Resources search

Hearing aid systems in low-resource settings (Community Ear & Hearing Health, vol.15, no.19, 2018)

RICARD, Paddy
Ed
2018

Expand view

Articles in this issue are:

  • Hearing aid systems in low-resource settings
  • How hearing aids work and how to take care of them
  • The impact of hearing aid use in low and middle-income countries
  • Barriers to the use of hearing aid systems in low-and middle-income countries
  • Beyond devices: what to consider when providing hearing aids in LMICs
  • Improving access to hearing care and hearing rehabilitation in the Philippines
     

Postpartum Depression: Signs and Resources for Help

Nursing@Georgetown
July 2017

Expand view

This resource provides insights into the symptoms of postpartum depression and how to support a loved one with PPD. Also included in the article are insights on how to find providers and community groups that offer free resources. Readers can also learn what to do in crisis situations to ensure that important preventative measures are taken when needed.

Building the capacity of policy-makers and planners to strengthen mental health systems in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Roxanne Keynejad
Maya Semrau
Mark Toynbee
Sara Evans-Lacko
Crick Lund, Oye Gureje
Sheila Ndyanabangi
Emilie Courtin
Jibril O. Abdulmalik
Atalay Ale
Abebaw Fekadu
Graham Thornicroft
Charlotte Hanlo
October 2016

Expand view

Background

Little is known about the interventions required to build the capacity of mental health policy-makers and planners in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We conducted a systematic review with the primary aim of identifying and synthesizing the evidence base for building the capacity of policy-makers and planners to strengthen mental health systems in LMICs.

Methods

We searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Knowledge, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL, LILACS, ScieELO, Google Scholar and Cochrane databases for studies reporting evidence, experience or evaluation of capacity-building of policy-makers, service planners or managers in mental health system strengthening in LMICs. Reports in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French or German were included. Additional papers were identified by hand-searching references and contacting experts and key informants. Database searches yielded 2922 abstracts and 28 additional papers were identified. Following screening, 409 full papers were reviewed, of which 14 fulfilled inclusion criteria for the review. Data were extracted from all included papers and synthesized into a narrative review.

Results

Only a small number of mental health system-related capacity-building interventions for policy-makers and planners in LMICs were described. Most models of capacity-building combined brief training with longer term mentorship, dialogue and/or the establishment of networks of support. However, rigorous research and evaluation methods were largely absent, with studies being of low quality, limiting the potential to separate mental health system strengthening outcomes from the effects of associated contextual factors.

Conclusions

This review demonstrates the need for partnership approaches to building the capacity of mental health policy-makers and planners in LMICs, assessed rigorously against pre-specified conceptual frameworks and hypotheses, utilising longitudinal evaluation and mixed quantitative and qualitative approaches.

Living in hell : abuses against people with psychosocial disabilities in Indonesia

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH (HRW)
March 2016

Expand view

This article with a video is related to a report examining the abuses—including pasung—that persons with psychosocial disabilities face in the community, mental hospitals, and various other institutions in Indonesia, including stigma, arbitrary and prolonged detention, involuntary treatment, and physical and sexual violence. It also examines the government’s shortcomings in addressing these problems.

Based on research across the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra, Human Rights Watch documented 175 cases of persons with psychosocial disabilities in pasung or who were recently rescued from pasung. 

 

Malawi : DoDMA exploring indigenous knowledge on disasters

KAZEMBE, Ida
May 2015

Expand view

This article contains an interview with Mulder Mkutumula, Mitigation Officer at the Department of Disaster Management Affairs in Malawi. Mr. Mkutumula discusses the importance of raising awareness and understanding of disaster risk reduction in Malawi, especially in the context of the 2015 floods

Responding to the Syrian health crisis : the need for data and research

COUTTS, Adam
et al
March 2015

Expand view

This article assesses the impact of the war in Syrian the context of the health system and neighbouring countries and the rise in non-communicable diseases. The authors advocate that  urgent policy and research attention needs to be given to the generation of timely and high-quality evidence on the effectiveness of the humanitarian health response, the capacity of health systems within Syria, and the issue of non-communicable diseases among internally displaced people and refugees

The Lancet, Vol 3, Issue 3, PE8-E9, Mar 01, 2015

 

 

Improved and standardized method for assessing years lived with disability after injury

HAAGSMA, JA
et al
2012

Expand view

"This article presents the results of study that aimed to develop a standardized method for calculating years lived with disability (YLD) after injury. The method developed consists of obtaining data on injury cases seen in emergency departments as well as injury-related hospital admissions, using the EUROCOST system to link the injury cases to disability information and employing empirical data to describe functional outcomes in injured patients. The novel method for calculating YLD after injury can be applied in different settings, overcomes some limitations of the method used to calculate the global burden of disease, and allows more accurate estimates of the population burden of injury"
Bull World Health Organ, 90

Costs and cost-effectiveness of training traditional birth attendants to reduce neonatal mortality in the Lufwanyama neonatal survival study (LUNESP)

SABIN, Lora L
et al
2012

Expand view

"The Lufwanyama Neonatal Survival Project ("LUNESP") was a cluster randomized, controlled trial that showed that training traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to perform interventions targeting birth asphyxia, hypothermia, and neonatal sepsis reduced all-cause neonatal mortality by 45%. This companion analysis was undertaken to analyze intervention costs and cost-effectiveness, and factors that might improve cost-effectiveness"
PLoS ONE 7(4)

Packages of care for epilepsy in low- and middle-income countries

MBUBA, Caroline K
NEWTON, Charles R
October 2009

Expand view

This article focuses on the management of epilepsy in low- and middle-income countries and recommends a package of care - a combination of interventions aimed at improving the recognition and management of conditions to achieve optimal outcomes - for epilepsy, that is sustainable

The health worker shortage in Africa : are enough physicians and nurses being trained?

KINFU, Yohannes
et al
February 2009

Expand view

"The health worker shortage in sub-Saharan Africa derives from many causes, yet the dynamics of entry into and exit from the health workforce in many of these countries remain poorly understood. This limits the capacity of national governments and their international development partners to design and implement appropriate intervention programmes. This paper provides some of this information through the first systematic estimates of health worker inflow and outflow in selected sub-Saharan African countries"

Helping a forgotten minority : disability and HIV/AIDS in Zambia

DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (DFID)
June 2007

Expand view

This article and case study demonstrate work being done in Zambia to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities are met by HIV and AIDS services, so that they have full access to the treatment, care and support available. Provisions include sign language training for HIV and AIDS counsellors, making mobility aids and hearing aids available to those who need them, as well as improving food security and encouraging a sustainable livelihoods approach. This would be of interest to anyone looking at mainstreaming disability in the provision of HIV and AIDS services

Fostering disability-inclusive HIV/AIDS programs in northeast India : a participatory study

et al
June 2007

Expand view

"This paper summarises findings from a participatory study which aimed to develop practical guidelines to make HIV programmes in the states of Manipur and Nagaland more disability-friendly...The objectives were to: 1) explore HIV risk and risk perception in relation to people with disability (PWD) among HIV and disability programmers, and PWD themselves; 2) identify HIV-related education and service needs and preferences of PWD; and 3) utilise findings and stakeholder consultation to draft practical guidelines for inclusion of disability into HIV programming in this region of India"

Human resource development for health in Ethiopia : challenges of achieving the millennium development goals

GIRMA, Samuel
et al
2007

Expand view

A "review of different documents on human resource for health in Ethiopia was undertaken. Generally there is shortage in number of different groups of professionals, maldistribution of professionals between regions, urban and rural setting, and governmental and non governmental/private organizations. A number of measures are being taken to alleviate these problems. The implications of these for human resource development by 2015 are explored briefly"

Danger signs of neonatal illnesses : perceptions of caregivers and health workers in northern India

AWASTHI, Shally
VERMA, Tuhina
AGARWAL, Monica
October 2006

Expand view

This article explores the "household practices that can affect neonatal health, from the perspective of caregivers and health workers; to identify signs in neonates leading either to recognition of illness or health-care seeking; and to ascertain the proportion of caregivers who recognize the individual items of the integrated management of neonatal and childhood illnesses (IMNCI) programme"
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 84(10)

IMCI : what can we learn from an innovation that didn’t reach the poor?

GWARTKIN, Davidson
October 2006

Expand view

In this editorial, the author comments on the feasibility of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy of the World Health Organization aimed at serving the poor. He analyses the reasons behind the failure of IMCI strategy to reach the poor. According to the author, IMCI failed due to several faults in its implementation including its initiation in well-off areas, a horizontal approach, and bad financial infrastructure of the poor regions
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 84(10)

Social capital and health : does egalitariansim matter? A literature review

ISLAM, M Kamrul
et al
2006

Expand view

This literature review provides an overview of the notion and practice of social capital and its impact on health. The study found significant relationships between health and social capital, irrespective of a country's degree of egalitarianism. However, in egalitarian countries, contextual social capital seems less relevant in explaining health differences across places

Attitudes of speech-language pathology students towards persons with disability

DHINGRA, Yatika
BHATNAGAR, Veethika
2006

Expand view

[Author's abstract] : Negative attitudes of health care professionals towards persons with disability are considered to be an invisible barrier towards rehabilitation and integration. In contrast, positive attitudes are a key to successful rehabilitation and integration. The attitudes of the professionals are influenced by education, knowledge about disabilities, years of experience working with individuals with disability, and the level and nature of staff training. The purpose of the study was to measure the attitudes of speech language pathology students towards persons with disability and to measure the favorable change, if any, in the attitude of these students towards persons with disability in the course of professional education. A sample of fifty-nine undergraduate and twenty postgraduate students was investigated using a Scale of Attitude Towards Disabled Persons (SADP). It was found that speech-language pathology students displayed a positive attitude towards persons with disability. The attitudes were formed by the time of entry into the educational programme and did not change significantly according to the academic years

Pages

E-bulletin