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Graduates’ perceptions of prosthetic and orthotic education and clinical practice in Tanzania and Malawi

MAGNUSSON, Lina
SHANGALI, Harold G
AHLSTRÖM, Gerd
2016

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Background: Maintaining and improving the quality of prosthetics and orthotics education at the Tanzania Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists is essential for the provision of appropriate prosthetics and orthotics services in African countries.

 

Objectives: To describe how Tanzanian and Malawian graduates’ of the Diploma in Orthopaedic Technology perceive their education and how it could be improved or supplemented to facilitate clinical practice of graduates.

 

Methods: Nineteen graduates from the diploma course in orthopaedic technology were interviewed and phenomenographic analysis was applied to the data.

 

Results: Seven descriptive categories emerged, namely varied awareness of the profession before starting education, well-equipped teaching facilities, aspects lacking in the learning context, need for changes in the curriculum, enabling people to walk is motivating, obstacles in working conditions and the need for continuous professional development. All participants perceived possible improvements to the content and learning environment.

 

Conclusions: Prosthetic and orthotic education can be better provided by modifying the content of the diploma programme by dedicating more time to the clinical management of different patient groups and applied biomechanics as well as reducing the programme content focusing on technical aspects of prosthetic and orthotic practice. Graduates were not prepared for the rural working conditions and the graduates desired continued training.

Missing the target #4 : time is running out to end AIDS - treatment and prevention for all!

INTERNATIONAL TREATMENT PREPAREDNESS COALITION (ITPC)
July 2007

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This report provides research from 17 countries to support the case that efforts to ensure universal access to treatment for HIV and AIDS are maintained and accelerated; that supplementary services are also provided free at the point of access; that there is increased investment in health care workers; and co-ordinated policy reforms. It also recommends that donors ensure sustainable funding for treatment programmes and identifies areas of weaknesses in global programmes. In addition, it provides focus reports for Cambodia, China, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia; brief updates on countries previously reported on: Dominican Republic, Kenya, Nigeria, India, Russia and South Africa; and short summaries on Argentina, Belize, Cameroon, Malaysia and Morocco

Challenges of care : VSO-RAISA regional conference 2007 report back

HAMILTON, Robin
PORTER, Stephen
2007

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"The aim of the conference was to bring together stakeholders from different sectors, in order to create a forum for discussing innovative solutions to emerging issues affecting caregivers in community based organisations. Objectives included focusing on the challenges of care to women and children, identifying good home-based care practices, discussing policy and legal frameworks for home-based care, raising awareness of caregivers’ needs, exploring how to engage men in home-based care, and establishing networks for lobbying and advocacy"

Antiretroviral therapy in primary health care : experience of the Chiradzulu programme in Malawi. Case study

MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES (MSF) MALAWI
July 2004

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The Chiradzulu programme is one of MSF's largest. MSF currently provides HAART to more than 13,000 patients in 56 projects spread across 25 countries. These programmes provide a continuum of care, including prevention efforts (health education, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV), voluntary counselling and testing, prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections, HAART and nutritional and psychosocial support. Although the Chiradzulu project is still evolving, and treatment systems and point of care continue to be modified, the project has already shown that when treatment is adapted to local conditions and is supported by human and financial resources, rural health systems can effectively provide comprehensive HIV/AIDS care

Palliative care in Sub-Saharan Africa : an appraisal

HARDING, Richard
HIGGINSON, Irene
2004

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This report was written from the belief that palliative care is, and will be for the forseeable future, an essential component in the continuum of managing HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. There is now a wealth of experience in sub-Saharan Africa about the ways in which palliative care can be delivered both affordably and effectively. However, there remains a lack of properly documented evidence and research to demonstrate the importance of this work and promote its development. This report provides a review of existing evaluations of palliative care projects in sub-Saharan Africa with an emphasis on isolating the factors that lead to sustainability, local ownership and scaling up; the role of palliative care in the management of HIV/AIDS and how to integrate palliative care and Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART); primary health based care projects in two countries, Kenya and Malawi, that could provide lessons for the implementation of palliative care; lessons from other parallel programmes which mirror palliative care delivery, for example, tuberculosis programmes, and primary care programmes with good links to local clinics and hospitals, and community mobilization and empowerment projects linked to health facilities. In this way it contributes to the effort of providing an evidence base to demonstrate the importance of palliative care and provides a source of reference for policy makers, practitioners, donors and researchers

Liverpool school of tropical medicine : Malaria knowledge programme. Annual report 2003-2004 : reduction in the suffering by improving the management of malaria through better intervention and control of malaria.’

LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE (LSTM)
2004

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The report shows the overall activities of the Malaria Knowledge Programme during 2003-2004. It initially outlines the research activities and the new knowledge outputs. Using a framework developed by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine's Vulnerability and Health Alliance the report contains an evaluation of the implications and effects of the research findings on those most vulnerable to the effects of malaria

HIV and childhood disability : a case-controlled study at a paediatric antiretroviral therapy centre in Lilongwe, Malawi

DEVENDRA, Akash
MAKAWA, Atupele
KAZEMBE, Peter N
CALLES, Nancy R
KUPE, Hannah
December 2003

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This article presents a case-controlled study that estimated the prevalence of disabilities in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected children in Lilongwe, Malawi, examines types of disability and associated clinical and socio-demographic factors and identifies needs, opportunities and barriers for rehabilitation in Malawi. This study reveals the magnitude of disability among HIV-infected children and the large unmet need for rehabilitation services. It recommends that this expanding issue is investigated further to provide an evidence base for holistic care for disabled children living with HIV

PLoS ONE, Vol 8, No 12

Children with hydrocephalus and spina bifida in East Africa : can family and community resources improve the odds?

MILES, M
2002

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Hydrocephalus and spina bifida are life threatening conditions that often result in severe dsabilities. Risks are much reduced by immediate surgery and careful managment, but neither has been available for most of the sub-Saharan African population. This paper traces the growth of solutions and some socio-cultural resources that historically have supported family and community care for children with severe disabilities, mainly in Tanzania, and nearby countries. Some community-based rehabilitation (CBR) work with children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus is described, and challenges to the CBR approach are noted from the increased survival of people with disabilities requiring complex care. More appropriate information, recognition of indigenous knowledge, enlistment of community resources and financial assistance are needed to enhance the lives of East Africans with hydrocephalus, spina bifida and other severely disabling conditions

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