Occupational risk factors for HIV infection among traditional birth attendants in Copperbelt province, Zambia

Today we are featuring African Journal of Health Sciences vol.17 no. 3-4, which includes "Occupational risk factors for HIV infection among traditional birth attendants in Copperbelt province, Zambia" by Siziya, Seter & Hazemba, Alice. 

In this issue, a cross sectional survey was conducted among traditional birth attendants (TBA) in order to determine overall occupational health risks associated with HIV infection. A sum of 370 individual TBAs were recruited for the study. 67 (18.1%) of the individuals were trained and the median age of all individuals was 50 years old. One of the key issues was the use of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for initial birth of the babies, which was reported by 22 (6.0%) of the 365 TBAs. Additionally, a total of 220 (59.6%) TBAs reported washing their hands with soap and water after contact with mothers and babies after the deliveries. Only 42 (11.5%) birth attendants used gloves all of the time when in contact with mothers and their babies. 

In summary, a total of 44 out of the 370 (11.9%) traditional birthing attendants tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). After adjusting for age, attendants who used mouth-to-mouth resuscitation were 6.02 (95%CI 1.97, 18.42) times likely to contract HIV than attendants who did not use this method of resuscitating the newborn babies. To conclude, the study suggests that the precautions for universal protection against the contraction of HIV was poor and that the use of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of newborns should be highly discouraged. 

For this article and others from this issue, click here.

43% of 2136 adolescents reported to have seriously injured themselves -- Tanzania Journal of Health Research Vol.15 No.1

This is our second consecutive post on the Tanzania Journal of Health Research. Today we are featuring vol.15 no.1, which was updated on Bioline at the end of March 2014.

This issue includes "Knowledge, attitude and practices on family planning services among adolescents in secondary schools in Hai District, northern Tanzania" by Dangat & Njau. This study examines attitudes, knowledge and practices of family planning services among adolescents in 10 secondary schools in the Hai district in northern Tanzania. The study was conducted between April and June 2011 through a cross-sectional survey administered to 316 randomly selected students, of which the median age was 17 years old. The results indicated that about 71% of survey respondents said that family planning services should not be used by adolescents, and less than 6% of survey respondents had received family planning services in their lifetime.

This issue also includes "Self-inflicted serious injuries among adolescents in Zambia" by Muula et al. This study aims to uncover some of the factors and and prevalence of self-inflicted injuries among students in Zambia. The study was conducted using data from the 2004 Zambia Global School-Based Health Survey to assess the prevalence within the last 12 months. Out of 2136 adolescents who did the survey, more than 43% were reported to have seriously injured themselves. Of these adolescents, almost 12% reported to have serious injured themselves on purpose. Emotions associated with a history of self-inflicted injury included sadness, suicidal behaviour, alcohol use and marijuana use.

For these articles and others from this issue, click here.