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Changes in social participation of persons affected by leprosy, before and after multidrug therapy, in an endemic state in Eastern India

RAMASAMAY, Senthilkumar
2019

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Purpose: In general, multidrug therapy (MDT) completion rate and the change in disability levels before and after medical treatment are reported as outcomes in leprosy programmes. Changes in activity and social participation levels are rarely reported, possibly because the parameters are more difficult to measure. The study aimed to assess and evaluate the changes in social participation among leprosy-affected persons after completion of MDT.

 

Method: An observational study was conducted among 108 newly-diagnosed leprosy- affected clients, who were registered at the Leprosy Referral Hospital in Champa, Chhattisgarh. Their disability levels pre- and post- MDT were assessed using the WHO Disability Grading, and their social participation level was assessed using the Participation Scale.

 

Results: Of the 108 clients registered during the study period, 90 completed the full course of MDT and were included in the analysis. The majority of these 90 clients or 83% were multibacillary and 23% had Grade 2 disability at the time of diagnosis. At the end of MDT with steroids therapy for reaction and neuritis, the proportion of clients with no participation restriction increased from 76% to 93%. Clients with visible impairments had more restriction as compared to those with no deformity or no visible deformity, before and after MDT. Among those with visible impairments, 78% had mild to severe restriction before MDT and it declined to 26% on completion of treatment.

 

Conclusion: Presence of Grade 2 disability at the time of diagnosis was significantly associated with participation restriction. MDT and steroid therapy for management of reaction and/or neuritis improves the participation level of leprosy-affected clients, suggesting that early detection and appropriate management would reduce their risk of participation restriction.

Global AgeWatch Insights. The right to health for older people, the right to be counted

ALBONE, Rachel
et al
2018

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This report considers the progress being made to achieve older people's right to health amid the global drive towards universal health coverage. It explores how older people are currently accessing health services and what changes need to be made to improve on this. It considers the role of data in driving and informing changes to health systems and the services they deliver. Data must be collected with and about older people to ensure adequate evidence for service design and delivery that is targeted and appropriate. This report explores the adequacy of current data systems and collection mechanisms and how, alongside health systems, they must be adapted in an ageing world. 

 

This report is supported by 12 country profiles (for Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador, Kenya, Lebanon, Moldova, Myanmar, Pakistan, Serbia, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zimbabwe; see Appendix 1). These provide national information on trends in the physical and mental health status of older people, and population-level information on access to UHC. The profiles are supplemented by data mapping, showing the national data available on older people’s health in the 12 profile countries, and revealing the data gaps. The data mapping results are available at www.GlobalAgeWatch.org.

Human Rights

www.macao-tz.org
December 2014

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Malezi AIDS Care Awareness Organization (MACAO) is a non-profit organization reaching out to neglected Indigenous people in Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region of Northern Tanzania.  Macao founded in 2003, Macao is a humanitarian organization that provides assistance to approximately 200,000 Indigenous Maasai community in Ngorongoro district for addressing needs of water and sanitation, food security, health Care Research, Education, Research environment, Maasai Traditional Research, Human Rights and sustainable economic development by strengthening their livelihoods.  In addition to responding to major relief situations, MACAO focuses on long-term community development through over 4 Area Development Project. We welcome the donors and volunteers to join us in this programs, we are wolking in ruro villages.

Rehabilitation : a crucial component in the future of HIV care and support

NIXON, Stephanie
et al
June 2011

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"Provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is not an end in itself but a means to achieving improved wellness for people living with HIV. Rehabilitation, broadly defined, is another key contributor to wellness within this context. Understanding the potential for rehabilitation requires that one is able to consider HIV not only within a biomedical model that focuses on body systems, diagnoses and symptoms, but also within a rehabilitation framework that focuses on how these diagnoses and symptoms affect people’s lives more broadly. Furthermore, rehabilitation is a human rights imperative, which deserves the energetic attention enjoyed by other aspects of HIV treatment and care. In particular, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is shining a long-overdue spotlight on the human rights imperatives associated with disability. For South Africa and other countries, proactively and meaningfully engaging rehabilitation in the HIV response will require major shifts on several fronts, including practice, education, policy and research. We argue that in settings where ART delivery is now widespread, HIV should be understood not only as a medical issue, but as a rehabilitation and disability concern. Whereas medicine adds years to life, it is rehabilitation that aims to add life to years"
Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine, Vol 12, No 2

World health statistics 2010

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
2010

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This annual compilation of health-related data for the World Health Organization's 193 member states, includes a summary of the progress made towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and associated targets

Culture and mental health in Haiti : a literature review

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
2010

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"This paper reviews and summarizes the available literature on Haitian mental health and Mental health services. This review was conducted in light of the Haitian earthquake in January 2010. The first part of the review describes historical, economic, sociological and anthropological factors essential to basic understanding of Haiti and its people. This includes discussion of demography, family structure, Haitian economics and religion. The second part of the review focuses on mental health and mental health services. This includes a review of factors such as basic epidemiology of mental illness, common beliefs about mental illness, explanatory models, idioms of distress, help-seeking behavior, configuration of mental health services and the relationship between religion and mental health"

Barriers to sustainable access of children and families to ART centres in rural India : a report on operations research conducted in Maharashtra and Manipur

INDIA HIV/AIDS ALLIANCE
December 2009

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This report identifies barriers that children and families face in accessing anti-retroviral therapy (ART) centres in rural India. The report also seeks to find solutions to these barriers based on an operations research conducted in Maharashtra Pradesh and Manipur. Operations research objectives: * To build an understanding among policy makers of the barriers faced by children and caregivers accessing ART services in rural communities. * To assess and highlight a basic minimum level of standards for ART centres in terms of adequacy, quality and timeliness of support needed. * To explore opportunities for linkages with state and district level departments and/or local self-governing institutions

Packages of care for depression in low- and middle-income countries

PATEL, Vikram
SIMON, Gregory
CHOWDHARY, Neerja
KAAYA, Sylvia
ARAYA, Ricardo
October 2009

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This article focuses on the effective management of depression in low- and middle-income countries, reviewing the evidence on efficacy of treatments and delivery of interventions derived from those countries to the extent possible

A handbook for network support agents and other community workers supporting HIV prevention, care, support and treatment

March 2009

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This manual is intended to help network support agents and other community workers be more effective in disseminating standardised information about HIV and AIDS. It "...emphasises the importance of the acquisition of knowledge, skills and the right attitude needed to identify the psychosocial needs of people of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS and address these needs by giving information, counselling and appropriate referrals. Knowledge of counselling and psychosocial care, is combined as much as possible with prevention activities such as adopting HIV basic care positive prevention and adherence to treatment"

South African national HIV prevalence, incidence, behavior and communication survey 2008 : turning a tide among teenagers ?

SHISANA, O
et al
2009

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"South Africa has the largest burden of HIV/AIDS and is currently implementing the largest antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme in the world. It is therefore fitting that South Africa is the first in the world to conduct three repeated national HIV population-based surveys to help monitor our response as a nation to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This report is the third in a time series of population-based HIV seroprevalence surveys which started in 2002 and were repeated in 2005 and again in 2008"

PMI communication and social mobilization guidelines

PRESIDENT'S MALARIA INITIATIVE (PMI)
2008

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These guidelines are help in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes to influence behaviours and mobilise communities to create long-term normative shifts towards desired behaviours and to sustain enabling behaviours around the four interventions of the Presidents Malaria Initiative. These are: * Increased demand for malaria services and products; * Acceptance of indoor residual spraying; * Improved adherence to treatment regimens and intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy during pregnancy; * Regular insecticide-treated nets use by the general population, focusing on vulnerable groups including pregnant women and children under five; * Prompt, appropriate treatment with Artemisinin-based combination therapies for children under five within 24 hours of onset of symptoms; and * Community involvement in malaria control

Women, harm reduction, and HIV

PINKHAM, Sophie
MALINOWSKA-SEMPRUCH, Kasia
September 2007

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This report looks at factors that reduce women drug users’ access to health care including punitive policies, discrimination by police and health care providers, the intense social stigma attached to drug use by women, a preponderance of harm reduction and drug treatment programmes directed primarily toward men, an absence of sexual and reproductive health services for drug users, and poor access to effective outpatient drug treatment. Pregnant drug users are particularly vulnerable. In too many instances, they receive little or no accurate information about drug use during pregnancy or prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. In some countries pregnant drug users are rejected by health care providers, threatened with criminal penalties or loss of parental rights, or coerced into having an abortion or abandoning their newborns to the state. Poor access to medication-assisted treatment jeopardises the pregnancies of opiate-dependent drug users. It includes recommendations for consideration when designing services for women drug users and also examines issues around policies to protect women's health

Neglected diseases : a human rights analysis

HUNT, Paul
et al
2007

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This report introduces and explores some of the connections between neglected tropical diseases (those affecting people living in developing countries, particularly in rural areas) and human rights with a view to urging all parties concerned to work collaboratively in identifying the practical implications of applying human rights to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, programmes and projects for neglected diseases

Another way to learn : case studies

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
2007

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These case studies come from an initiative that supports non-formal education projects in Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. The long-term goal of these projects is to develop sustainable livelihoods for low-income, low-literate populations by addressing vulnerability to HIV and AIDS and drug misuse, a lack of education and social exclusion. Central to all of these projects are the creative and innovative methods used to communicate in a meaningful way, engage people and encourage their participation. The projects all focus on capacity building, empowerment, and creating learning opportunities. A DVD has been produced to accompany this publication

Health and the MDGs : the challenges ahead

CHAN, Margaret
2007

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Although there has been much progress towards meeting the three of the eight Millennium Development Goals relating to health, there are still considerable inequalities to be overcome if they are to be met by 2015. The Director General of the World Health Organization sees the need to improve access to essential medicines as one of major challenges

HIV and AIDS treatment education technical consultation report

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
March 2006

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This is a report on a technical consultation on treatment education held in Paris November 22-23, 2005, which aimed to assess the current state of HIV treatment literacy and community preparedness, identify needs and recommend strategies for the future. The effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and medical care relies on timely HIV testing and treatment adherence. Treatment education interventions addressing issues of stigma and complacency, have been shown to contribute to a wider uptake of testing services and to improve adherence to ART. The report calls for an integrated and synergetic collaboration between all stakeholders, including people with HIV, and for the adoption of a participatory, person-centred approach. It also acknowledges that while there is a wealth of initiatives aimed at improving community preparedness, there is also a need to scale up programmes that have shown to work. The report concludes with a number of key recommendations for future activities. Those include: providing support to partnership and inter-sectoral collaborations; integrating treatment education across HIV education programmes and health systems; differentiating and customising approaches according to settings and audiences; involving affected communities and individuals; monitoring and evaluating treatment education initiatives

Living on the outside : key findings and recommendations on the nature and impact of HIV/AIDS-related stigma

HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT NETWORKS (HDNET)
AIDS-CARE-WATCH CAMPAIGN
2006

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This publication presents an overview of discussions, evidence and proposals contributed to the Stigma-AIDS eForurm by both experts and people living with HIV and AIDS, and moderated by Health and Development Networks (HDNet). Three major areas are covered: HIV stigma and place, including the work place, health care services and religious settings; HIV stigma and people living with HIV/AIDS, addressing self-stigma and injection drug users; HIV stigma and society, with a focus on the role of the media. Each topic includes a brief commentary and sets out specific recommendations. It is aimed at individuals, organisations and policy makers willing to learn about practical approaches to reduce HIV/AIDS-related stigma

HIV/AIDS, stigma, denial, fear and discrimination: experiences and responses from African and Caribbean communities in Toronto

The African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario (ACCHO)
HIV Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit, University of Toronto
2006

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This is the report of a study which explores the experiences of HIV positive people from Africa and the Caribbean who are living in Toronto; and the experiences and perspectives of people from these communities at large, through interviews and focus groups. The study seeks to understand HIV-related stigma, discrimination, denial and fear, and how these impact on responses to HIV, including testing, treatment and support. Recommendations from participants include, the need for greater sensitivity and knowledge among health care providers, more ethnoculturally-appropriate services, education campaigns and community development measures. The report would be of interest to people living with HIV and AIDS, physicians, policy makers, service providers, family members, friends and the general public

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