International organizations Partners In Health (PIH), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Interactive Research and Development (IRD) and their financial partner UNITAID started in April 2015 the endTB project, a partnership aimed at radically changing the management of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
Category Archives: Research
New treatments and approaches to Tuberculosis: 4th Tuberculosis symposium
MSF in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Armenia organized in february 2015, the 4th TB symposium dedicated to the new regimens and treatment approaches specifically focused on Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Find the presentations on the symposium websitehere
The main risk factors for MDR-TB are social determinants of health
Factors associated with primary transmission of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis compared with healthy controls in Henan Province, China
Wei-Bin Li, Yan-Qiu Zhang, Jin Xing, Zhen-Ya Ma, Ya-Hong Qu and Xin-Xu Li, Infectious Diseases of Poverty 2015, 4:14
Findings from this study showed that being single, earning a low income, having mental stress, lacking medical insurance, and suffering from a chronic debilitating disease were potential risk factors associated with primary MDR-TB. However, risk factors of nosocomial transmission and close contact were not found.
Community based interventions for the prevention and control of tuberculosis
Infectious Diseases of Poverty is an open access peer-reviewed journal publishing articles around essential public health questions relating to infectious diseases of poverty.
Abstract
In 2012, an estimated 8.6 million people developed tuberculosis (TB) and 1.3 million died from the disease. With its recent resurgence with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); TB prevention and management has become further challenging. We systematically evaluated the effectiveness of community based interventions (CBI) for the prevention and treatment of TB and a total of 41 studies were identified for inclusion. Findings suggest that CBI for TB prevention and case detection showed significant increase in TB detection rates (RR: 3.1, 95% CI: 2.92, 3.28) with non-significant impact on TB incidence. CBI for treating patients with active TB showed an overall improvement in treatment success rates (RR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.11) and evidence from a single study suggests significant reduction in relapse rate (RR: 0.26, 95% CI: 0.18, 0.39). The results were consistent for various study design and delivery mechanism. Qualitative synthesis suggests that community based TB treatment delivery through community health workers (CHW) not only improved access and service utilization but also contributed to capacity building and improving the routine TB recording and reporting systems. CBI coupled with the DOTS strategy seem to be an effective approach, however there is a need to evaluate various community-based integrated delivery models for relative effectiveness.
Keywords: Community-based interventions; Tuberculosis; DOTS; integrated delivery; CHWs
http://www.idpjournal.com/content/3/1/27?utm_campaign=&utm_medium=BMCemail&utm_source=Teradata
Des interventions infirmières et des sages-femmes pour la prévention des maladies non transmissibles (NCDs)
Nombreuses interventions existent pour pour faire face aux maladies non transmissibles (Non-Communicable Diseases ou NCDs en anglais) et celles-ci sont bien connues.
Afin d’ intensifier l’action, la participation des infirmières et des sages-femmes, qui représentent la plus grande catégorie de professionnels de la santé dans la plupart des pays, est essentielle.
L’expérience montre que les interventions issues des soins infirmiers et obstétricaux pour les NCDs peuvent aller au-delà de la prévention et du traitement et qu’elle peuvent inclure la promotion de la santé.
Ce document, publié par l’OMS, présente les interventions infirmières et des sages-femmes pour la prévention des NCDs et le rôle que celles-ci jouent au niveau politique, de la recherche, du plaidoyer, de l’éducation et dans la pratique.
Enhancing nursing and midwifery capacity to contribute to the prevention, treatment and management of noncommunicable diseasesHuman Resources for Health Observer – Issue No. 12
Répondre à la pénurie mondiale de professionnels de la santé à travers le E-learning
Sur mandat de l'Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS), des chercheurs de l'Imperial College de Londres ont mené une revue systématique de la littérature afin d'établir des données probantes à propos du E-Learning en tant que méthode d'apprentissage pour la formation de base des professionnels de la santé. Les résultats, tirés d'un total de 108 études , ont montré que par l'apprentissage E-learning (en ligne et hors ligne) les élèves acquièrent des connaissances et des compétences aussi bien ou mieux par rapport à l'enseignement traditionnel. Selon cette recherche, le E-learning pourrait permettre à des millions d'étudiants autour du monde de se former en tant que infirmiers/ères ou médecins
Looking at the impact of SORT-IT for health programmes
In order to evaluate the impact of the SORT-IT initiative, Zachariah and colleagues assessed the changes in health policies and practice following the publications of the module participants.
74% of the studies assessed (65 out of 88 ) brought an effect on policy and practice in one of the following domains: changes in program implementation, adaptation of monitoring tools or changes of existing guidelines.
Rony Zachariah et al. Research to policy and practice change: is capacity building in operational research delivering the goods? Tropical Medicine & International Health. Volume 19, Issue 9, pages 1068–1075, September 2014
SORT-IT: adapting to overcome the challenges
Kumar et al,Operational research capacity building using ‘The Union/MSF’ model: adapting as we go along. Res Notes. 2014; 7(1): 819. Published online Nov 19, 2014.
SORT-IT initiative outcomes
The Union reported on three publications about the results of the SORT-IT initiative
- After the courses, 62% of participants completed a new research project; 50% published another paper; and 43% facilitated at other operational research courses. A significant proportion of participants continue to engage in operational research after completing a course, providing evidence of the long-term value of this capacity building model.
- 74% of the studies produced a reported effect that included changes to programme implementation, adaptation of monitoring tools and changes to existing guidelines.
SORT-IT: public health professionals are asking for it!
When I started writing in this blog I posted a couple of notes related to the development of operational research. A few month later, here I am with a success story!
SORT-IT (Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative) is a training model designed by The Union and MSF, who joined with the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases(TDR) at the World Health Organization (WHO) to work toward spreading operational research skills, in order to encourage public health professionals all over the world (and especially in developing countries) to design, implement and publish research outcomes capable to feed national health programs and thus improve health services for people all over the world.
Ramsay, Harries, Zachariah et al.,The Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative for public health programmes, Health Action, vol. 4 no. 2, published 21 June 2014