African journal of primary health care & family medicine
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Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med · Jun 2020
Service-learning in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: Emerging lessons from the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of Botswana.
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted many lives worldwide. Training programmes in academic institutions have also been affected by the pandemic. Teaching and learning family medicine and public health medicine in the COVID-19 era require adjustments to training activities. ⋯ The department collaborated with the Ministry of Health and Wellness as well as the District Health Management teams in the national response to the pandemic as essential service providers. The increased demands for service provision were balanced with educational opportunities for trainees during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Including structured ongoing reflections for trainees involved in the COVID-19 response helps to connect service and the academic curriculum.
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Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med · Jan 2020
Measuring the quality of primary care in national health surveys: Lessons from Brazil.
South Africa started to lead the cross-culturally validation and use of the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT) in Africa, when Professor Bresick filled a gap, as this continent was until then the only one that had never used it in evaluation of primary health care facilities until 2015. ⋯ We believe that IBGE innovation with the Ministry of Health can encourage South Africa to establish a similar partnership with its National Institute of Statistics (Statistics South Africa) for the country to establish a baseline for future planning of primary health care, for decision-making based on scientific evidence.
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Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med · Oct 2019
Assessment of cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment in resuscitation trolleys in district hospitals in Botswana: A cross-sectional study.
Successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) relies, in part, on the availability and the correct functioning of resuscitation equipment. These data are often lacking in resource-constrained African settings. ⋯ The resuscitation trolleys were not maintained as per standards. Failure to improve the existing situation could negatively impact the outcome of CPR. Evidence-based standard checklists for resuscitation trolleys need to be enforced to improve the quality of CPR provision in district hospitals in Botswana.
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This article is a country profile of Sierra Leone describing the state of primary health care and family medicine in early 2019. Family medicine in Sierra Leone faces many challenges but recent changes in the location of the training programme encourage optimism that it may become better established within the next few years.
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Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med · Jul 2019
ReviewIndigenous and faith healing for mental health in Ghana: An examination of the literature on reported beliefs, practices and use of alternative mental health care in Ghana.
For many people in African countries, various forms of health care are utilised for the treatment of illness. This pluralistic nature of health seeking includes the use of indigenous, faith and allopathic medicines for care. ⋯ Integration of the different healthcare systems must be built on knowledge of beliefs and methods. A clearer understanding of the work of non-biomedical healers is important if appropriate recommendations are to be made for collaboration between biomedical and non-biomedical systems in Ghana.