Bmc Public Health
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Improving maternal and child health (MCH) remains a serious challenge for many developing countries. Geographical accessibility from a residence to the nearest health facility is suspected to be an important obstacle hampering the use of appropriate services for MCH especially in Sub-Sharan African countries. In Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in the Sahel region of West Africa, women's use of proper healthcare services during pregnancy and childbirth is still low. This study therefore assessed the impact of geographical access to health facilities on maternal healthcare utilization in Burkina Faso. ⋯ Improving geographical access to health facilities increases the use of appropriate healthcare services during pregnancy and childbirth. Investment in transport infrastructure should be a prioritized target for further improvement in MCH in Burkina Faso.
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Children from refugee backgrounds are less likely to access appropriate health and social care than non-refugee children. Our aim was to identify refugee children's health/wellbeing strengths and needs, and the barriers and enablers to accessing services while preparing for primary and secondary school, in a low socio-economic multicultural community in Australia. ⋯ Refugee families face challenges to accessing services, but also have strengths that enable them to optimise their children's wellbeing. Culturally-tailored models of care embedded within GP services and school systems may assist improved healthcare for refugee families.
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International sustainable development goals for the elimination of viral hepatitis as a public health problem by 2030 highlight the need to optimize strategies for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. An important priority for Africa is to have affordable, accessible and sustainable prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) programmes, delivering screening and treatment for antenatal women and implementing timely administration of HBV vaccine for their babies. ⋯ Given the long-term health burden for individuals and economic burden for society associated with chronic HBV infection, screening pregnant women and providing tenofovir for all who test HBsAg+ may be a cost-effective strategy for South Africa and other low/middle income settings.
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In 2017, the G20 health ministers convened for the first time to discuss global health and issued a communiqué outlining their health priorities, as the BRICS and G7 have done for years. As these political clubs hold considerable political and economic influence, their respective global health agendas may influence both global health priorities and the priorities of other countries and actors. ⋯ The leadership of BRICS, G7 and G20 on global health is welcome. However, their relatively narrow focus on the potential impact of ill-health primarily in relation to the economy and trade may not be sufficiently comprehensive to achieve the Agenda 2030 vision of promoting health equity and leaving no-one behind. Recommendations for the BRICS, G7 and G20 based on this analysis include: 1) expanding focus to the neglected SDG 3 health targets; 2) placing greater emphasis on upstream determinants of health; 3) greater commitment to equity and leaving no-one behind; 4) adopting explicit commitments to rights-based approaches; and 5) making commitments that are of higher quality and which include time-bound quantitative targets and clear accountability mechanisms.
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A wide range of outcome measures can be calculated for hospital-treated injury patients. These include mortality, use of critical care services, complications, length of stay, treatment costs, readmission and nursing care after discharge. Each address different aspects and phases of injury recovery and can yield vastly different results. This study aims to: (1) measure and report this range of outcomes in hospital-treated injury patients in a defined population; and (2) describe the associations between injury characteristics, socio-demographics and comorbidities and the various outcomes. ⋯ Outcomes and risk factors differ depending on the outcome measured, and the method used for measuring the outcome. Similar outcomes measured in different ways produces varying results. Data linkage has provided a valuable platform for a comprehensive overview of outcomes, which can help design and target secondary and tertiary preventive measures.