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 44,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In limited-resource countries, cancer kills more people annually than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Programs targeting early detection and treatment of cancer are virtually non-existent due to insufficient funding and attention given to this emerging health challenge. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide and is also the leading cause of cancer-related death in females. In developing countries such as Uganda, breast cancer incidence is increasing and typically presents at an advanced stage of disease, for which treatment options are limited. Inadequate knowledge and understanding of the disease, social stigma, and barriers to care all contribute to a poorer prognosis. There are many challenges to reducing breast cancer incidence and mortality globally; however, there is evidence to suggest that advocacy and education, in particular through the efforts of breast cancer survivors and their partners, can play a critical role in improving overall outcomes in limited-resource countries.
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PMID:The importance of survivors and partners in improving breast cancer outcomes in Uganda. 2331 61

The social and economic impact of neurologic disorders is being increasingly recognized in the developing world. Demographic transition, especially in large Asian populations, has resulted in a significant increase in the elderly population, bringing to the fore neurologic illnesses such as strokes, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. CNS infections such as retroviral diseases, tuberculosis, and malaria still account for high mortality and morbidity. Traumatic brain injury due to traffic accidents takes a high toll of life. Epilepsy continues to be a major health concern with large segments of the developing world's population receiving no treatment. A significant mismatch between the provision of specialized neurologic services and the requirement for them exists, especially in rural areas. Also, health insurance is not available for the majority, with patients having bear the costs themselves, thus limiting the procurement of available healthcare facilities. Neurologic training centers are few and the availability of laboratory facilities and equipment is largely limited to the metropolitan areas. Cultural practices, superstitious beliefs, ignorance, and social stigma may also impede the delivery of neurologic care. Optimizing available human resources, integrating primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare tiers and making medical treatment more affordable will improve the neurologic care in the developing world.
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PMID:Neurology in the developing world. 2436 46

Emerging evidence over the past decade has implicated helminth infections as important yet stealth causes of adverse pregnancy outcomes and impaired women's reproductive health. The two most important helminth infections affecting women living in poverty in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world are hookworm infection and schistosomiasis. In Africa alone, almost 40 million women of childbearing age are infected with hookworms, including almost 7 million pregnant women who are at greater risk of severe anemia, higher mortality, and experiencing poor neonatal outcome (reduced birth weight and increased infant mortality). Possibly, tens of millions of women in Africa also suffer from female genital schistosomiasis associated with genital itching and pain, stress incontinence, dyspareunia, and infertility and experience social stigma and depression. Female genital schistosomiasis also is linked to horizontal transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and it may represent one of Africa's major cofactors in its AIDS epidemic. There is urgency to expand mass drug administration efforts for hookworm and schistosomiasis to include women of reproductive age and to shape new policies and advocacy initiatives for women's global health to include helminth control. In parallel is a requirement to better link global health programs for HIV and AIDS and malaria with helminth control and to simultaneously launch initiatives for research and development.
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PMID:Helminth infections: a new global women's health agenda. 2484 2

Infectious diseases of poverty (IDoP) disproportionately affect the poorest population in the world and contribute to a cycle of poverty as a result of decreased productivity ensuing from long-term illness, disability, and social stigma. In 2010, the global deaths from HIV/AIDS have increased to 1.5 million and malaria mortality rose to 1.17 million. Mortality from neglected tropical diseases rose to 152,000, while tuberculosis killed 1.2 million people that same year. Substantial regional variations exist in the distribution of these diseases as they are primarily concentrated in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with geographic overlap and high levels of co-infection. Evidence-based interventions exist to prevent and control these diseases, however, the coverage still remains low with an emerging challenge of antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, community-based delivery platforms are increasingly being advocated to ensure sustainability and combat co-infections. Because of the high morbidity and mortality burden of these diseases, especially in resource-poor settings, it is imperative to conduct a systematic review to identify strategies to prevent and control these diseases. Therefore, we attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of one of these strategies, that is community-based delivery for the prevention and treatment of IDoP. In this paper, we describe the burden, epidemiology, and potential interventions for IDoP. In subsequent papers of this series, we describe the analytical framework and the methodology used to guide the systematic reviews, and report the findings and interpretations of our analyses of the impact of community-based strategies on individual IDoPs.
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PMID:Global burden, distribution, and interventions for infectious diseases of poverty. 2511 May 85

This commentary offers a note of caution about the negative social impact that may be inadvertently generated through malaria elimination activities. In particular, the commentary is concerned with the practice of describing people who remain at risk of malaria in low transmission settings as 'hotpops' or 'reservoirs of infection'. The authors argue that since those at risk of malaria in elimination settings are often already socially marginalized - such as migrants, indigenous groups, ethnic minorities and poor rural communities - that care should be taken to avoid implementing programmes in ways that may inadvertently add to the social stigmatization of those most at risk of malaria in a low transmission setting. Programmes should avoid using language that identifies particular groups as a source of infection, and instead begin a broader shift in orientation toward engaging constructively with communities within elimination strategies. Programmes should promote monitoring and evaluation to ensure that unintended negative consequences such as stigma do not occur; advocate for appropriate resourcing (human, financial, other) to minimize the risk of short cuts being used to achieve an end game that may discriminate against specific groups; and strengthen community engagement activities in elimination setting to avoid targeting stigmatized groups and to empower communities to prevent outbreaks and re-introduction of malaria. In this way malaria elimination can be achieved without stigmatization.
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PMID:Malaria elimination without stigmatization: a note of caution about the use of terminology in elimination settings. 2524 3

Faced with critical shortages of staff, long queues, and stigma at public health facilities in Livingstone, Zambia, persons who suffer from HIV/AIDS-related diseases use medicinal plants to manage skin infections, diarrhoea, sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, cough, malaria, and oral infections. In all, 94 medicinal plant species were used to manage HIV/AIDS-related diseases. Most remedies are prepared from plants of various families such as Combretaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, and Lamiaceae. More than two-thirds of the plants (mostly leaves and roots) are utilized to treat two or more diseases related to HIV infection. Eighteen plants, namely, Achyranthes aspera L., Lannea discolor (Sond.) Engl., Hyphaene petersiana Klotzsch ex Mart., Asparagus racemosus Willd., Capparis tomentosa Lam., Cleome hirta Oliv., Garcinia livingstonei T. Anderson, Euclea divinorum Hiern, Bridelia cathartica G. Bertol., Acacia nilotica Delile, Piliostigma thonningii (Schumach.) Milne-Redh., Dichrostachys cinerea (L.) Wight and Arn., Abrus precatorius L., Hoslundia opposita Vahl., Clerodendrum capitatum (Willd.) Schumach., Ficus sycomorus L., Ximenia americana L., and Ziziphus mucronata Willd., were used to treat four or more disease conditions. About 31% of the plants in this study were administered as monotherapies. Multiuse medicinal plants may contain broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents. However, since widely used plants easily succumb to the threats of overharvesting, they need special protocols and guidelines for their genetic conservation. There is still need to confirm the antimicrobial efficacies, pharmacological parameters, cytotoxicity, and active chemical ingredients of the discovered plants.
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PMID:Ethnobotanical Study of Plants Used in the Management of HIV/AIDS-Related Diseases in Livingstone, Southern Province, Zambia. 2706 89

Epilepsy is considered by the World Health Organization a public health priority with more than 50 million human beings affected by the disease. More than 80% of persons with epilepsy live in low and middle income countries and most of them in tropical areas. Several emerging, re-emerging and neglected diseases are symptomatic etiologies that jointly contribute to the enormous global burden of epilepsy. Besides the clinical strengths to reduce diagnostic and treatment gaps, other strategies in social, economic, cultural, educational and health policies are needed to prevent and treat appropriately vulnerable and affected persons with epilepsy. From the public health point of view, several of those strategies could be more effective in reducing the incidence and burden of the disease than the clinical approach of diagnosis and treatment. Special attention has to be given to stigma reduction and promotion of human rights. Several aspects mentioned in this abstract slip away the scope of the article, but it is a remainder to approach epilepsy in an inter- and transdisciplinary manner, an integral and pertinent approach needed and requested in tropical counties. The article focuses only on emergent and re-emergent etiologies of epilepsy in the tropics like malaria, HIV, neurocysticercosis, viral encephalitis and traumatic brain injury.
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PMID:Epilepsy in the tropics: Emerging etiologies. 2932 32

With support from the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the global fund for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, Nigeria offers free services for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. However, uptake of these services is low, and pediatric transmission of HIV remains a significant public health challenge. Using the PEN-3 cultural model as the theoretical framework, we examined social, cultural, and contextual factors that influenced uptake of HIV counseling and testing among pregnant women and their male partners. This was a qualitative study of participants in the Healthy Beginning Initiative (HBI), a congregation-based program to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Enugu, southeast Nigeria. We conducted eight focus group discussion sessions with 83 pregnant women and their male partners. Participants' perspectives on why they did or did not test for HIV were obtained. The most cited reasons for getting tested for HIV included the following: "the need to know one's status", "the role of prenatal testing" (positive perceptions); "the role of the church", "personal rapport with healthcare worker" (positive enablers); and the "influence of marriage" (positive nurturer). The most cited reason for not testing were: "fear of HIV test", "shame associated with HIV+ test results", "conspiratorial beliefs about HIV testing" (negative perceptions); "lack of confidentiality with HIV testing", (negative enabler); and "HIV-related stigma from family and community systems" (negative nurturer). Overall, numerous facilitators and barriers influence uptake of HIV testing in the study setting. Public health practitioners and policymakers need to consider how sociocultural and religious factors unique to specific local contexts may promote or hinder uptake of available HIV/AIDS prevention and care interventions.
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PMID:Using a Cultural Framework to Understand Factors Influencing HIV Testing in Nigeria. 2803 Sep 87

Twenty neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are currently recognized by the World Health Organization. They affect over one billion people globally and are responsible for significant morbidity, mortality, poverty, and social stigmatization. In May 2013, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution calling on member states to intensify efforts to address NTDs, with the goal of reaching previously established targets for the elimination or eradication of 11 NTDs. The resolution also called for the integration of NTD efforts into primary health services. NTDs were subsequently included in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, which calls for an end to the "epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and NTDs" by 2030. While both the World Health Assembly resolution and SDG 3 provide a strong framework for action, neither explicitly references the human right to the highest attainable standard of health or describes a rights-based approach to NTDs' elimination. This article identifies key human rights relevant to NTD control and elimination efforts and describes rights-based interventions that address (1) inequity in access to preventive chemotherapy and morbidity management; (2) stigma and discrimination; and (3) patients' rights and non-discrimination in health care settings. In addition, the article describes how human rights mechanisms at the global, regional, and national levels can help accelerate the response to NTDs and promote accountability for access to universal health care.
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PMID:Addressing Inequity: Neglected Tropical Diseases and Human Rights. 3000 49

In no field of medicine has advocacy, including physician advocacy, been more crucial in shaping policy for delivery of care than in HIV/AIDS. Although the historic tradition is strong, there is an urgent need to re-energize advocacy efforts nationally and internationally to support programs that fund care, change policies that perpetuate stigma and discrimination, and change the public perception that the HIV/AIDS crisis is over. Established programs that require ongoing advocacy attention include the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, a US program that serves as a payer of last resort for care for patients with HIV infection, and international programs like the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Newer issues have emerged, including the need to ensure fair drug pricing and guarantee sustained access to care and medications. Amidst the opioid epidemic, the preservation and establishment of policies to support syringe services programs take on new urgency, and ongoing efforts are necessary to decrease stigma about HIV infection, maintain protection of LGBTQ rights, and reform HIV criminalization laws. All stakeholders in the HIV community, including practitioners, individuals with HIV infection, and professional organizations, need to make their voices heard as they have done in the past in order to effectively continue to address the epidemic. This commentary was submitted by Carlos del Rio, MD, and Wendy S. Armstrong, MD, in March, 2018, and accepted in July, 2018.
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PMID:Policy and advocacy for the HIV practitioner. 3038 33


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