Bulletin of the World Health Organization
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Bull. World Health Organ. · Dec 2013
Trends in caesarean delivery by country and wealth quintile: cross-sectional surveys in southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
To examine temporal trends in caesarean delivery rates in southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, by country and wealth quintile. ⋯ Caesarean delivery rates among large sections of the population in sub-Saharan Africa are very low, probably because of poor access to such surgery.
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With the ageing of populations and a heavy burden of noncommunicable diseases around the world, there is a high but unmet demand for palliative care in many countries. Gary Humphreys reports.
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Bull. World Health Organ. · Dec 2013
The ethics of feedback of HIV test results in population-based surveys of HIV infection.
Population-based disease prevalence surveys raise ethical questions, including whether participants should be routinely told their test results. Ethical guidelines call for informing survey participants of any clinically relevant finding to enable appropriate management. However, in anonymous surveys of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, participants can "opt out" of being given their test results or are offered the chance to undergo voluntary HIV testing in local counselling and testing services. ⋯ In consideration of the ethical value of showing respect for people and thereby alleviating suffering, an argument based on public health utility is not an appropriate justification. In anonymous HIV surveys as well as other prevalence surveys of treatable conditions in any setting, participation should be on the basis of routine individual feedback of results as an integral part of fully informed participation. Ensuring that surveys are ethically sound may stimulate participation, increase a broader uptake of HIV testing and reduce stigmatization of people who are HIV-positive.