Impact of COVID-19 on mortality in coastal Kenya: a longitudinal open cohort study

The mortality impact of COVID-19 in Africa remains controversial because most countries lack vital registration. We analysed excess mortality in Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System, Kenya, using 9 years of baseline data. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence studies suggest most adults here were infected before May 2022. During 5 waves of COVID-19 (April 2020-May 2022) an overall excess mortality of 4.8% (95% PI 1.2%, 9.4%) concealed a significant excess (11.6%, 95% PI 5.9%, 18.9%) among older adults ( ≥ 65 years) and a deficit among children aged 1-14 years (-7.7%, 95% PI -20.9%, 6.9%). The excess mortality rate for January 2020-December 2021, age-standardised to the Kenyan population, was 27.4/100,000 person-years (95% CI 23.2-31.6). In Coastal Kenya, excess mortality during the pandemic was substantially lower than in most high-income countries but the significant excess mortality in older adults emphasizes the value of achieving high vaccine coverage in this risk group.

Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative: from evidence to action in seven developing country hospitals

QUALITY PROBLEM

Recent evidence in the level of patient safety from hospitals in six developing countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region has demonstrated the high prevalence of adverse events, the excessive rate of death and permanent disability and their high preventability. The Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative (PSFHI) has been launched to respond to these challenges.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT

The principal approach of the PSFHI has been to develop an assessment manual that has 140 patient safety standards across five domains--leadership and management, patients and public involvement, safe evidence-based clinical practices, safe environment and lifelong learning.

CHOICE OF SOLUTION AND IMPLEMENTATION

Ministries of health of seven countries--Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen were asked to nominate one hospital for assessment and then follow-up with an improvement plan.

EVALUATION

The standards are divided into critical (20), core (90) and developmental (30). The range of critical standards, the compulsory standards with which a hospital has to comply, achieved by participating hospitals was 8-78%. Overall, in the domain of leadership and management the highest compliance was 47%, for patients and public involvement 25%, for safe evidence-based clinical practice 53%, for safe environment 64% and for lifelong learning 27%.

LESSONS LEARNED

This is the first systematic multi-country initiative in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, which provides compelling evidence that assessment of patient safety standards is feasible and applicable in resource-poor settings and there are significant opportunities for improving the level of patient safety in these hospitals.

Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative: from evidence to action in seven developing country hospitals

QUALITY PROBLEM

Recent evidence in the level of patient safety from hospitals in six developing countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region has demonstrated the high prevalence of adverse events, the excessive rate of death and permanent disability and their high preventability. The Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative (PSFHI) has been launched to respond to these challenges.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT

The principal approach of the PSFHI has been to develop an assessment manual that has 140 patient safety standards across five domains--leadership and management, patients and public involvement, safe evidence-based clinical practices, safe environment and lifelong learning.

CHOICE OF SOLUTION AND IMPLEMENTATION

Ministries of health of seven countries--Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen were asked to nominate one hospital for assessment and then follow-up with an improvement plan.

EVALUATION

The standards are divided into critical (20), core (90) and developmental (30). The range of critical standards, the compulsory standards with which a hospital has to comply, achieved by participating hospitals was 8-78%. Overall, in the domain of leadership and management the highest compliance was 47%, for patients and public involvement 25%, for safe evidence-based clinical practice 53%, for safe environment 64% and for lifelong learning 27%.

LESSONS LEARNED

This is the first systematic multi-country initiative in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, which provides compelling evidence that assessment of patient safety standards is feasible and applicable in resource-poor settings and there are significant opportunities for improving the level of patient safety in these hospitals.

Corticosteroid use and abuse by medical practitioners for arthritis and related disorders in Pakistan

A total of 256 consecutive patients attending our out-patient clinic in Islamabad, Pakistan, with complaints of pain in or around the joints were evaluated for use of corticosteroids prescribed by medical practitioners they had seen earlier. The appropriateness of such prescriptions and their consequent effects were assessed. Of the 256 patients, 110 (i.e. 42.5%) were identified as steroid users; some of them were suffering from conditions known to be unresponsive to this form of therapy. One hundred and one of the 256 patients had rheumatoid arthritis and 67% of these had been using steroids, mostly in an irrational manner. The general practitioners and consultants (all non-rheumatologists) were responsible for the majority of steroid prescriptions. Steroid side-effects were observed in 42/110 (38.2%) cases. This prevalent practice in Pakistan is a reflection of the state of affairs in developing countries, and indicates a need for improvement and better regulation of health care in such countries.

mtDNA sequence diversity in Africa

mtDNA sequences were determined from 241 individuals from nine ethnic groups in Africa. When they were compared with published data from other groups, it was found that the !Kung, Mbuti, and Biaka show on the order of 10 times more sequence differences between the three groups, as well as between those and the other groups (the Fulbe, Hausa, Tuareg, Songhai, Kanuri, Yoruba, Mandenka, Somali, Tukana, and Kikuyu), than these other groups do between one other. Furthermore, the pairwise sequence distributions, patterns of coalescence events, and numbers of variable positions relative to the mean sequence difference indicate that the former three groups have been of constant size over time, whereas the latter have expanded in size. We suggest that this reflects subsistence patterns in that the populations that have expanded in size are food producers whereas those that have not are hunters and gatherers.