Abstract Tobacco smoking is the world’s leading cause of premature death and disability. Global targets to reduce premature deaths by 25% by 2025 will require a substantial increase in the number of smokers making a quit attempt, and a significant …
Abstract Introduction Over a third of the world’s population relies on solid fuels as their primary energy source. These fuels have damaging effects on health, air quality and forest resources. Interventions to promote access to cleaner solid fuel cookstoves and clean …
Abstract Data on asthma treatment outcomes in Africa are limited. 449 patients with asthma (age 5-93 years) in Uganda were followed up for 2 years to determine rates of exacerbations and mortality and associated factors. During follow-up the median number …
Abstract In 2012, Uganda introduced the use of GeneXpert MTB/RIF (Cepheid, Sunnyvale CA), a sensitive, automated, real-time polymerase chain reaction-based platform for tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis, for programmatic use among children, adults with presumptive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated TB, and symptomatic …
Abstract BackgroundPatient satisfaction towards care during encounter with clinicians is key for better treatment outcomes. We assessed patient satisfaction with TB clinical care consultations in Kampala, Uganda. MethodsThis was a facility-based cross sectional study done between September 2012 and February …
Abstract Introduction: Respiratory infections such as tuberculosis (TB) HIV and tobacco smoking has led to an epidemic of chronic lung disease (CLD). Many CLD patients in Africa have poor health status, and there is no affordable treatment. Aim: To investigate the acceptability …
Abstract In Uganda, biomass smoke seems to be the largest risk factor for the development of COPD, but socio-economic factors and gender may have a role. Therefore, more in-depth research is needed to understand the risk factors. The aim of …
Abstract Rationale: In 2007, World Health Organization (WHO) issued emergency recommendations on empiric treatment of sputum acid-fast bacillus smear-negative patients with possible tuberculosis (TB) in HIV-prevalent areas, and called for operational research to evaluate their effectiveness. We sought to determine if …
Abstract This protocol describes FRESH AIR, an implementation science project exploring how to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of chronic lung diseases in contexts with limited healthcare resources. It consists of inter-related studies that take place in four countries …
Abstract Background: Determining mycobacterial burden is important in assessing severity of disease, evaluating infectiousness and predicting patient treatment outcomes. Mycobacterial burden assessed by smear microscopy grade and time to culture positivity is clearly interpretable by most physicians. GeneXpert (Xpert) has been …