Supervising community health workers in low-income countries: a review of impact and implementation issues (Publications)
gray literature. RESULTS: A total of 22 impact papers were identified. Papers were from a range of low- and middle-income countries addressing the supervision of a variety of health care providers. We classified [...] Community health workers (CHWs) are an increasingly important component of health systems and programs. Despite the recognized role of supervision in ensuring CHWs are effective, supervision is often weak [...] adequate supervision and how different supervision strategies influence...
Socioeconomic, cultural and behavioural features of prior and anticipated influenza vaccine uptake in urban and rural Pune district, India: a... (Publications)
committees of the Maharashtra Association of Anthropological Sciences and the WHO, and by the Ethics Commission of Basel, Switzerland. The proposed research will provide a better understanding of communication [...] major determinant of vaccine effectiveness, and the social, cultural and economic determinants of population acceptance require study for effective policy and action. Pune is a focus of pandemic influenza [...] the socioeconomic, cultural and behavioural determinants of anticipated...
Impacts of weather and air pollution on Legionnaires' disease in Switzerland: a national case-crossover study (Publications)
The number of reported cases of Legionnaires' disease (LD) has risen markedly in Switzerland (6.5/100,000 inhabitants in 2021) and abroad over the last decade. Legionella, the causative agent of LD, are [...] 6-14 days before LD occurrence. DISCUSSION: Our analyses showed an influence of weather with a specific temporal pattern before the onset of LD, which may provide insights into the effect mechanism. The r [...] changes can affect the incidence of LD, for example by increasing bacterial...
Impact of mammography screening programmes on breast cancer mortality in Switzerland, a country with different regional screening policies (Publications)
spatiotemporal patterns and the effect of MSPs on breast cancer mortality. SETTING: Switzerland. PARTICIPANTS: The study covers breast cancer deaths of the female population of Switzerland during the period 1969-2012 [...] 2009-2012, the standardised mortality ratio declined to 57% (95% CI 54% to 60%) of the 1969-1972 value. None of the other coefficients of the spatial regressions had a significant effect on breast cancer mortality [...] rates indirectly standardised by national references. We...
Estimating prevalence and infection intensity of soil-transmitted helminths using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Kato-Katz in school-age... (Publications)
may influence qPCR performance. We estimated STH prevalence and infection intensity by using qPCR in schoolchildren from Huambo, Uige, and Zaire, Angola, and compared its performance with that of the Kato-Katz [...] qPCR and Kato-Katz. DNA extraction and qPCR were repeated on 191 (of 278) samples that were initially qPCR negative but Kato-Katz positive, of which 112 (58.6%) became positive. Similar prevalence for Ascaris [...] Stool samples from 3,063 children (219 schools) were preserved in 96%...
The effect of human interaction on guinea pig behavior in animal-assisted therapy (Publications)
number of startling and explorative behavior and the duration of locomotion increased significantly in comparison to the control setting. During therapy without retreat possibility, the frequency of freezing [...] interacting with humans. The goal of this study was to evaluate the behavior in guinea pigs during animal-assisted therapy (AAT) and to identify factors that influence their stress and well-being. Five [...] the duration of hiding was significantly increased in the therapy setting with...
Management of non-communicable diseases in Kosovo: a scoping review (Publications)
including the inputs that influence the provision of NCDs and outcomes of NCD management. Eligibility criteria-Studies had to report NCD management in Kosovo. Sources of evidence-We systematically searched [...] serious limitations in the availability of key inputs providing care, i.e., funding, medicines, supplies, and medical staff. Additionally, in terms of the management of NCDs, there are areas for improvement [...] improvement, such as limited application of clinical pathways and...
How to scale-up: a comparative case study of scaling up a district health management strengthening intervention in Ghana, Malawi and Uganda (Publications)
ng of how projects have sought to address the importance of scale-up in the design and implementation of their initiatives. This paper aims to gain insight into the facilitators of the scale-up of a d [...] involved also influenced scale-up. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the identification of the facilitators of the scale-up, full integration of the intervention into the health system has proven challenging in all countries [...] METHODS: The study took a comparative case study approach with two rounds o...
Effect of residential relocation on environmental exposures in European cohorts: an exposome-wide approach (Publications)
impact of changes in environmental exposures. Since the likelihood of relocation can be influenced by individual characteristics that also influence health, studies may be biased if the predictors of relocation [...] identify predictors of exposome trajectories among movers. On average, 7% of the participants relocated each year. Before relocating, movers were consistently exposed to higher levels of air pollution than [...] likely to move towards healthier levels of the urban exposome. We...
Caregiving can be costly: a qualitative study of barriers and facilitators to conducting kangaroo mother care in a US tertiary hospital neonatal... (Publications)
Massachusetts. A series of open-ended interview questions were designed to elicit all aspects of mothers' experiences and to understand how these experiences influence provision of KMC. All interviews were [...] investment of time and resources. This study sought to understand barriers and facilitators to provision of KMC in the NICU. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with mothers of preterm [...] transportation, lack of child care, and inadequate maternity leave policies...