reports the impact of this initiative on teething profile in children and episodes of diarrhoea and upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). Materials and Methods Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) were trained in child care and usage of a kit comprising six medicines, namely Calcarea phosphoricum 6X (CP), Ferrum phosphoricum 3X, Magnesium phosphoricum 6X, Belladonna 30C, Chamomilla 30C and Podophyllum 30C. Calcarea phosphoricum was given regularly to each participating child from 6 months to 1 year of age. Home-based care for diarrhoea, URTI and mild fever was provided by ASHAs using the other five medicines in the kit. Dentition pattern and diarrhoea/URTI episodes were recorded over a period of the next 12 months. Results Eleven thousand four-hundred and twenty-six children were followed up regularly. Amongst those who enrolled at 6-7 months, a larger proportion of children were approaching expected teething in successive months as compared with children enrolled at 12 months, thus indicating that teething delays, if any, were overcome during this period. Incidence of diarrhoea and URTI showed decrease in the months after enrolment. Children responded favourably to the medicines given by ASHAs at the time of diarrhoea/URTI episodes, and ASHAs expressed satisfaction with the programme. Conclusion An approach with regular use of CP and home-based care with homeopathy through health workers for common problems in teething children is acceptable to the community and enhances outreach of services to the public at large. Observations in terms of the healthy teething period may be further validated through studies of homeopathy with suitable comparator group.


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