BACKGROUND Despite the development of context-specific guidelines, cryptococcal meningitis (CCM) remains a leading cause of death amongst HIV-infected patients. Results from clinical audits in routine practice have shown critical gaps in clinicians' adherence to recommendations regarding the management of CCM. AIM The aim of this study was to review the acute management of CCM at an urban dis...

INTRODUCTION In low resource settings, the vast majority of 'Person/people Living with HIV' (PLHIV/s) and inadequate healthcare delivery systems to meet their treatment and care needs, caregivers play a vital role. Home based caregivers are often unrecognized with limited AIDS policies and programs focusing on them. We explored the perceptions and norms regarding care being provided by family c...

BACKGROUND Families in high mortality settings need regular contact with high quality services, but existing population-based measurements of contacts do not reflect quality. To address this, in 2012, we designed linked household and frontline worker surveys for Gombe State, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Uttar Pradesh, India. Using reported frequency and content of contacts, we present a method for es...

PURPOSE to analyze the association of the mother's age, the perinatal outcome and the delivery route. METHODS information about all the patients attended at the Service of Obstetrics and Gynecology of a tertiary university hospital in Maranhão, from July to December 2006, was analyzed. Patients have been allocated in three groups: adolescents (10 to 19 years old), adults (20 to 34 years old),...

BACKGROUND The Egyptian government is considering embarking on a new wave of health sector reform. Although primary care is seen as central to the anticipated reforms, little is known about the current morbidity and utilization patterns in Egyptian publicly funded primary care. We conducted this survey study of patient encounters to describe the demographic characteristics of patients attending...

BACKGROUND Social support theory and observational risk factor studies suggest that increased antenatal psychosocial support could prevent post-natal depression. We used empirical knowledge of risk and protective factors for post-natal depression not employed previously in order to develop and evaluate an antenatal preventive intervention. METHODS We conducted a pragmatic randomized controlle...

BACKGROUND: South Africa is currently focusing strongly on human resource development. The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the quality of nursing service and care in three health districts in the KwaZulu Natal Province. To identify deficiencies which could be addressed by education and training, it might be useful to measure the quality of care given by nurses. METHODS: From M...

The child-bearing events are normal physiological processes in the body of the woman and embryo/foetus/baby. Many changes in the internal and external environments of the family take place, simultaneously with these normal processes. These changes lead to the development of certain tasks and responsibilities that must be successfully accomplished during the postnatal period. A description of th...

BACKGROUND parturients assisted by a speech therapy care service. AIM to characterize the parturient population assisted by the Speech Therapy Care Service, who were participating of the second phase of the Kangaroo Mother Method, in a school maternity, reference for high risk cases, in 2006. METHOD retrospective analytical descriptive study by means of the analysis of 204 medical registers...