Bulletin of the World Health Organization
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Bull. World Health Organ. · Jan 2001
ReviewThe SAFE strategy for the elimination of trachoma by 2020: will it work?
WHO has recently launched a programme (GET 2020) for the elimination of trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness. GET 2020 has adopted the SAFE strategy, a comprehensive set of control measures (Surgery for entropion/trichiasis; Antibiotics for infectious trachoma; Facial cleanliness to reduce transmission; Environmental improvements such as control of disease-spreading flies and access to clean water). The present article reviews the strengths and weaknesses of each component of the strategy. Although significant hurdles remain to be overcome there is every reason to hope that GET 2020 will be successful.
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Bull. World Health Organ. · Jan 2001
Comparative StudyEstimating the prevalence of anaemia: a comparison of three methods.
To determine the most effective method for analysing haemoglobin concentrations in large surveys in remote areas, and to compare two methods (indirect cyanmethaemoglobin and HemoCue) with the conventional method (direct cyanmethaemoglobin). ⋯ Where field conditions and local resources allow it, haemoglobin concentration should be assessed with the direct cyanmethaemoglobin method, the gold standard. However, the HemoCue method can be used for surveys involving different laboratories or which are conducted in relatively remote areas. In very hot and humid climates, HemoCue microcuvettes should be discarded if not used within a few days of opening the container containing the cuvettes.
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Bull. World Health Organ. · Jan 2001
Diagnosis and management of febrile children using the WHO/UNICEF guidelines for IMCI in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
To determine whether the fever module in the WHO/UNICEF guidelines for the integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) identifies children with bacterial infections in an area of low malaria prevalence. ⋯ In an area of low malaria prevalence, the IMCI guidelines provide antibiotics to the majority of children with bacterial infections, but improvements in the fever module are possible.
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An overview of the results of the Australian Burden of Disease (ABD) study is presented. The ABD study was the first to use methodology developed for the Global Burden of Disease study to measure the burden of disease and injury in a developed country. ⋯ Risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, hypertension, high blood cholesterol, obesity and inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption were responsible for much of the overall disease burden in Australia. The lessons learnt from the ABD study are discussed, together with methodological issues that require further attention.
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Bull. World Health Organ. · Jan 2001
Risk of Lyme disease: perceptions of residents of a Lone Star tick-infested community.
Lone Star ticks (Amblyomma americanum) have been suggested as a vector of the agent of Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato) in the USA, based on associations with an infection manifesting mainly as erythema migrans. In laboratory experiments, however, they failed to transmit B. burgdorferi sensu stricto. ⋯ The residents of Gibson Island had an exaggerated perception of the risk of Lyme disease because they were intensely infested with an aggressively human-biting and irritating nonvector tick. In addition, a Lyme disease mimic of undescribed etiology (named Masters' disease) seems to be associated with Lone Star ticks, and may confound Lyme disease surveillance. The epidemiological and entomological approach used in this study might fruitfully be applied wherever newly emergent tickborne zoonoses have been discovered.