Journal of Disease and Global Health

Introduction: Medical knowledge and skills provide the technical components for medical providers. Patients want their physician to demonstrate interpersonal skills such as; confidence, empathy, humanism and respect. The aim of this survey is to discover community perception in low resources culture of the important attributes of their medical providers.

Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive cross sectional community based study, conducted in Khartoum state, Sudan from January to May 2014. The study population was adults 20 years and above from both sexes. We surveyed 384 participants; only 280 of them returned their questionnaires. Participants were asked to list 3 characters they admired and three characters they did not like in their healthcare providers.

Results: The mean age of participants was 38.4 years. Moral values, being expert, good communication and behavior were admired by 248 (48.4%), 139 (27.2%), 106 (20.7%) and 18 (3.5%) of the participants respectively. While unclear communication, bad behavior and lack of experience were reported by 212 (56.5%), 120 (32%) and 43 (11.5%) as negative attributes. technical skills was never mentioned by any participant.

Conclusion: Moral values are the most important attributes reported by nearly half of the participants. Technical skills were never mentioned directly in this survey. Expert providers are admired by one quarter of the participants.  The importance of interpersonal skills was emphasized in this report from a low resource culture. 

Background and Objectives: Neonatal sepsis remains an important cause of neonatal mortality in developing countries. The main objectives of this study were to evaluate the role of total white blood cell count and absolute neutrophil count in the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis.

Methods: This was a prospective, hospital-based study conducted in the neonatal intensive care unit at Soba University Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan, from January to

June 2018. 90 babies were included in the study. Data was collected using a specifically designed questionnaire including maternal and neonatal data. .Chi square test was used to study the correlation between risk factors for sepsis and absolute neutrophil count. P value was set at 0.05 level of significance.

Results: The main results showed that 14 babies (15.6%) had TWBCS less than 5000/ mm3, 69 babies (76.6%) had TWBCS between 5000-20000 /mm3 and 7 babies (7.8%) had TWBCS more than 20000 /mm3.   81(90%) had ANC more than 1800 mm3, 6 (6.7%) had ANC between 500-1000 /mm3, 3(3.3%) had ANC between less than 500 /mm3.The study showed that 71 babies (78.9%) had positive CRP. All babies included in the study had positive blood culture. Correlation between ANC and risk factors for sepsis showed that there was significant correlation between ANC and gestational age, mode of delivery, low Apgar score and UTI in the third trimester (P values = 0.020, 0.030, 0.036 and 0.020 respectively). The study showed that there was significant correlation between ANC and blood culture (p value = 0.00).

Conclusion: Total white cell count and absolute neutrphil count, being easily measurable and more affordable, can be conveniently used as good markers for the diagnosis of early neonatal sepsis especially in low resource setting.

Background: There is a high risk of malaria infection in Uganda due to availability of conducive conditions in breeding habitats of An. gambiae s.l., the vectors for Plasmodium, the causative agent of malaria.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether the abundance and distribution of macro-invertebrates and An. gambiae s.l. are influenced by water physico-chemical parameters.

Methods: In this study, habitats were classified as ponds, streams, temporary pools and roadside ditches. From these habitats, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, temperature and pH were measured in-situ in the morning and afternoon between October and December 2017. Macro-invertebrates and An. gambiae s.l. larvae were sampled, preserved, morphologically identified and counted.

Results: There was a strong association between An. gambiae s.l. with land use, habitat types and water physico-chemical parameters. Baetidae, Coenagrionidae, Aeshnidae, Nepidae, Lymnaeidae and Hirudidae were highly abundant in streams. Notonectidae, Haliplidae and Elmidae were dominant in ponds while Dytiscidae, Culicidae, Chironomidae, Sphaerolichidae and An. gambiae s.l. were abundant in temporary pools. Carabidae were abundant in roadside ditches.

Conclusion: Water physico-chemical parameters, land use and habitat types influenced the abundance and distribution of macro-invertebrates including An. gambiae s.l. We recommend that studies should be conducted to establish the mechanisms through which these factors influence abundance and distribution of An. gambiae s.l. and other macro-invertebrates.

Background: Developing and poor states have relatively poor standard of health care systems. Rural areas are affected in particular while maternal health is specifically ignored. This study aims to make a descriptive profile of the maternal health in Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan which is geographically isolated and extremely rural area of Pakistan.

Study Design: Cross-sectional and quantitative.

Methodology: The population was identified through a household survey. Sample size was determined through creative online survey system. An interview schedule was prepared to collect the information while SPSS was used to analyze the collected information.

Findings: The status of maternal health in Chitral is very poor by modern standards. Geographic and infrastructural barriers are important reasons. The conditions of roads is poor and are not appropriate for women to travel during pregnancy. Distances from hospitals are long; thereby, many families prefer to use traditional Dai system. Deaths during maternity are reported whereby lack of appropriate and modern gynecological facilitation are responsible. Patients are often to sent to far away hospitals in case of minor complications. Affordability issues and poor socio-economic status of women are also found to be important in poor maternal health in Chitral. Cultural setup such as Dai system, beliefs on fate, continuing pregnancies till having male children, more number of children and perceiving the use of contraceptives as a sin also contributes to poor maternal health in the study area.

Conclusion: The status of maternal health is by far low by modern standards in Bonni, Chitral, Pakistan. Rural set up, harsh geography (creating infrastructural and facilitations barriers), poverty and the cultural set up are responsible for poor maternal health.

Odontoma is the most common benign tumor of odontogenic origin, characterized by mixed histological features and diverse clinical presentation. Although the exact etiology is unknown, the postulated causes include local trauma, infection, inheritance, genetic mutation. Here, we report a case of compound odontome in 6 year old male patient. They are usually asymptomatic but sometimes can be associated with eruption disturbances. The gross findings showed a calcified mass resembling a small tooth like denticle. Histology showed a mass of tooth like structure consisting of enamel matrix, dentin and pulp. Definitive diagnosis of compound composite odontoma was made by correlating the clinical, radiographic and histologic findings. The recommended treatment is total surgical removal with proper histopathologic evaluation to confirm the diagnosis.