Abstract Background: Undernutrition poses a serious health challenge in developing countries and Tanzania has the highest undernutrition burden of Eastern and Southern Africa. Poor infant and young child feeding practices have been identified as the main causes of undernutrition. As dietary diversity is a major requirement if children are to get all essential nutrients, it can thus be used as one of the core indicators when assessing feeding practices and nutrition of children. Therefore, ad...
Abstract Background: Infant and childhood mortality has remained high in developing countries like Nigeria with only marginal reductions achieved over the past two decades despite several interventions to reduce morbidity and mortality from the common causes of death in children. It is therefore important to examine the current pattern of mortality in children and compare it with previous reports from this centre so as to determine if newer interventions are needed or if these current interve...
ABSTRACT Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is increasingly becoming a global health concern and accounts for about 1.4 million deaths worldwide. Critical illness is commonly accompanied with variable degree of acute kidney injury. However, the true burden of AKI in terms of its magnitude, associated risk factors and outcome among critically ill children in Tanzania, is unknown due to limited Data. Objectives: This study was done to determine the prevalence, risk factors and the immediate...
Abstract: Background: Congenital abnormalities are defects present at birth and are increasingly becoming an important cause of neonatal mortality. They can also result in disability in majority of the survivors. Objective: To describe the pattern and outcome of major congenital abnormalities (MCA) in a tertiary hospital in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: The labour ward and labour ward theatre delivery records and admission records of the in-born ward of the neonatal unit of a tertiary hospital w...
ABSTRACT Background Early initiation of comprehensive sickle cell disease (SCD) care with interventions such as hydroxyurea (HU) and transfusion programs have significantly been related to reduced morbidity and mortality among children with SCD. Despite these proved benefits, utilization of hydroxyurea for control of SCD related complications among children with this condition in low-and middle-income countries remains low. Objective To determine the effect of Hydroxyurea Utilization on incid...
ABSTRACT Background: Children with the cerebral palsy present with lower urinary tract dysfunctions and poor personal hygiene which increases their risk for UTI. As a common infectious cause of morbidity in childhood, UTI may lead to renal scarring, and subsequently hypertension and end-stage kidney disease if it is not appropriately diagnosed and promptly treated. Objective: The study aimed to determine the prevalence, bacterial isolates, antibiotic sensitivity, and predictors of UTI among...
ABSTRACT Background: Tuberculosis is the most common opportunistic infection and the major cause of deaths among HIV and AIDS patients. Data reports highest prevalence of TB and HIV infection in sub Saharan Africa. Mycobacterium culture is the gold standard test for diagnosis of tuberculosis though not widely available, takes longer to get results and cannot help in management of patients hence clinical or scoring system is widely used to aid in diagnosis and management of TB in children and...
ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: With the antiretroviral therapy treat-all protocol among HIV-infected children and adolescents, monitoring of virological treatment failure and assessing the factors associated with virological treatment failure is mandatory in reducing morbidity, mortality and improving quality of life. This study aimed at determining prevalence and factors associated with virological treatment failure among children and adolescents on antiretroviral therapy. METHODS: Cross-sectional f...
ABSTRACT Background: There is slower progress on decreasing preterm deaths despite of essential newborn care intervention in Tanzania. About 24% of neonatal deaths in Tanzania occur due to prematurity related complications. The competence regarding Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) among postnatal mothers and associated health outcomes of preterm babies in central zone is unknown. Therefore the study was aimed to assess competence of postnatal mothers on Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) and health outcom...
ABSTRACT Background: Urinary Tract Infection is among the most common febrile illness affecting 150 million people worldwide. The etiology of urinary tract infection can vary from one place to another due to significant geographical variations. Paucity of information exists with regard to UTI, in terms of the prevalence, etiologies, clinical manifestation and antibiotic susceptibility in Dodoma region. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, aetiology, antibiotic sensitivity a...
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Pneumonia and Diarrhea are the most common childhood illnesses and are the leading cause of high childhood morbidity and mortality in Manyara Region. EBF is known to be able to protect infants against these illnesses, however not much is known about the breastfeeding practices in Manyara Region and how much it contributes to pneumonia and diarrhea. Objective: This study aimed at determining the association between EBF with pneumonia and diarrhoea among infants aged 0 to 6...
ABSTRACT Background: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a rapid growing public health problem in Zanzibar, Tanzania and Africa as well. Its long term complication is serous for both patients and family and may result to considerable burden to health care system. Caregiver’s adequate knowledge on glycemic control and caregiver who have diabetes care experience of 4 to 8 years have been found to be associated with poor glycemic control among children, however these have not been adequate expl...
ABSTRACT Background: The problem of healthcare-seeking behaviors is inadequate all over the world particularly in low and middle-income countries. Poor health-seeking behavior is reported to result in the delay in seeking appropriate care and increase the risk of morbidity and death in children. Despite all health consequences resulted from poor health-seeking behavior, the factors influencing it were unclear yet. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the determinants of healthcare-...
ABSTRACT Background: The problem of orphans is sensitive all over the world and causes challenge in caring and protection of their right and prosperity (UNICEF, 2017a). This study, intended to determine the effect of orphan institutionalization on child deprivation, child maltreatment and quality of life among the orphaned children in Zanzibar. Methods: Analytical cross-sectional study design was employed. Simple random sampling was used to select 374 participants from all five regions of Zan...
Abstract Background Necrotizing pneumonia and hyperleukocytosis, to the extent of that seen in leukaemia, is a rarely reported presentation. The commonest trigger of such a presentation is an inflammatory process caused by an overwhelming infection which leads to bone marrow irritation. However, the misdiagnosis of this clinical entity as leukaemia should be avoided at all costs so as to avoid the anxiety associated with a diagnosis of cancer, both to the patients and their families. Case pre...