The aim of this study was to determine the compliance rate of medical officers in relation to obtaining informed consent from the consumer prior to a booking for elective surgery in the Western District Health Service, a regional hospital service in Western Victoria, Australia. Data on elective bookings was gathered from 1 February 2005 to 31 May 2005. Elective Request for Admission forms that ...

BACKGROUND In 2007, South Africa made family medicine a new speciality. Family physicians that have trained for this new speciality have been employed in the district health system since 2011. The aim of the present study was to explore the perceptions of district managers on the impact of family physicians on clinical processes, health system performance and health outcomes in the district hea...

BACKGROUND The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of alternative training strategies for increasing access to emergency obstetric care in Burkina Faso. METHODS Case extraction forms were used to record data on 2305 caesarean sections performed in 2004 and 2005 in hospitals in six out of the 13 health regions of Burkina Faso. Main effectiveness outcomes ...

Solanum lycopersicum represents an important dietary source of bioactive compounds including the antioxidants flavonoids and phenolic acids. We previously identified two genotypes (IL7-3 and IL12-4) carrying loci from the wild species Solanum pennellii, which increased antioxidants in the fruit. Successively, these lines were crossed and two genotypes carrying both introgressions at the homozyg...

BACKGROUND Improving timely immunisation is key to closing the inequitable gap in immunisation rates between Aboriginal children and non-Indigenous children. Aboriginal Immunisation Officers were employed in Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD), New South Wales (NSW), Australia, to telephone the families of all Aboriginal infants prior to the due date for their first scheduled vacc...

Background: The effectiveness and adequacy of occupational health and safety management system should be monitored and evaluated at organization level on a regular basis. Safety audit has a clear role in the development of organizations safety management systems. Internal safety audit is a method to appraise to the management the current status of occupational health and safety at workplace. Se...

BACKGROUND Malaria infection accounts for over one million deaths worldwide annually. India has the highest number of malaria deaths outside Africa, with half among Indian tribal communities. Our study sought to identify barriers to malaria control within tribal populations in malaria-endemic Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra. METHODS AND FINDINGS This qualitative study was conducted via focus...

Integration of leprosy control into the general health system is an essential element of a leprosy elimination strategy. In India, the process has been undertaken with the assistance of World Bank in a phased manner. In the first phase (2001-2002), 24 low/moderately endemic provinces for leprosy were targeted. Operational research was undertaken in these low/moderate endemic provinces to assess...

BACKGROUND Local governments are granted budgetary power in the Local Governments Act of the Republic of Uganda, which allows for local-level participation and flexibility in the allocation of financial grants channelled annually from central to local governments. The act prescribes a legal mandate to allocate public resources based on local priorities including the health needs of women compar...