ABSTRACT Sexual violence is a serious public health, social and human rights problem affecting millions of people each year throughout the world. It affects both sexes but women and girls are the most affected. This study sought to determine prevalence and pattern of sexual violence, determinants of sexual violence and assess the knowledge level of young people on sexual violence in Naivasha District. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study where both quantitative and qualitative methods...
ABSTRACT Insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) are known to be highly effective in reducing malaria morbidity and mortality. However, there is scanty information on actual usage of owned nets which varies among households. Such variations may limit the potential effect of nets and cause spatial heterogeneity on malaria transmission. Likewise there is limited information and utilization of topographic parameters such as the shape of the underlying valley ecosystem in identification of high-risk...
ABSTRACT Background: Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a zoonotic and fatal illness. The fatality rates in outbreaks have ranged from 25% to 90%. An outbreak of EVD hit West Africa in 2014, especially Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone; claiming more than 2000 lives, including 881 health care workers. EVD caused about 378 cases and 192 deaths among healthcare workers in Liberia; Montserrado County was the hardest hit with over 90 cases and about 60 deaths. This research determined risk factors asso...
ABSTRACT East Coast fever (ECF) caused by Theileria parva and African animal trypanosomosis (AAT) caused by some Trypanosoma species are the most devastating cattle diseases that affect cattle productivity in Eastern, central and Southern Africa including Tanzania. A study was conducted in Monduli district in the Maasai steppe ecosystem of Tanzania to determine the prevalence of infections during the dry season when there is increased interaction between livestock and wildlife as a result of...
A B S T RA C T Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious viral animal disease that impact negatively on food security of livestock keepers in Africa due to its fast spread and death of small ruminants. The disease was first reported in West Africa and afterwards Asia, rest of Africa including East Africa and Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Lack of vaccination and effective application of diagnostic technologies to identify carriers has led to fast spread o...
ABSTRACT Livelihoods of the Maasai people in Northern Tanzania is sustained by Agriculture, specialising mostly in pastoral livestock production which is threatened by vector-borne diseases of which trypanosomosis is one of them. The vulnerability of these communities to trypanosomosis is enhanced by their interaction with wild animals due to their proximity to wildlife interface areas which are highly infested with ticks and tsetse flies. A study was carried out from June 2015 to March 20...
ABSTRACT The Livestock sector plays a vital role in the economies of many developing countries. It provides food, income, employment and possibly foreign exchange. Consumption and trade of livestock and livestock products in developing countries is rapidly growing however, animal diseases have a permanent threat to livestock keepersand major economic implications both through public and private costs of outbreaks. An example of such diseases is transboundary animal diseases (TADs). One of th...
ABSTRACT Emerging and re-emerging diseases in middle and low income countries particularly in agro-pastoral and pastoral communities pose major concern in animal and public health sectors which affect livelihoods and economy of communities. Improved surveillance system approaches could help to ensure prompt detection, reporting, recording and analyzing the incidence of diseases and response to outbreaks. A retrospective epidemiological study, was conducted to investigate common clinical sig...
ABSTRACT Porcine cysticercosis and human neurocysticercosis/taeniosis are two forms of a zoonotic disease caused by Taenia solium tapeworm. There is a perceived inefficient diagnosis and reporting of both forms of this parasitic disease in Tanzania. The aim of this study was to identify the challengesassociated with diagnosis and reporting of both forms of the parasitic disease in medical and veterinary sectors. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Babati, Mbulu, Kongwa, Mbinga and Ny...
ABSTRACT About 1.6 million Kenyans are living with HIV and AIDS while an estimated 1.5 million have already died of the virus. Marrying or looking for a lifetime soul mate or partner in the era of HIV and AIDS pandemic is therefore problematic, worrying and a nightmare. Due to changing lifestyles and limited time for interaction amongst age groups in any one given population, dating has been elevated to media platform amongst sexually active men and women. However, HIV and AIDS is a reality a...
ABSTRACT Substance abuse is a worldwide public health challenge. Globally, 210 million people abuse drugs resulting in approximately 263,000 deaths annually. An estimated 10-15 % of medical students risk substance abuse in their lifetime as they are not immune to the predisposing factors associated with the abuse. Substance abuse by students in medical training colleges (MTCs) may impact negatively on their health, future professional conduct and consequently, safety of patients. In Kenya, su...
ABSTRACT Trachoma is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, which produces a characteristic scarring of the inner surface of the eyelids. It affects all age groups but is more prevalent among young children, aged less than 9 years, who are the reservoirs of the disease. Trachoma is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world, accounting for more than 1.4% of the world‟s blindness. It‟s transmitted through direct contact of infected ocular material ...
ABSTRACT Immunization alone averts 2-3 million deaths annually. Immunization coverage of above 80% is need for herd immunity. Kenya’s immunization coveragefor childhood vaccines is at 68%, which is below herd immunity levels and continues to experience decline trajectory. Vaccine coverage is not uniform across the regions in the country and varies by type of vaccine. Urban informal settlements experiences low coverage, which leaves many children at risk of vaccine preventable diseases.The m...
Abstract Zimbabwe has a generalized HIV epidemic. Since 2015, the national ART program has been rolling out a suite of differentiated models of care in line with the 2013 WHO guidelines. One of the common models adopted by the country is Multi-Month Scripting (MMS) for stable ART patients. Insufficient evidence exists in the country around the contribution of MMS to patient level ART outcomes, almost two years after it was rolled nationally. A retrospective cohort study was conducted at the ...
ABSTRACT Malaria accounts for approximately 21% of all out-patient visits in Kenya annually. Accurate diagnosis is the key to proper treatment of the disease. In Kenya, parasitological testing using either microscopy or malaria rapid diagnostic test (mRDT) are the recommended malaria diagnostic methods. Microscopy is the „gold standard‟ for laboratory diagnosis of malaria, and is the primary method for malaria diagnosis in Kisumu county referral hospital, yet its diagnostic quality has ne...