infections

Abstract

Objective:

Accurate and timely information on the causes of child deaths is essential in guiding efforts to improve child survival, by providing data from which health profiles can be constructed and relevant health policies formulated. The purpose of this study was to identify causes of death in children younger than 5 years-old in a tertiary hospital in South Africa.

Methods:

The global war on drugs is driving the HIV/AIDS pandemic among people who use drugs and their sexual partners. Throughout the world, research has consistently shown that repressive drug law enforcement practices force drug users away from public health services and into hidden environments where HIV risk becomes markedly elevated. Mass incarceration of non-violent drug offenders also plays a major role in increasing HIV risk. This is a critical public health issue in many countries, including the United States, where as many as 25 percent of Americans infected with HIV may pass through correctional facilities annually, and where disproportionate incarceration rates are among the key reasons for markedly higher HIV rates among African Americans.

The report covers the maternal deaths that were reported to the NCCEMD secretariat by 15th April 2011, and that occurred in the triennium 2008-2010. The same definitions used in previous Saving Mothers reports were used in this report.

Key findings

New WHO guidelines recommend offering HIV testing and counselling to couples, wherever HIV testing and counselling is available, including in antenatal clinics. For couples where only one partner is HIV positive, the guidelines recommend offering antiretroviral therapy to the HIV positive partner, regardless of his/her own immune status (CD4 count), to reduce the likelihood of HIV transmission to the HIV negative partner.

HIV/AIDS imposes enormous economic, social, health, and human costs and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The challenge is particularly acute in Sub-Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds (22.5 million) of the people living with HIV/AIDS globally, and where HIV/AIDS has become the leading cause of premature death. But now, after decades of misery and frustration with the disease, there are signs of hope. HIV prevalence rates in Africa are stabilizing. This book sheds light on these concerns by analyzing the fiscal implications of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, the epicenter of the epidemic. It uses the toolbox of public finance to assess the sustainability of HIV/AIDS programs.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is not a recent phenomenon, but it is a critical health issue today. Over several decades, to varying degrees, bacteria causing common infections have developed resistance to each new antibiotic, and AMR has evolved to become a worldwide health threat. With a dearth of new antibiotics coming to market, the need for action to avert a developing global crisis in health care is increasingly urgent.

A global review of the key interventions related to reproductive, maternal, newborn and child Health

Executive Summary

Why reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health?

Poor maternal, newborn and child health remains a significant problem in developing countries. Worldwide, 358 000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth every year and an estimated 7.6 million children die under the age of five. The majority of maternal deaths occur during or immediately after childbirth. The common medical causes for maternal death include bleeding, high blood pressure, prolonged and obstructed labour, infections and unsafe abortions.

The purpose of this work is to assist South Africa in improving its HIV prevention response. In 2011, the South African government has the challenging task to draw up a new 5-year strategy: the National HIV Strategic Plan 2012 to 2016. This plan is to provide strategic direction on how to respond to HIV and AIDS in South Africa in the next five years. With the annual rate of new HIV infections down to the level of the early 1990s, a slower spread of HIV infection in teenagers, ARV provision at high levels, and promising new HIV prevention tools becoming available, these five years represent a window of opportunity to radically turn around the epidemic by significantly putting the brakes on new infections in the country.

The primary goals of Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention are to improve the dignity, quality, and length of life of people living with HIV; which, if achieved will, in turn, have a beneficial impact on their partners, families, and communities, including reducing the likelihood of new infections.