Building primary health care teams for universal healthcoverage in Africa

The Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care (PHC) in 1978 defined PHC profoundly. Comprehensiveness and continuity of care, as well as coordination of referrals, were key attributes of integrated PHC. Unfortunately, African governments function with bureaucratic health systems, where top-down implementation policies, especially selective PHC vertical programmes driven by international agencies, create rigid, large, impersonalised units of PHC. Global agencies and country leaders must be challenged on this: what are they doing practically to build PHC teams for UHC in Africa?

COVID-19 frontline primary health care professionals’ perspectives on health system preparedness and response to the pandemic in the Mahalapye Health District, Botswana

The World Health Organization issued interim guidelines on essential health system preparedness and response measures for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The control of the pandemic requires healthcare system preparedness and response. This study aimed to evaluate frontline COVID-19 primary health care professionals’ (PHC-Ps) views on health system preparedness and response to the pandemic in the Mahalapye Health District (MHD). In March 2020, the Botswana Ministry of Health directed health districts to educate their health professionals about COVID-19. One hundred and seventy frontline PHC-Ps were trained in MHD; they evaluated the health system’s preparedness and response. More than ...

An insight into patients' perspectives on barriers affecting participation in shared decision making among patients with diabetes mellitus in Malawi

Patient participation in decision making is a basic tenet for a patient centred care experience and, has potential to improve care experiences and responsiveness in chronic diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus (DM). However, documented experiences show that patient participation in decisions making is wanting. As Malawi strives to institutionalise patient centred care delivery, it is important to examine patients' experiences and perceptions to identify barriers affecting their participation in shared decision making because this may provide evidence supporting strategies in implementation of the institutionalisation.

Barriers to tuberculosis case finding in primary and secondary health facilities in Ghana: perceptions, experiences and practices of healthcare workers

Ghana’s national tuberculosis (TB) prevalence survey conducted in 2013 showed higher than expected TB prevalence indicating that many people with TB were not being identified and treated. This study showa that TB case finding was undermined by few diagnostic facilities; inconsistent referral mechanisms; poor implementation, training and quality control of a screening tool and guidelines; and HCWs fearing infection and not being motivated. We recommend training for and quality monitoring of TB diagnosis and treatment with a focus on patient-centred care, an effective sputum transport system, provision of the TB symptom screening tool and consistent referral pathways from peripheral ...

Supporting retention in HIV care through a holistic, patient-centred approach: a qualitative evaluation

HIV is a complex disease which affects different facets (social, economic, physical, emotional and spiral) of an individual’s life, making the goals of retention in care and adherence to treatment difficult to achieve. Holistic patient-centred approaches to providing care for people living with HIV bind together economic, social, emotional and physiological aspects and have the potential to improve retention in care and ART adherence. Case management is a holistic, patient-centred approach which is increasingly being implemented in the management of chronic illnesses.

Integrating mental health into primary care: evaluation of the Health Action for Psychiatric Problems In Nigeria including Epilepsy and SubstanceS (HAPPINESS) pilot project

The Health Action for Psychiatric Problems In Nigeria including Epilepsy and SubstanceS (HAPPINESS) project trains non-specialist and primary health care workers in Imo State, Nigeria. This project adapted the World Health Organization’s Mental Health Gap Action Programme-Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG), emphasizing stigma reduction among trainees. This convergent mixed-methods proof-of-concept study evaluates the HAPPINESS pilot project mhGAP-IG training’s impact on mental illness stigma among trainees and barriers, facilitators, and opportunities to consider for project improvement.

Integrated healthcare services for HIV, diabetes mellitus and hypertension in selected health facilities in Kampala and Wakiso districts, Uganda: A qualitative methods study

Abstract

Developing a patient-centered community-based model for management of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Uganda: a discrete choice experiment

The advent of all-oral regimens for the management of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) makes the implementation of community-based directly observed therapy (CB-DOT) a possibility for this group of patients. We set out to determine patient preferences for different attributes of a community-based model for the management of MDR-TB in Uganda. The preferred model consisted of a CHW giving DOT at home and travel vouchers to enable attendance of monthly clinic follow-up visits to tertiary referral hospitals for treatment monitoring. People with MDR-TB prefer to be supported to take their medicine at home by a member of their community. 

Integrating Care for Diabetes and Hypertension with HIV Care in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Scoping Review

 Although HIV continues to have a high prevalence among adults in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCD) such as diabetes and hypertension is increasing rapidly. There is an urgent need to expand the capacity of healthcare systems in SSA to provide NCD services and scale up existing chronic care management pathways. A scoping review mapped extant policy and evidence based literature on the feasibility of integrating NCD care with HIV in the region.

The contribution of family physicians to primary health care: Experiences from southwest Nigeria

Although an emerging speciality in Africa, family medicine contributes significantly to African health systems. Leadership from family physicians can enable the delivery of high-quality primary health care that is accessible, comprehensive, coordinated, continuous and person-centred. This short report chronicles how family physicians from a university teaching hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria, adopted a health post located in a home for persons with mild physical and mental disabilities and changed it into a hub of comprehensive, holistic and person-centred care for residents and staff of the home, as well as individuals and families in the neighbouring communities and its environs.