Right ventricle pierced by a traditional sharp hair straightener: a case report.

The case presents a traumatic ventricular perforation of a girl, accidentally felt on a sharp instrument. The uniqueness of the case presented is due to the very high infrequency of injuries with this type of sharp object. The 7-year-old girl was transported to the hospital after accidentally falling on a sharp instrument. The child had no signs of heart failure. On opening the chest, it was found that the metal object was lodged in the right ventricle. Quickly proceeded to remove the object and suture the entry hole. After a short hospitalization, the child was discharged completely cured.

Right ventricular outflow tract tachycardia worsened during pregnancy.

We report the case of a 35 years old woman without underlying heart disease who was diagnosed with a right ventricular outflow tract tachycardia worsened during pregnancy. The diagnosis of ventricular tachycardia was made early in her pregnancy course but the patient had symptoms three months earlier. Her disease course was marked by rhythmic storms during the second trimester of pregnancy that led to three hospitalizations accounting for about two weeks in total. The combination of nadolol 80 mg and flecainide tablets 150 mg improved her rhythmic storms. Radiofrequency allowed a radical cure of this ventricular tachycardia. The patient is now asymptomatic 27 months after radiofrequency treatment.

Tuberculosis in developing countries: conditions for successful use of a decentralized approach in a rural health district.

INTRODUCTION: This article reports the results and the lessons learned from implementing the decentralized approach to tuberculosis (TB) detection and treatment, embedded with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) co-infection in health district. The objective was to increase the TB screening indicators in the district using the common ways for offering care to patients in health district. METHODS: Conducted from August 2006 to July 2007, this large-scale intervention using Non-experimental study Designs has implemented a decentralized approach for fighting against TB in Orodara Health District (OHD), Burkina Faso. Pretest-posttest design has been used for quantitative part using indicators in one hand, and postests-only design for the qualitative part in other hand. In the pretest-posttest design, the TB indicators from years before 2006 (from 2002 to 2005) were used as earlier measurement observations allowing examining changes over time. The decentralized approach was incorporated into the annual planning of the OHD. For the quantitative study design, indicators used were those from National TB Program in Burkina Faso: TB detection rate, incidence density of TB per 100,000 inhabitants per year, and HIV prevalence in incident TB cases with positive smears. Data entry and analysis employed Microsoft Access and Excel software. For the qualitative, in-depth interview was used in which a total of 16 persons have been interviewed. Discussions were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis using the computer-based qualitative software program named QSR NVIVO. RESULTS: There were a total of 99,259 outpatient visits during the study period: the7,345 patients (7.43%) presented with cough. Of the 7,345 patient having cough, 503 cases (6.8%) were declared chronic coughing. These 503 patients were screened for TB, including 35.59% whose coughing had lasted 10 to 15 days. We observed an increase in a measured variable was observed. The TB detection rate and incidence-density rate based on positive smears were 16.11% (11.00% in 2005) and 10.42 per 100,000 inhabitants per year (6.88 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2005), respectively. There were 29 patients positive for TB: 41.37% of these had cough lasting 10 to 15 days, 10.34% were also positive for HIV, and 68.97% were from rural areas. Health workers and patients reported satisfaction with the intervention. It was found that implementing a decentralized approach to TB prevention in rural areas is plausible and effective under some conditions: considering that health district system is functional; carefully designing the intervention for TB case management; setting up and implementing of decentralized approach including strong monitoring; and taking into account the all financing, community and volunteer involvement, evaluation of the cost savings from integrating specific donor funding, and being supported by regional and central levels including National TB program. CONCLUSION: The study has shown that TB detection rate can be increased by implementing a decentralized approach to primary care. When carefully implemented, a decentralized approach is a suitable approach to TB and HIV prevention in rural and inaccessible settings.

[Leadership and vision in the improvement of universal health care coverage in low-income countries]. / Leadership et vision exercée pour la couverture universelle des soins dans les pays à faible revenu.

In Burkina Faso, as in most developing countries, the operational level of the health system is made up of Health Districts (HDs), the activities of which are typically coordinated by the District Team (DT). Assessing the the core functions of DTs, as described by WHO, shows two important weaknesses. Firstly, instructions from "above" are often implemented rather passively: DTs tend not to display much leadership. Secondly, the current organisation, based on input financing and centralised planning, does not sufficiently promote either the vision or research functions of DTs. In this article, we report our experience in the Orodora HD in Burkina Faso, where the DT's leadership and vision proved to be essential ingredients for effective health action in the district. Our description of six interventions implemented between 2004 and 2008 shows how DT leadership and vision have improved outputs at the HD level. Until 2004, the district applied static health planning. The health system was insufficiently financed and performed poorly. Faced with this situation, the DT decided to set up several priority interventions based on health care access criteria and patient concerns, while respecting and contextualizing national norms and objectives. Six interventions were then implemented. The first was ensure that quality blood (meeting transfusion security norms) was available at the District Hospital (DH), by picking blood up from the regional blood transfusion center weekly. This speeded up care at the DH, reduced the number of cases referred to the regional hospital for transfusion, and reduced neonatal and maternal mortality. The second intervention sought to improve the skills of health workers in managing emergency cases and to improve relationships with the referral hospital through the reintroduction of counter-referral procedures. This led to a decrease in unnecessary referrals and also reduced the mortality rates of serious cases. The third intervention, by implementing a decentralized approach to tuberculosis detection, succeeded in improving access to care and enabled us to quantify the rate of tuberculosis-HIV co-infection in the HD. The fourth intervention improved financial access to emergency obstetric care by providing essential drugs and consumables for emergency obstetric surgery free of charge. The fifth intervention boosted the motivation of health workers by an annual 'competition of excellence', organised for workers and teams in the HD. Finally, our sixth intervention was the introduction of a "culture" of evaluation and transparency, by means of a local health journal, used to interact with stakeholders both at the local level and in the health sector more broadly. We also present our experiences regularly during national health science symposia. Although the DT operates with limited resources, it has over time managed to improve care and services in the HD, through its dynamic management and strategic planning. It has reduced inpatient mortality and improved access to care, particularly for vulnerable groups, in line with the Primary Health Care and Bamako Initiative principles. This case study would have benefited from a stronger methodology. However, it shows that in a context of limited resources it is still possible to strengthen the local health system by improving management practices. To progress towards universal health coverage, all core functions of a DT are worth implementing, including leadership and vision. National and international health strategies should thus include a plan to provide for and train local health system managers who can provide both leadership and strategic vision.