ABSTRACT Strategies to reduce HIV-related morbidity and mortality include scale up of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) and provision of broad spectrum antibiotics. Cotrimoxazole (CTX) is a widely available low cost antibiotic recommended by WHO in settings with high infectious disease prevalence for treatment and prevention of opportunistic infections and malaria in all HIV-infected individuals. With immune reconstitution following ART, the risk of opportunistic infections greatly diminishes. Con...
ABSTRACT The global burden of Diabetes is increasing. It is estimated by the year 2035 over 592 million people in the world will suffer from Diabetes. In Kenya, the prevalence of Diabetes is 4.56% while about 14% have impaired glucose metabolism. Since Diabetes is a complex disease affecting all areas of a person’s life, management by the patient remains central to the control and reduction of short term and long term complications. Diabetes self-management is a process in which the knowled...
ABSTRACT Strong preferences are revealed when patients fail to utilize their nearby facilities and seek health care services at another facility. Bypassing rates for childbirth has been documented in literature and it ranges between 30% and 70 %. At Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital similar observation is made with majority of the women delivering at the facility having bypassed their nearby county health facilities. Thus, the current study sought to identify the individual and health facili...
ABSTRACT Access to medicines is a multidimensional concept said to exist when patients have continuous availability of essential medicines at affordable prices and within a physical location that is accessible. With devolution of health services, access to essential medicines, including those for non-communicable disease is meant to improve. The study sought to determine the accessibility to essential medicines for the four major non communicable diseases in Trans-Nzoia County. The study was ...
ABSTRACT In the urban areas of the world, cockroaches constitute a public health threat in the ready-to-eat food premises because they spread diseases and contaminate food. Globally, food borne diseases transmitted by pests affect 600 million people annually with 48million in the USA. Developing countries have more cases but are underreported due to poor diagnostic facilities. In Botswana, more than 40% of cockroach population is in urban areas due to inadequate waste disposal and poor housin...
ABSTRACT It is estimated that about 10 million pregnant women could be infected with schistosomiasis in Africa. In Kisumu, schistosomiasis, soil transmitted helminths and malaria are endemic and studies done on school children and occupationally exposed adults had reported high prevalence levels of these infections. However, little was known about the prevalence of S. mansoni, geohelminths and malaria co-infections among pregnant women in Kisumu, Kenya. In order to determine the importance of...
ABSTRACT Despite a large body of knowledge on the causes, control measures, and availability of preventive chemotherapy (PCT), more that 650 million people throughout the world remain at risk of schistosomiasis. In Kenya, for example, 6 million people particularly in communities such as Migori that live close to the shores of Lake Victoria are at-risk of the disease. What is missing from previous research is the extent to which at-risk communities are knowledgeable about the disease including...
ABSTRACT Global estimate shows that Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) comprise at least 15 percent of all children less than 15 years. In Kenya, approximately 2.6 million (12 percent), of children below 18 years of age are OVC, with majority being in western Kenya. A rapid assessment, analysis and action planning process (RAAAP) revealed that out of an estimated 10.6 million OVC in seventeen (17) countries in sub-Saharan Africa, only 8.6% were receiving one essential service as health car...
ABSTRACT The health system in Mombasa County, Kenya, has been experiencing challenges in meeting its primary health care facilities annual targets in service delivery. This could be partly explained by continued skewing of health budget allocation in favour of tertiary and secondary care facilities, which absorb 70% of health expenditures, than the primary care units that provide the bulk of health services. However, there are limited studies that have examined financing factors influencing p...
ABSTRACT Global, regional and national production of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) has faced challenges of low yields and lack of crucial culture information. Farmers in Teso North Sub County recorded lower yields than expected in 2009 despite having been provided with inputs. Factors responsible for the low production had not been established and water quality was suspected to be among them. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of water quality on the growth of Nile Til...
ABSTRACT Bacteria, intestinal epithelium, and host innate immune responses are among the most critical interacting factors that determine the fate of bacterial infections and disease outcomes. Recent studies have described multiple infections with evidence of more severe diarrhoea and molecular detection methods, suggesting the association of certain pathogens and commensal bacteria with more aggressive Shigella infection. However, the interaction between Shigella flexneri and human intestina...
ABSTRACT Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first six months of infants’ lives is a cost effective intervention which can avert 13-15% of the 9 million deaths of children under 5 years old in resource poor settings. In areas where HIV prevalence is high, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, EBF has the added advantage of reducing the risk of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV. However, EBF rates have been shown to be lower in resource poor settings, than the World Health Organizatio...
ABSTRACT While cost, inadequate supplies and training remain the major barriers to manage Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) globally, the knowledge and skill of clinical officers (CO) to manage patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus (HTN&T2DM) remain poorly understood. This study investigated knowledge and skills of COs to care for patients with HTN&T2DM in rural healthcare facilities in Kisumu County, Kenya. The study determined ability to assess risk factors, examination, in...
ABSTRACT In Kenya knowledge of Family Planning (FP) is universal at 95% but this is not translating to utilization in Obunga slums. The rapid increase of population has got adverse effects on the economy as poverty levels are high at poverty incidence of 74% compared to 63% in Nyalenda A and B and 53% in Manyatta. Despite various strategies put by the government, in Obunga, unmet need is at 32% and Total Fertility Rate at 7%, the unplanned and unwanted pregnancies at 50% and 75% respectively....
ABSTRACT Serum electrolytes disorders in HIV patients in addition to resulting from disease induced fluids losses or accumulation could be attributed to a wide range of structural defects of cellular apparatus, tissue or organs of regulation. Most routine clinical investigation of impaired serum electrolytes in HIV infection limit attribution to body fluids charges and to primary organs of regulations. Such investigations do not address the likelihood of existence of multiple regulatory organ...