To assess coverage and quality of essential obstetric care (EOC) and the appropriateness of using processindicators, a 3-month follow-up study was done in Rufiji district, Tanzania, involving 2 hospitals, 4 health centres, 10 large dispensaries and 10 randomly selected small dispensaries. Data collection was done on process indicators as suggested by UNICEF/WHO/UNFPA (UN) and 'unmet obstetric n...

BACKGROUND There are concerns that quality of medical care may be poorer on weekends than weekdays. Invasive meningococcal disease, comprising septicaemia and meningitis, is often life threatening unless it is immediately and effectively treated regardless of day of the week. We test the hypothesis that numbers of deaths from meningococcal disease outside hospital without admission, and case fa...

International Journal of Exercise Science 8(4): 341-357, 2015. In an effort to reduce the rates of firefighter fatality, injury, and workplace stress, there has been a call for research to advance knowledge of firefighting performance and injury prevention. Physical and psychological variables important to firefighter health and performance have been identified, yet the interrelated nature of t...

BACKGROUND During the 2009 H1N1v influenza epidemic, the total number of symptomatic cases was estimated by combining influenza-like illness (ILI) consultations, virological surveillance and assumptions about healthcare-seeking behaviour. Changes in healthcare-seeking behaviour due to changing scientific information, media coverage and public anxiety, were not included in case estimates. The pu...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this article is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of school closure during a potential influenza pandemic and to examine the trade-off between costs and health benefits for school closure involving different target groups and different closure durations. METHODS We developed two models: a dynamic disease model capturing the spread of influenza and an economic model ...

BACKGROUND Avian influenza continues to pose a threat to humans and maintains the potential for greater transmissibility. Understanding the clinical presentation and prognosis in children will help guide effective diagnosis and treatment. METHODS A global patient registry was created to enable systematic collection of clinical, exposure, treatment, and outcomes data on confirmed cases of H5N1...

First discovered in rural areas of middle-eastern China in 2009, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging tick-borne zoonosis affecting hundreds of cases reported in China each year. Using the national surveillance data from 2010 to 2013, we conducted this retrospective epidemiological study and risk assessment of SFTS in China. We found that the incidence of SFTS and i...

Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 has been causing large outbreaks in Japan. Yet, the case fatality rate (CFR) remains low and only 85 deaths have been confirmed as of December 17, 2009. Surveillance data was analyzed to define epidemiological characteristics of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in Japan. It was shown that most of the reported influenza-like illness cases and hospitalizations have occurred in those aged...

This paper describes the effectiveness of first-line regimens for stage 2 human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) due to Trypanosoma brucei gambiense infection in nine Médecins Sans Frontières HAT treatment programmes in Angola, Republic of Congo, Sudan and Uganda. Regimens included eflornithine and standard- and short-course melarsoprol. Outcomes for 10461 naïve stage 2 patients fitting a standard...

BACKGROUND Maternal near misses are increasingly used to study quality of obstetric care. Inclusion criteria for the identification of near misses are diverse and studies not comparable. WHO developed universal near miss inclusion criteria in 2009 and these criteria have been validated in Brazil and Canada. OBJECTIVES To validate and refine the WHO near miss criteria in a low-resource setting...