Water fetching and musculoskeletal health across the life-course in Sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Meeuwisse S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC11371245 | biostudies-literature | 2024
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Water fetching and musculoskeletal health across the life-course in Sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review.
Meeuwisse Soren S Elliott Susan J SJ Bennett Alexa A Kapoor Videsh V
PLOS global public health 20240903 9
The world is experiencing a global water crisis and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is expected to be a hotspot for increasing global water scarcity in years to come. Water is quintessentially a gendered issue; indeed, sociocultural norms hold women responsible for household water collection, requiring them to travel far distances while carrying water. This paper reports the findings of a scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature that examines the relationship between water fetching and the m ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:BackgroundMusculoskeletal injuries are noticeably high among the nursing fraternity, with lower back pain (LBP) being the most prevalent. Therefore, this study aimed to map evidence on the burden of occupational musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) among nurses in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).MethodsThis scoping review was guided by Arksey and O'Malley's framework. We conducted a comprehensive literature search with no date limit from the following databases: Science Direct, PubMed, Sabinet (SA ePublications), EBSCOhost platform, World Health Organization (WHO) Library, Google Scholar, SCOPUS, Taylor and Francis, and WorldCat Academic Search with full text for published studies. The search took place from May 2022 to December 2022. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was used for reporting the search results, and a thematic content analysis was used to present the emerging themes from the included studies.ResultsA total of 16,714 studies were identified after the database search. Only 29 studies met the inclusion criteria after full-article screening and were included for data extraction. The studies reported a total of 6343 participants from different regions in SSA. The 29 included studies showed evidence on the prevalence of MSD, associated risk factors of MSD and LBP among nurses in SSA with some recommendations on how to reduce the prevalence of MSD among nurses.ConclusionThe study findings reveal that there is a high prevalence of MSD among nurses, especially LBP. The etiology of MSD among nurses is multifactorial, and multifaceted strategies to address MSD are recommended. Further research is recommended to explore strategies that can be used to curb the high prevalence of MSD among nurses.
| S-EPMC11526634 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundGlobally, adolescents are vulnerable to mental health problems, particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) due to impoverished living conditions and a higher prevalence of chronic conditions such as HIV/AIDS in the region. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated this risk. This calls for an urgent need for evidence-based adolescent mental health interventions to reduce the risk and burden of mental health problems in SSA. The review aims to identify and characterize existing adolescent mental health interventions in SSA, as well as to evaluate their implementation strategies and effectiveness.MethodsWe systematically searched PubMed, African Index Medicus, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and CINAHL databases for relevant articles. Furthermore, we searched gray literature databases, including Think Tank search, open gray, NGO search engine, and IGO search engine for additional relevant articles. The scoping review was conducted to identify original research articles on mental health interventions among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa published from database inception to 31 December 2021. We carried out a narrative synthesis to report our findings.ResultsOur literature search generated 4,750 studies, of which 1,141 were duplicates, 3,545 were excluded after screening, and 64 articles met the inclusion criteria. The 64 studies describe a total of 57 unique mental health interventions comprising 40,072 adolescents. The nature of these interventions was diverse, encompassing various implementation strategies such as economic-based, family strengthening, psychoeducation, interpersonal psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and resilience training, among others. Most of the interventions were selective interventions that targeted adolescents at high risk of developing mental health problems including adolescents living with HIV, war-affected adolescents, orphans, adolescents from poorer backgrounds, and survivors of sexual violence. Half of the interventions were delivered by lay persons. Sixty-two of the eligible studies examined the effectiveness of the mental health interventions, of which 55 of them reported a positive significant impact on various mental health outcomes.ConclusionsThe review findings show that there exist several diverse interventions that promote mental health among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. These interventions can be implemented in diverse settings including schools, communities, health facilities, and camps, and can be delivered by lay persons.
| S-EPMC9429610 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundAlthough measures have been put in place, musculoskeletal injuries are noticeable high among the nursing fraternity with low back pain (LBP) being the most prevalent. It is evident that healthcare professionals are in constant exposure to occupational hazards such as musculoskeletal injuries as they discharge their professional duties. Not only does LBP affect the health of the nurses, it also creates a huge burden on the health systems with consequent poor performance at the workplace as well as economic burden. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to map evidence on the prevalence, incidence, mortality, risk factors, and economic costs of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This is a scoping review because we want to map the evidence of MSD among nurses in SSA and to identify the scope of body literature in which the findings will be used for planning the intervention study thereafter.Methods and analysisScoping review will be done to explore, describe, and map literature on the prevalence, incidence, mortality, risk factors, and economic costs related to MSD among nurses in SSA. The search will be done using databases such as PubMed, EBSCOHOST, Scopus, Web of Science, Science direct, Sabinet, WorldCat Local (iCatalogue), MEDLINE, CINAHL, Google Scholar, nursing academic editions, and World Health Organization (WHO) library databases. The search will look for primary studies within peer-reviewed articles as well as gray literature. In addition, the researcher will search for articles using keywords from the included studies as well as the list of references for related studies. The screening will be guided by Arksey and O'Malley's framework which has five steps to be followed: (I) identifying the research question, (II) identifying relevant studies, (III) study selection, (IV) charting the data, and (V) collating, summarizing, and reporting the results, and the scoping review will be reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. A thematic content analysis will be used to give the narrative account of the review; using NVivo version 11 software, two independent reviewers will follow the three stages outlined by the thematic synthesis theory: (a) coding the findings of the included studies line-by-line, (b) organizing these free codes into related areas to construct descriptive themes, and (c) developing analytical themes. The outcome of coding will be verified and discussed with a third reviewer. The process of cross-checking the outcomes of coding of each included article will be discussed thoroughly.DiscussionAt the end, this study anticipates to uncover the relevant literature in SSA in regard to the prevalence, incidence, mortality, risk factors, and economic costs related to MSD among nurses; furthermore, findings from this study will help in identifying research gaps; informing policy, priority in funding, and planning; and guiding future research.
| S-EPMC8364119 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Sub-Saharan Africa represents 69% of the total number of individuals living with HIV infection worldwide and 72% of AIDS deaths globally. Pulmonary infection is a common and frequently fatal complication, though little is known regarding the lower airway microbiome composition of this population. Our objectives were to characterize the lower airway microbiome of Ugandan HIV-infected patients with pneumonia, to determine relationships with demographic, clinical, immunological, and microbiological variables and to compare the composition and predicted metagenome of these communities to a comparable cohort of patients in the US (San Francisco). Bronchoalveolar lavage samples from a cohort of 60 Ugandan HIV-infected patients with acute pneumonia were collected. Amplified 16S ribosomal RNA was profiled and aforementioned relationships examined. Ugandan airway microbiome composition and predicted metagenomic function were compared to US HIV-infected pneumonia patients. Among the most common bacterial pulmonary pathogens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was most prevalent in the Ugandan cohort. Patients with a richer and more diverse airway microbiome exhibited lower bacterial burden, enrichment of members of the Lachnospiraceae and sulfur-reducing bacteria and reduced expression of TNF-alpha and matrix metalloproteinase-9. Compared to San Franciscan patients, Ugandan airway microbiome were significantly richer, and compositionally distinct with predicted metagenomes that encoded a multitude of distinct pathogenic pathways e.g secretion systems. Ugandan pneumonia-associated airway microbiome is compositionally and functionally distinct from those detected in comparable patients in developed countries, a feature which may contribute to adverse outcomes in this population. Please note that the data from the comparable cohort of patients in the USUS data was published as supplemental material of PMID: 22760045 but not submitted to GEO The 'patient_info.txt' contains 12 clinical, 7 immunological and 3 microbiological variables for each patient.
2014-02-20 | GSE52791 | GEO
Project description:ObjectiveHealth-related research in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has grown over the years. However, concerns have been raised about the state of research ethics committees (RECs). This scoping review examines the literature on RECs for health-related research in SSA and identifies strategies that have been applied to strengthen the RECs. It focuses on three aspects of RECs: regulatory governance and leadership, administrative and financial capacity and technical capacity of members.DesignA scoping review of published literature, including grey literature, was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute approach.Data sourcesBioOne, CINAHL, Embase (via Ovid), Education Abstracts, Global Health, Google Scholar, Jstor, OpenEdition (French), Philosopher's Index, PsycINFO, PubMed, Science Citation and Expanded Index (Web of Science), reference lists of included studies and specific grey literature sources.Eligibility criteriaWe included empirical studies on RECs for health-related research in SSA, covering topics on REC leadership and governance, administrative and financial capacity and the technical capacity of REC members. We included studies published between 01 January 2000 and 18 February 2022 and written in English, French, Portuguese or Swahili.Data extraction and synthesisTwo independent reviewers screened the records. Data were extracted by one reviewer and cross-checked by another. Owing to the heterogeneity of included studies, thematic analysis was used.ResultsWe included 54 studies. The findings show that most RECs in SSA work under significant administrative and financial constraints, with few opportunities for capacity building for committee members. This has an impact on the quality of reviews and the overall performance of RECs. Although most countries have national governance systems for RECs, they lack regulations on accountability, transparency and monitoring of RECs.ConclusionsThis review provides a comprehensive overview of the literature on RECs for health-related research in SSA and contributes to our understanding of how RECs can be strengthened.
| S-EPMC9680187 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Improvements in water and sanitation should reduce cholera risk though the associations between cholera and specific water and sanitation access measures remain unclear. We estimated the association between eight water and sanitation measures and annual cholera incidence access across sub-Saharan Africa (2010-2016) for data aggregated at the country and district levels. We fit random forest regression and classification models to understand how well these measures combined might be able to predict cholera incidence rates and identify high cholera incidence areas. Across spatial scales, piped or "other improved" water access was inversely associated with cholera incidence. Access to piped water, septic or sewer sanitation, and septic, sewer, or "other improved" sanitation were associated with decreased district-level cholera incidence. The classification model had moderate performance in identifying high cholera incidence areas (cross-validated-AUC 0.81, 95% CI 0.78-0.83) with high negative predictive values (93-100%) indicating the utility of water and sanitation measures for screening out areas that are unlikely to be at high cholera risk. While comprehensive cholera risk assessments must incorporate other data sources (e.g., historical incidence), our results suggest that water and sanitation measures could alone be useful in narrowing the geographic focus for detailed risk assessments.
| S-EPMC10357557 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Immune senescence is a significant contributor to health problems in the developed world and may be accelerated by chronic viral infections. To date, there have been few studies of immune function in healthy older people in sub-Saharan Africa. We assessed T cell and B cell phenotypes and immune responses to CMV, EBV, and influenza virus in Malawians aged 20-69 y. Notably, the proportion of naive (CCR7+CD45RA+) CD4 and CD8 T cells was only 14% of the lymphoid repertoire even in donors aged under 30 y but did not decrease further with age. A small increase in the late differentiated (CD27-CD28-) CD8 T cell subpopulation was observed in older donors but the CD4/CD8 T cell ratio remained stable in all age groups. Interestingly, the regulatory (CD25hiFOXP3hi) T cell subpopulation was small in all age groups, and we observed no age-associated accumulation of cells expressing the senescence- and exhaustion-associated markers CD57 and PD-1. We assessed functional T cell responses to mitogenic and viral antigenic stimulation by the expression of CD154, IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2, and IL-17 and proliferation. All responses were robust across the life course, although we observed an age-associated shift from IFN-γ to TNF-α in the response to EBV. In summary, we found the naive T cell subpopulation of young adult Malawians was smaller than in their contemporaries in high-income settings but remains stable thereafter and that lymphocyte function is retained across the life course. These observations indicate that studies of the genetic and environmental factors influencing immune function in different environments may provide insights into minimizing immune ageing.
| S-EPMC6778523 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Konzo, a disease characterized by sudden, irreversible spastic paraparesis, affecting up to 10% of the population in some regions of Sub-Saharan Africa during outbreaks and is strongly associated with dietary exposure to cyanogenic bitter cassava. The molecular mechanisms underlying the development of konzo, remain largely unknown. Here, through an analysis of 16 individuals with konzo and matched healthy controls from the same outbreak zones, we identified 117 differentially methylated loci involved in numerous biological processes that may identify cyanogenic- sensitive regions of the genome, providing the first study of epigenomic alterations associated with sub-lethal cyanide exposure and a clinical phenotype.
2022-12-31 | GSE180119 | GEO
Project description:Spatial analysis has become an increasingly used analytic approach to describe and analyze spatial characteristics of disease burden, but the depth and coverage of its usage for health surveys data in Sub-Saharan Africa are not well known. The objective of this scoping review was to conduct an evaluation of studies using spatial statistics approaches for national health survey data in the SSA region. An organized literature search for studies related to spatial statistics and national health surveys was conducted through PMC, PubMed/Medline, Scopus, NLM Catalog, and Science Direct electronic databases. Of the 4,193 unique articles identified, 153 were included in the final review. Spatial smoothing and prediction methods were predominant (n = 108), followed by spatial description aggregation (n = 25), and spatial autocorrelation and clustering (n = 19). Bayesian statistics methods and lattice data modelling were predominant (n = 108). Most studies focused on malaria and fever (n = 47) followed by health services coverage (n = 38). Only fifteen studies employed nonstandard spatial analyses (e.g., spatial model assessment, joint spatial modelling, accounting for survey design). We recommend that for future spatial analysis using health survey data in the SSA region, there must be an improve recognition and awareness of the potential dangers of a naïve application of spatial statistical methods. We also recommend a wide range of applications using big health data and the future of data science for health systems to monitor and evaluate impacts that are not well understood at local levels.
| S-EPMC7246597 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionHealth research in low-income and middle-income countries, which face the greatest burden of disease, is a vital component of efforts to combat global health inequality. With increased research, there has also been concern about ethical and regulatory issues and the state of research ethics committees, with various attempts to strengthen them. This scoping review examines the literature on ethics committees for health-related research in sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on regulatory governance and leadership, administrative and financial capacity, and conduct of ethical reviews.Methods and analysisWe will use the methodological approach proposed by Arksey and O'Malley and adapted by Levac et al and the Joanna Briggs Institute. Inclusion and exclusion criteria are based on the 'Population-Concept-Context' framework. Literature (from January 2000 to December 2020) will be searched in multiple databases including Embase and PubMed and websites of relevant organisations. All records will be screened by applying the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Review flowchart: two reviewers will independently screen titles and abstracts, and full text of included records. Using an inductive approach, we will synthesise the literature, identify best practice and gaps in evidence on strengthening research ethics committees.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required as the review will include only published literature. The findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at stakeholder meetings and conferences.
| S-EPMC8362705 | biostudies-literature