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Item Can public sector community health workers deliver a nurturing care intervention in South Africa? The Amagugu Asakhula feasibility study(BMC, 2021-02-27)Background: Nurturing care interventions have the potential to promote health and development in early childhood. Amagugu Asakhula was designed to promote developmentally important dietary and movement behaviours among children of preschool age (3-5 years) in South Africa. An initial formative study in Cape Town found the intervention to be feasible and acceptable when delivered by community health workers (CHWs) linked to a community-based organisation. This study evaluated the delivery of the Amagugu Asakhula intervention by CHWs linked to a public sector primary health care facility in Soweto, as this mode of delivery could have more potential for sustainability and scalability. Methods: A qualitative design was utilised to assess feasibility, acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, implementation, fidelity and context. CHWs (n = 14) delivered the intervention to caregivers (n = 23) of preschool-age children in Soweto over 6 weeks. Following the completion of the intervention, focus group discussions were held with CHWs and caregivers. Further data were obtained through observations, study records and key informant interviews (n = 5). Data were analysed using deductive thematic analysis guided by a process evaluation framework. Results: The delivery of the Amagugu Asakhula intervention through CHWs linked to a primary health care facility in Soweto was not found to be feasible due to contextual challenges such as late payment of salaries influencing CHW performance and willingness to deliver the intervention. CHWs expressed dissatisfaction with their general working conditions and were thus reluctant to take on new tasks. Despite barriers to successful delivery, the intervention was well received by both CHWs and caregivers and was considered a good fit with the CHWs' scope of work. Conclusions: Based on these findings, delivery of the Amagugu Asakhula intervention is not recommended through public sector CHWs in South Africa. This feasibility study informs the optimisation of implementation and supports further testing of the intervention's effectiveness when delivered by CHWs linked to community-based organisations. The present study further demonstrates how implementation challenges can be identified through qualitative feasibility studies and subsequently addressed prior to large-scale trials, avoiding the wasting of research and resources.Item Enablers of psychosocial recovery in pediatric burns: Perspectives from the children, parents and burn recovery support staff(BMC, 2020-06-09)Background: Pediatric burn injuries are a major cause of death and injury, occurring mainly in resource poor environments. Recovery from burns is widely reported to be constrained by physical, psychological, relationship and reintegration challenges. These challenges have been widely described, but not the enablers of psychosocial recovery. This is especially true in pediatric burn research, with few multi- perspective studies on the recovery process. Methods: This qualitative study involved 8 focus group discussions (four with 15 children post-burn injury, four with 15 caregivers) and 12 individual interviews with staff working in pediatric burns that explored the psychosocial needs of children after a burn and the enablers of their recovery. Purposive sampling was utilized and recruitment of all three categories of participants was done primarily through the only hospital burns unit in the Western Cape, South Africa. The interviews focused on factors that supported the child's recovery and were sequentially facilitated from the child and the family's experiences during hospitalization, to the return home to family and friends, followed by re-entry into school. Thematic analysis was used to analyze verbatim interview transcripts. Results: The recovery enablers that emerged included: (i) Presence and reassurance; indicating the comfort and practical help provided by family and close friends in the hospital and throughout the recovery process; (ii) Normalizing interactions and acceptance; where children were treated the same as before the injury to promote the acceptance of self and by others especially once the child returned home; and (iii) Sensitization of others and protection; signifying how persons around the child had assisted the children to deal with issues in the reintegration process including the re-entry to school. Conclusions: This study indicates that the psychosocial recovery process of children hospitalized for burns is enabled by the supportive relationships from family members, close friends and burn staff, present during hospitalization, the return home, and school re-entry. Support included comfort and physical presence of trusted others and emotional support; affirmation of the child's identity and belonging despite appearance changes; and the advocacy and protection for the re-entry back into the school, and more generally the community.Item Socio-demographic characteristics and risk factors for HIV transmission in female bar workers in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic literature review(BMC, 2020-03-15)Background: Although sex workers are considered a key population in the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), less consideration has been given to female bar workers (FBW), whose primary occupation is not sex work but who often engage in transactional sex. Understanding FBWs' risk profiles is central to designing targeted HIV prevention interventions for them. This systematic review describes the socio-demographic characteristics and risk factors for HIV transmission among FBWs in SSA. Methods: We searched six databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Popline, Embase and additionally the World Health Organization's WHOLIS database for grey literature between July and September 2017. Inclusion criteria were reporting (1) primary socio-demographic or behavioral data; on (2) women who sold or delivered drinks to clients; (3) in establishments serving alcohol; (4) in SSA. We excluded studies not presenting separate data on FBWs. We extracted quantitative and qualitative data from the selected studies and conducted a qualitative synthesis of findings. Results: We found 4565 potentially eligible articles, including duplicates. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, we retained 19 articles. FBWs often migrated from rural to urban areas due to economic need or social marginalization. They began bar-based transactional sex due to low wages, peer pressure and to increase financial independence. FBWs had high HIV risk awareness but low agency to negotiate condom use, particularly with regular partners or when offered higher prices for condomless sex. FBWs were also vulnerable to violence and stigmatization. Conclusions: FBWs are a vulnerable population for HIV infection. Despite social stigmatization and elevated risk of contracting STIs, bar work remains attractive because it enables unskilled women to both, make a living and maintain some independence. FBWs face HIV-related risk factors at the individual, community and societal level and may benefit from biomedical, behavioral and structural interventions.Item In utero human cytomegalovirus infection is associated with increased levels of putatively protective maternal antibodies in nonprimary infection: Evidence for boosting but not protection(Oxford Academic, 2021-08-16)Background: Although primary maternal cytomegalovirus infections are associated with higher risk of in utero transmission, most fetal infections worldwide result from nonprimary maternal infections. Antibodies directed at glycoprotein B (gB) and the gH/gL/pUL128-130-131 pentamer can neutralize virus, and higher levels of antibody directed at several particular pentamer epitopes defined by monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are associated with reduced risk of fetal cytomegalovirus (CMV) transmission during primary maternal infection. This had not been explored in maternal nonprimary infection. Methods: In a setting where most maternal CMV infections are nonprimary, 42 mothers of infants with congenital CMV infections (transmitters) were compared to 75 CMV-seropositive mothers whose infants were CMV-uninfected (nontransmitters). Control infants were matched by sex, maternal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status, and gestational age. We measured the ability of maternal antibodies to block 3 key pentameric epitopes: one in the gH subunit, another straddling UL130/UL131, and the third straddling gH/gL/UL128/UL130. We tested if levels of antibodies directed at these epitopes were higher in nontransmitters compared to transmitters. Results: Levels of all 3 putatively protective pentamer-directed antibodies were significantly higher in transmitters compared to nontransmitters. In contrast, antibodies targeting an epitope on gB were not different. Total antibody specific for pentamer and for gB were also higher in transmitters. Conclusions: We found no evidence that higher levels of any CMV-specific antibodies were associated with reduced risk of congenital CMV infection in nonprimary maternal infection. Instead, we found higher maternal antibody targeting epitopes on CMV pentamer in transmitters than nontransmitters, providing evidence for antibody boosting but not protection.Item Seasonal shift in physicochemical factors revealed the ecological variables that modulate the density of acinetobacter species in freshwater resources(MDPI, 2020-05-21)Certain environmental variables are responsible for the survival of microorganisms in aquatic environments. The influence of these environmental factors in each season (winter, autumn, spring and summer) of the year can be used to track changes in a microbial population in freshwater resources. In this study, we assessed the effect of seasonal shifts in environmental variables including temperature, pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and turbidity (TBS) among others on the density of Acinetobacter species in the Great Fish, Keiskamma and Tyhume rivers in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Water samples and values of the environmental factors were taken from the rivers for 12 months. The density of presumptive Acinetobacter species was estimated from the culture of water samples on a CHROMagar selective medium, while the Acinetobacter-specific recA gene was targeted for the identification of Acinetobacter species using PCR assay. The multivariate relationship between seasons and changes in variables was created using PCA, while the effect of seasonal shifts in the environmental variables on the density of Acinetobacter species was evaluated using correlation test and topological graphs. Positive association patterns were observed between the seasons, environmental factors and the bacterial density in the rivers. In addition, temperature, TBS, TSS and BOD tended to influence the bacterial density more than other physicochemical factors in the rivers across the seasons. Of the total 1107 presumptive Acinetobacter species, 844 were confirmed as Acinetobacter species. Therefore, these findings suggested that the rivers contain Acinetobacter species that could be useful for basic and applied study in ecology or biotechnology, while their clinical relevance in causing diseases cannot be underestimated.
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