Factors associated with patient delay in accessin pulmonary tuberculosis care, Gezira State, Sudan, 2009.

Analyses of patient delays in seeking treatment for tuberculosis (TB) provide useful evidence for national TB control programmes. The objectives of this study in Gezira State, Sudan were to estimate the extent of, and factors associated with, pulmonary TB patient delay in accessing care. A cross-sectional phase was conducted to determine the length of delay, followed by a nested case-control phase comparing patients delaying above or below the median time. The mean patient delay was 27.2 days, median 4 days (range 0-365 days). There were no significant differences between case and control groups in terms of age, sex, marital status, educational level or smoking status. However, patients living in urban areas, with low income status and who were housewives or unemployed were more likely to delay. Also patients with a history of contact with a TB patient, those who suspected TB and those with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were more likely to delay.

Epidemiology of anaemia among pregnant women in Geizera, central Sudan.

A cross-sectional study was conducted between August and September 2010 at the antenatal care clinic of the Araba Waeshreen Hospital (Geizera), central Sudan. Sociodemographic, medical, obstetric and use of pica information were gathered. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Haemoglobin levels were measured and blood films and stools were examined for malaria and schistosomiasis. Out of the 292 women, 119 (40.8%) had anaemia (HB < 11 g/dl); eight (2.7%) had severe anaemia (HB < 7 g/dl). One patient had a positive blood film for malaria. A total of 38 (13.0%) out of the 292 pregnant women had S. mansoni infections. While age, parity, gestational age, education, occupation, interpregnancy interval and BMI were not associated with anaemia, pica (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.0-2.9, p = 0.02) and S. mansoni infections (OR = 2.8, 95% CI = 1.2-6.7, p = 0.01) were significantly associated with anaemia using univariate and multivariate analyses. The high prevalence of anaemia among these women needs to be controlled through preventive measurement of S. mansoni infections and health education to prevent practising pica.

Deficiencies in medical prescriptions in a Sudanese hospital.

We determined the quality of medical prescription in Ribat University Hospital, Khartoum through detecting errors in doctors' prescriptions. We randomly selected 1000 medical prescriptions and checked them for completeness and legibility. The total number of doctors responsible for writing the prescriptions was 46. The patient's full name was written on only 18.8% of prescriptions and that of the doctor on only 6.7%. In only 19.5% of prescriptions were drugs prescribed by their generic names, 59.7% lacked the quantity of the drug, 25.7% lacked the duration of treatment and 15.8% were difficult to read. The quality of drug prescriptions written by our hospital doctors is seriously deficient.