Shed some light on darkness: will Tanzania reach the millennium development goals?

"Every drug goes to treat its own disease…" - a qualitative study of perceptions and experiences of taking anti-retrovirals concomitantly with anti-malarials among those affected by HIV and malaria in Tanzania

Background

Little is known about how people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) experience malaria and the concomitant use of anti-malarial treatments with anti-retrovirals (ARVs). An understanding of how patients make sense of these experiences is important to consider in planning and supporting the clinical management and treatment for co-infected individuals.

Methods

A qualitative study was conducted in Tanzania alongside a clinical trial of concomitant treatment for HIV and malaria co-infection. Focus group discussions were held with people receiving treatment for HIV and/or malaria, and in-depth interviews with health workers responsible for HIV care and members of the clinical trial team. Data were analysed inductively to identify themes and develop theoretical narratives.

Results

Results suggest that people living with HIV perceived malaria to be more harmful to them due to their compromised immune status but saw the disease as unavoidable. For those enrolled in the clinical controlled study, taking anti-malarials together with ARVs was largely seen as unproblematic, with health workers’ advice and endorsement of concomitant drug taking influential in reported adherence. However, perceptions of drug strength appeared to compel some people not enrolled in the clinical study to take the drugs at separate times to avoid anticipated harm to the body.

Conclusions

Management of HIV and malaria concurrently often requires individuals to cross the domains of different disease programmes. In the context of a trial concerned with both diseases, patients experienced the support of clinicians in guiding and reassuring them about when and how to take drugs concomitantly. This points towards the need to continue to strive for integrated care for patients with HIV.

Under-5 mortality in Tanzania: a demographic scenario

BACKGROUND

The government of the United Republic of Tanzania has initiated the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness program to improve the health and wellbeing of children.

METHODS

Tanzania's under-five mortality rate is still 1.7 times higher than the world average and, in order to achieve its Millennium Development Goal 4 target, its annual reduction rate is quite low at 2.2. The main aim of the study is to examine under-five mortality combined with the Data from the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2008 data was used. Odds ratios for infant and under-five mortality were estimated using logistic regression; crude and adjusting models were adopted.

RESULTS

Mortality cases (18.3%) have been reported to children born with an interval of <24 months. Mothers with no education reported 14.6%, primary education mothers reported 11.1% and higher education reported only 5.3% (P<0.001). Therefore, maternal education plays is a major role on fertility and infant and under-five mortality behavior.

CONCLUSION

Maternal education also influences a mother's behavior in her usage of available health services to improve the health of the children. Further in-depth analysis is immensely needed in this situation.

Prevalence of active epilepsy in rural Tanzania: a large community-based survey in an adult population

PURPOSE

To estimate the prevalence of active epilepsy in adults in an established demographic surveillance site in rural Tanzania. To describe the clinical characteristics of epilepsy and to estimate the treatment gap in this population.

METHODS

A pilot study established that a previously validated screening questionnaire was sensitive for detecting cases of epilepsy in a Kiswahili-speaking Tanzanian population. A door-to-door census of the adult population (total 103,026) used the screening questionnaire to identify possible cases of epilepsy, who were then assessed by a research doctor to establish a diagnosis of epilepsy or otherwise. The prevalence of active epilepsy in this population was estimated with age-standardisation to the WHO standard population. Seizure types and epilepsies were classified according to current recommendations of the International League Against Epilepsy. The treatment gap for epilepsy was estimated based on antiepileptic drug use as reported by cases.

RESULTS

Two hundred and ninety-one cases of active epilepsy, all with convulsive seizures, were identified. The age-standardised prevalence was 2.91/1000 adults (95% CI 2.58-3.24); the crude prevalence adjusted for non-response was 3.84/1000 adults (95% CI 3.45-4.20). Focal-onset seizures accounted for 71.5% of all cases identified. The treatment gap was 68.4% (95% CI 63.0-73.7).

CONCLUSIONS

This is one of the largest community-based studies of the prevalence of epilepsy in adults conducted in sub-Saharan Africa to date. We identified a lower prevalence than has previously been described in this region. The high proportion of focal onset seizures points to a large burden of acquired, and possibly preventable, epilepsy in this population. A treatment gap of 68.4% confirms that interventions to raise awareness of the treatable nature of epilepsy are warranted in this and similar populations.

Child survival gains in Tanzania: analysis of data from demographic and health surveys

BACKGROUND

A recent national survey in Tanzania reported that mortality in children younger than 5 years dropped by 24% over the 5 years between 2000 and 2004. We aimed to investigate yearly changes to identify what might have contributed to this reduction and to investigate the prospects for meeting the Millennium Development Goal for child survival (MDG 4).

METHODS

We analysed data from the four demographic and health surveys done in Tanzania since 1990 to generate estimates of mortality in children younger than 5 years for every 1-year period before each survey back to 1990. We estimated trends in mortality between 1990 and 2004 by fitting Lowess regression, and forecasted trends in mortality in 2005 to 2015. We aimed to investigate contextual factors, whether part of Tanzania's health system or not, that could have affected child mortality.

FINDINGS

Disaggregated estimates of mortality showed a sharp acceleration in the reduction in mortality in children younger than 5 years in Tanzania between 2000 and 2004. In 1990, the point estimate of mortality was 141.5 (95% CI 141.5-141.5) deaths per 1000 livebirths. This was reduced by 40%, to reach a point estimate of 83.2 (95% CI 70.1-96.3) deaths per 1000 livebirths in 2004. The change in absolute risk was 58.4 (95% CI 32.7-83.8; p<0.0001). Between 1999 and 2004 we noted important improvements in Tanzania's health system, including doubled public expenditure on health; decentralisation and sector-wide basket funding; and increased coverage of key child-survival interventions, such as integrated management of childhood illness, insecticide-treated nets, vitamin A supplementation, immunisation, and exclusive breastfeeding. Other determinants of child survival that are not related to the health system did not change between 1999 and 2004, except for a slow increase in the HIV/AIDS burden.

INTERPRETATION

Tanzania could attain MDG 4 if this trend of improved child survival were to be sustained. Investment in health systems and scaling up interventions can produce rapid gains in child survival.

Private sector response to HIV/AIDS in Tanzania

This study assessed HIV/AIDS prevention practices used by employers in Tanzania. The study also aimed to provide a feasibility analysis of the readiness for HIV/AIDS prevention and other employee health promotion, disease prevention and management interventions within the private sector in Tanzania and to inform emerging scientific literature on the prevalence and composition of employee health education programs in developing countries. Responses to a questionnaire were obtained via structured, face-to-face interviews during visits with company leaders at their workplaces in Tanzania. The survey was conducted from January to March of 2008. It was found that most companies (82%) offer some form of assistance for employees living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic health conditions, and most (73%) also offered HIV/AIDS prevention programs. Use of peer educators was a common feature of HIV prevention efforts. Companies commonly provided free condoms for men (64%); somewhat fewer (55%) provide female condoms. The majority of companies (72%) had a written HIV/AIDS policy. The high rates of program offerings for employees suggest that employers have adopted HIV/AIDS prevention programs, though the wide variability in program offerings indicates employers' beliefs vary concerning the impact of programs, health benefits, and policies.