ABSTRACT
A qualitative study assessed the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic on Malian sexual and reproductive health services. Sexual and reproductive health (SRHR) providers in 25 purposively selected public health facilities in urban Bamako, rural Kita (western Mali) and Koutiala (southeast Mali) were interviewed. Disruptions within SRH supply, staffing, the prioritization of SRHR services, and patients' ability to seek, obtain and pay for services were reported across urban and rural settings at all levels of public health care, and by all cadres of SRHR providers. Most facilities in the study areas sustained some SRHR services at the height of the COVID-19 epidemic through innovative outreach and phone-based consultations. This study offers critical lessons for SRHR service provision during future waves of the pandemic or during periods of comparable emergency. © 2022, Women's Health and Action Research Centre. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
SARS-CoV-2 appeared in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The Guinean Government has taken important measures since the notification of the first case on March 12, 2020, in particular the follow-up of the recovered. The objective of this study was to describe the health and socio-economic problems faced by those who recovered from COVID-19 in Guinea. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study by simple random sampling in the five communes of Conakry and the regions of Kindia, Labe, and Kankan. Up to 330 COVID-19 survivors responded to the survey, 99% of whom were from the urban area. The male gender represented 70.3%, and the 19-38 age group was the most represented (61.82%). Pupils, students/ teachers, health personnel, and academics respectively represented 10.91%, 17.58%, and 62.73%. In this study, 70% were married against 28.18% single, and 8.79% moved after leaving the CTEPI. There is a statically significant link between stigma and job loss with a p-value of 0.002. Stigma was strongly associated with community residence, change in income, and post Covid-19 stress (P <0.05). The cured people who live in the communes of Ratoma, Matam, and Matoto are more in the process of being stigmatized than the others, with respectively 27.6%, 23.4%, and 19.1% (p = 0.001). These results show the need to support COVID-19 survivors from health, psychological and socio-economic perspectives. Copyright © 2022, Institute of Medico-legal Publication. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The main objective of this study was to focus on the microbiological aspects of acute respiratory infections (ARI) in children in Senegalese hospitals. The hospital frequency of acute respiratory infections in children was 3.7%. The average age was 23.7 months with extremes between 1 month and 144 months. Peaks of consultations were found in August, March and April with 22%, 15.6%, and 12.8% respectively. Fever, respiratory distress and pulmonary condensation syndrome were the main signs found on examination in our patients. Bacteriology was positive in 82.6% of the samples and the most frequently found bacteria were: Streptococcus pneumoniae in 38.5%, Haemophilus influenza b in 32.1% and Moraxella catarrhalis in 25.7%. Virological tests were positive in 80.7%. The viruses most frequently found in the samples were Rhinovirus in 33% of the samples, Human respiratory syncytial virus in 24.8% and coronavirus in 15.6%. On mycological examination, only 4 samples out of 109 were positive, i.e. 3.7%. The only fungi found was Pneumocystis with its two serotypes Pneumocystis jirovecii and Pneumocystis pneumonia in equal proportions. Among the diagnoses retained, pneumonia was predominant and found in 61 of the cases, with a prevalence of 59.9%, followed by acute bronchiolitis with a prevalence of 16.51%. The average length of hospitalization was 10 days. Lethality was 1.8% or 2 cases. Acute respiratory infections in children still remain a public health problem in developing countries, with children under 5 years of age being the most affected, hence the need to strengthen programs to combat ARI.