Prevalence of HIV/AIDS and psychiatric disorders and their related risk factors among adults in Epworth, Zimbabwe.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the prevalence of HIV infection, neuropsychiatric disorders, psychiatric symptoms/signs, alcohol use/misuse, CD4 cell counts and risk factors in adult patients. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Epworth, which is about 15 km on the southeastern part of Harare, Zimbabwe. SUBJECTS: Two hundred subjects were included in the study out of which six were excluded beacause of HIV-1 indeterminate results. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A convenience sample of 200 subjects recruited in a cross-sectional study in Epworth, Zimbabwe. Six subjects had indeterminate HIV-1 antibody results and were excluded from the study. The remaining 194 subjects of whom 101 (52.1%) knew about their sero-status and were consecutively recruited, whereas, 93 (47.9%) did not know about their sero-status and were recruited by a systematic random sampling method (1-in-3). They were then interviewed about neuropsychiatric disorders using BPRS, MADRS, AUDIT and MINI Mental State Test, including the risk factors related to HIV infection. After ELISA tests' results, the two groups were combined and then categorised into HIV positive (n=115) and HIV negative (n=79) subjects. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence, neuropsychiatric disorders, increased CD4 cell counts and risk factors associated with HIV infection. RESULTS: The findings were that the overall point prevalence of the HIV infection was 59.3% (115/194). Comparative analyses between seropositive and seronegative HIV/AIDS subjects showed: over two thirds (71.3%) of the HIV positive subjects suffered from psychiatric disorders, more than those with HIV negative 44.3% (OR=3.12, 95% CI=1.64-5.95, P=0.0002), and subjects aged 35 years and less were mostly HIV seronegatives (n=77.2%, OR=2.34, 95% CI=1.18-4.75, P=0.014). The overall prevalence of alcohol use/misuse was 41 (21.1%), with higher prevalence rate among HIV positive subjects, 28 (24.3%) than those who were HIV negative, 13 (16.5%). The commonest psychiatric symptoms/signs (P<0.05) were emotional withdrawal, depressed mood, suspiciousness, apparent sadness, reduced sleep and suicidal thoughts (especially among women). CONCLUSION: There is very high point prevalence of HIV/AIDS and psychiatric disorders, including a moderate prevalence rate of alcohol use/misuse in this less affluent community that warranted intervention.

Caregivers' perceptions and experiences of 'kangaroo care' in a developing country.

The widespread use of 'kangaroo care' is yet to be realized despite strong evidence to suggest that this method of preterm care is safe, effective and affordable. We need to understand users' perception of this method of care. We studied, through focus group discussions, caregivers' experiences and perceptions of this method in a tertiary level hospital of a developing country. We conclude that, in this hospital, caregivers preferred kangaroo care to conventional methods. Communities' awareness of this method of care and its advantages must be improved.

The cost of home-based care for HIV/AIDS patients in Zimbabwe.

From a study on the cost and quality of community home-based care (CHBC) for HIV/AIDS patients in Zimbabwe, programme and household costs were estimated. Interviews, using a structured questionnaire, were held with 60 patients and caregivers sampled from six types of established CHBC schemes. Detailed cost information was collected from four home care programmes, two urban and two rural. The cost of a home visit in the two urban programmes studied was estimated to be Z$129 (US$16) in one, and Z$183 (US$23) in the other. In one of the two rural schemes, the cost of a home visit was Z$313 (US$38), in the other this was Z$343 (US$42). A large proportion of these costs were not of direct benefit to the patients, as approximately 56-75% of the total cost per home visit was spent getting to the patient. The costs of a home visit in a rural home-based care programme corresponded to the costs of 2.7 inpatient days in a district hospital. The family cost of caring for a bedridden AIDS patient over a three-month period was estimated to be between Z$556-841. Caregivers spent as much as 2.5-3.5 hours a day on routine patient care. The programme costs are high, and schemes do not generally assess effectiveness, nor cost-effectiveness. The high cost of home visits leads to less frequent visits, leaving a larger part of both the burden and the cost of care to the families and the patients.

Concepts of mental illness and medical pluralism in Harare.

The Focus Group Discussions (FGD) described in this paper are the first step of a study aiming to develop an 'emic' case-finding instrument. In keeping with the realities of primary care in Zimbabwe, nine FGD were held with 76 care providers including 30 village community workers, 22 traditional and faith healers (collectively referred to as traditional healers in this paper), 15 relatives of patients and 9 community psychiatric nurses. In addition to the general facets of concepts of mental illness, three 'etic' case vignettes were also presented. A change in behaviour or ability to care for oneself emerged as the central definition of mental illness. Both the head and the heart were regarded as playing an important role in the mediation of emotions. The types of mental illness described were intimately related to beliefs about spiritual causation. Angered ancestral spirits, evil spirits and witchcraft were seen as potent causes of mental illness. Families not only bore the burden of caring for the patient and all financial expenses involved, but were also ostracized and isolated. Both biomedical and traditional healers could help mentally ill persons by resolving different issues relating to the same illness episode. All case vignettes were recognized by the care providers in their communities though many felt that the descriptions did not reflect 'illnesses' but social problems and that accordingly, the treatment for these was social, rather than medical. The data enabled us to develop screening criteria for mental illness to be used by traditional healers and primary care nurses in the next stage of the study in which patients selected by these care providers on the grounds of suspicion of suffering from mental illness will be interviewed to elicit their explanatory models of illness and phenomenology.