BACKGROUND Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. District hospitals (DHs) play a central role in district-based health systems, and their relation with vertical programmes is very important. Studies on the impact of vertical programmes on DHs are rare. This study aims to fill this gap. Its purpose is to analyse the interaction between the National Tuberculosi...

Background: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among hazardous chemicals that may endanger food safety. In Nigeria, hides and skins of animals are edible and used in dishes. So, this study investigated the levels of PAHs in singed and unsinged hides and skins of animals slaughtered at three districts abattoirs (Obosi, Uga, and Kwata) in Anambra State, Nigeria. Methods: Using gas chrom...

BACKGROUND Decentralised health systems in Tanzania depend largely on funding from the central government to run health services. Experience has shown that central funding in a decentralised system is not an appropriate approach to ensure the effective and efficient performance of local authorities due to several limitations. One of the limitations is that funds from the central government are ...

Health management information systems (HMIS) produce large amounts of data about health service provision and population health, and provide opportunities for data-based decision-making in decentralized health systems. Yet the data are little-used locally. A well-defined approach to district-level decision-making using health data would help better meet the needs of the local population. In thi...

1 Departments of Emergency and Surgery, Emergency Surgery and Trauma Surgery Unit, Trauma Center, Maggiore Hospital–Bologna Local Health District, Bologna, Italy, 2 Department of Radiology, Maggiore Hospital–Bologna Local Health District, Bologna, Italy, 3 Department of Emergency and Transplant Surgery, S. Orsola Malpighi University Hospital, Bologna, Italy, 4 Addington Hospital, Durban, KwaZul...

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 Kenya, like many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has been affected by shortages of health workers in the public sector. Data on the rates and leading reasons for health workers attrition in the public sector are key in developing effective, evidence-based planning and policy on human resources for health. METHODS This study analysed data from a human resources health facilit...

INTRODUCTION Increasing life expectancy and longevity for people in many highly populated low- and middle-income countries has led to an increase in the number of older people. The population aged 60 years and over in Indonesia is projected to increase from 8.4% in 2005 to 25% in 2050. Understanding the determinants of healthy ageing is essential in targeting health-promotion programmes for old...

Editorials 78 Despite the current global and national momentum, 1 universal health coverage could remain an empty promise unless it is focussed on the provision of quality essential services to everyone. And this, in turn, will not happen without strengthening local health systems. More than 25 years ago, the framing was slightly different – primary health care instead of universal health cover...

To inform epidemic response strategies for the African meningitis belt after a meningococcal serogroup A conjugate vaccine was introduced in 2010, we compared the effectiveness and efficiency of meningitis surveillance and vaccine response strategies at district and health area levels using various thresholds of weekly incidence rates. We analyzed reports of suspected cases from 3 regions in Ni...