Global Cleft Lip and Palate Outreach: A Google Trends Analysis

Understanding patient awareness of cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) and evaluating demand for necessary procedures may serve to better target future efforts in global outreach. We utilized internet search query data from Google Trends for the terms: “cleft lip,” “cleft palate,” “cleft lip and palate,” “cleft surgery,” and “cleft repair” from January 2004 to January 2021. Relative search volumes (RSV) recorded for the top 5 highest displaying countries and top 3 available regions within those countries were compared against global outreach by Operation Smile and Smile Train, as measured by the number of patients treated. World Health Organization (WHO) indicators were used to validate the RSV values for each country and better understand the current infrastructure and need for cleft care in those countries. Globally, there was an increase in RSV for the terms “cleft lip,” “cleft palate,” “cleft repair,” and “cleft surgery” between 2004 and 2021. For “cleft lip,” the countries with the highest displaying RSVs included: Ghana (100%), Zimbabwe (97%), Nepal (78%), the Philippines (64%), and Kenya (52%). Countries with high RSVs and moderate to high WHO indicators included Ghana, Kenya, India, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Countries with high RSVs and poor WHO indicators included Nepal and Pakistan. Some countries had specific regions with high search demand that are not currently targeted for global outreach. Using Google Trends’ data may help find more feasible locations and targeted care for efforts in global outreach with better patient awareness and turnout where demand for CL/P is increasing.

Assessment of antimicrobial use in private and government hospitals, a comparative study in central kerala, using who indicators

Background: Irrational use of antimicrobial can cause various unwanted and untoward events. It may diminish the quality of patient care, increase the cost of therapy, and involvement in various side effects. Thus, the appropriateness of antimicrobial use in hospitals plays a pivotal role in patient safety. Objective: To analyze and assess the prescribing pattern of antimicrobials in private and government hospitals as per the WHO indicators. Methodology: A prospective comparative observational study was carried out for 6 months, with the patient diagnosed with an infectious disease admitted to the medical ward of both the hospitals during the study period. The data obtained from the study sites were Compared and analyzed using WHO indicators described in WHO’s “How to Investigate Antimicrobial use in Hospitals: Selected Indicators, Feb 2012”. Results: The study involved 216 patients and the average number of antimicrobials prescribed was found to be 1.73 in a private hospital and 2.07 in the government hospital, average cost of antimicrobials was found to be 86.48 INR in private and 31.04 INR in the government hospital, average duration of antimicrobial treatment was 4.8 in private and 5.2 in the government hospital, and the percentage of antimicrobials prescribed in generic was 33.33% in private and 87.83% in the government hospital. Considering the spectrum of antibiotics, both private (94.7%) and government (88.8%) used broad-spectrum antimicrobials. In both hospitals, cephalosporins were the most frequently prescribed class of antimicrobials. Comparing the dosage of antimicrobials given, injection usage is at the highest in government (59.5%) as well as in the private hospital (68.4%). Conclusion: This study indicates that the average cost of antimicrobials was more in a private hospital than that in a government hospital and other indicators such as the number of antimicrobials per hospitalization, duration of antimicrobial treatment, and the percentage of generic antimicrobials prescribed were all found to be more in a government hospital. In both private and government hospitals broad-spectrum antimicrobials were widely used, with cephalosporin as the most prescribed class.

Eye clinic attendance at the olympic and paralympic games Rio 2016 and its correlation to the WHO indicators on eye health

ObjectivesTo evaluate athletes’ frequency of attendance at the eye clinic during the Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016 and to correlate it to WHO core indicators on progress in ophthalmology care in a country.MethodsFrequencies of athletes’ attendance at the eye clinic were calculated for each country. Countries were classified according to the World Bank income levels in high, upper-middle, low-middle or low-income country. Data on ophthalmology care for each country were derived from the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness atlas. Data were analysed in view of WHO indicators for each country: visual impairment prevalence considering presenting visual acuity <6/18 to ≥3/60 in the better vision eye; number of ophthalmologists per million people and the cataract surgical rate per year, per million population.ResultsThe athletes’ overall frequency of attendance in the eye clinic was 6.47%. Frequencies of attendance for high, upper-middle, low-middle or low-income country were 1.97%, 9.66%, 16.54% and 22.43%, respectively. A positive correlation was observed between the athletes’ attendance frequency of a country and its visual impairment prevalence (r=0.2290, p=0.0017). A negative correlation was observed between the athletes’ attendance frequency of a country and its eye health workforce (r=−0.2152, p=0.0026).ConclusionCountries with highest athletes’ frequencies of attendance were those that face barriers to eye care provision. These results reinforce the importance of the eye clinic service during the Olympic and Paralympic Games proving access to specialised care to athletes and members of delegation.

Efficiency of antituberculosis measures in the improvement of tuberculosis control in Ukraine

The study was aimed to estimate positive aspects and lacks of tuberculosis (TB) control in Ukraine on the basis of analysis of reports of antituberculosis dispensaries in 2012–2017 years. Positive changes in an epidemic situation on ТB in 2012–2017 were marked by an increase of the detectability percent of patients with ТB by sputum smear and culture, an increase of percent of clinical recovery of patients, reduction in ТB sick rate among medical workers, and, as a result, reduction of the incidence of all forms the first registered patients with ТB and pulmonary ТB, multidrugresistant tuberculosis (MR TB), reduction of the mortality and prevalence of all forms of active ТB among all population. It was established that the efficiency of antituberculosis measures was insufficient. In particular, the percent of prophylactic fluorography inspections of adults and children was too low as was low the level of scope the inoculation of children bellow 1 year and revaccination. The study revealed an unsatisfactory level of chemoprophylaxis; insufficiency of infectious control in establishments; efficiency of treatment of patients with pulmonary TB and patients with multidrugresistant tuberculosis falls short of to the WHO indicators at the height of percent of patients with the interrupted and failed treatment. The level of mortality and death rate remains high. Priority tasks for the achievement of aims of the new social program for tuberculosis control in Ukraine during the reform of the system of health protection to the patients with ТB are introduction of new models of treatment with an accent on ambulatory treatment, short courses of treatment and new preparations, patient-oriented approach for treatment of patients, providing of social support of patients on the stage of ambulatory treatment with the purpose of an increase of adherence of patient to treatment by attracting of civil society. Keywords: tuberculosis, antituberculosis measures, treatment, detection, prevention. For citation: Feshchenko YuI, Melnyk VM, Matusevych VH, Novozhylova IO, Bushura IV. Efficiency of antituberculosis measures in the improvement of tuberculosis control in Ukraine. Journal of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine. 2019;25(4):457–62.

Pattern of analgesic use in hospitalized children at a pediatric general ward in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: analgesic use is common in adults but their use in children has not been extensively studied. This observational study was envisaged to study prevalence and pattern of analgesic use in hospitalized children in pediatric general ward. Methods: 120 patients were included in the study. Disease was classified as per ICD-10 and medicines used were classified according to ATC classification. WHO indicators for rationality was used. Descriptive statistics was used to present the data i.e. percentage; proportions, frequency, mean and standard deviation using Microsoft excel worksheet. Result: A total of 791 drugs from different classes were prescribed to 120 patients with a mean of 6.6 + 2.68 drugs described per patient during their stay in the hospital. 81 analgesics were prescribed. 25 were prescribed as fixed dose combination. Paracetamol was the most commonly prescribed non steroidal anti-inflammatory agent. Keywords: analgesics, children, fixed dose combinations