BACKGROUND Few studies have examined whether the healthcare needs of people living with rare diseases are being met. This study explores the experiences of Australian adults living with rare diseases in relation to diagnosis, information provision at the time of diagnosis, use of health and support services and involvement in research on their condition. METHODS The survey respondents are sel...

INTRODUCTION Asthma is now one of the most common long-term conditions in the UK. It is therefore important to develop a comprehensive appreciation of the healthcare and societal costs in order to inform decisions on care provision and planning. We plan to build on our earlier estimates of national prevalence and costs from asthma by filling the data gaps previously identified in relation to he...

BACKGROUND In 2008 reforms were introduced in primary care in Stockholm County Council to increase patient choice. These reforms included changes to the reimbursement system from one that was primarily based on need-weighted capitation system (75%) to a system largely based on fee-for-service (60%) and freedom of establishment of primary care clinics. The new reimbursement system created incent...

BACKGROUND The Internet offers great opportunities for consumers to be informed about their health. However, concerns have been raised regarding its impact on the traditional health consumer-health professional relationship. Our recent survey of 400 Australian adults identified that over half of consumers required some form of navigational support in locating appropriate Web-based health inform...

BACKGROUND To investigate the prevalence of antibiotic usage in children aged <5 years with acute respiratory tract illness (ARTI) in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data were collected from a national health survey conducted in 2010 (Iran's Multiple Indicator Demographic and Health Survey). Participants of this cross-sectional study were selected by multistage stratified cluster-random sampling ...

INTRODUCTION Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health challenge in South Africa. However, little attention is paid to the impact of health related quality of life (HRQL) among TB patients at the beginning and at the end of TB treatment. This study assesses factors associated with HRQL among tuberculosis patients in three high risk provinces in South Africa. METHODS A prospect...

background: primary health care is the major infrastructure of health care systems. it is clear that making and improving primary health care information systems would not be possible without awareness of their condition. therefore, this comparative study was conducted in order to determine the situation of primary health care information systems in health centers of tehran, iran. methods: this...

BACKGROUND Compliance is a critical issue for parental questionnaires in school based epidemiological surveys and high compliance is difficult to achieve. The objective of this study was to determine trends and factors associated with parental questionnaire compliance during respiratory health surveys of school children in Merseyside between 1991 and 2006. METHODS Four cross-sectional respira...

In war-torn Afghanistan, rates of maternal mortality (460 per 100,000 live births) and neonatal mortality (25 per 1,000 live births) are among the highest in the world, according to the World Health Organization and to Demographic and Health Surveys. Women have limited access to maternal and newborn care services, linked to geographic barriers, security problems, and cultural concerns about wom...

This is a descriptive study of the health and hygiene behaviors of grandparents who are the primary caregivers of their grandchildren in four West African countries, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. The article utilizes data from each country’s most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). The study identified 20,841 households where grandparents were primary caregivers. As expecte...