Relational Dynamics of Treatment Behavior Among Individuals with Tuberculosis in High-Income Countries: A Scoping Review.

Although tuberculosis (TB) incidence has significantly declined in high-income, low-incidence (HILI) countries, challenges remain in managing TB in vulnerable populations who may struggle to stay on anti-TB treatment (ATT). Factors associated with non-adherence to ATT are well documented; however, adherence is often narrowly conceived as a fixed binary variable that places emphasis on individual agency and the act of taking medicines, rather than on the demands of being on treatment more broadly. Further, the mechanisms through which documented factors act upon the experience of being on treatment are poorly understood. Adopting a relational approach that emphasizes the embeddedness of individuals within dynamic social, structural, and health systems contexts, this scoping review aims to synthesize qualitative evidence on experiences of being on ATT and mechanisms through which socio-ecological factors influence adherence in HILI countries. Six electronic databases were searched for peer-reviewed literature published in English between January 1990 and May 2020. Additional studies were obtained by searching references of included studies. Narrative synthesis was used to analyze qualitative data extracted from included studies. Of 28 included studies, the majority (86%) reported on health systems factors, followed by personal characteristics (82%), structural influences (61%), social factors (57%), and treatment-related factors (50%). Included studies highlighted three points that underpin a relational approach to ATT behavior: 1) individual motivation and capacity to take ATT is dynamic and intertwined with, rather than separate from, social, health systems, and structural factors; 2) individuals' pre-existing experiences of health-seeking influence their views on treatment and their ability to commit to long-term regular medicine-taking; and 3) social, cultural, and political contexts play an important role in mediating how specific factors work to support or hinder ATT adherence behavior in different settings. Based on our analysis, we suggest that person-centered clinical management of tuberculosis should 1) acknowledge the ways in which ATT both disrupts and is managed within the everyday lives of individuals with TB; 2) appreciate that individuals' circumstances and the support and resources they can access may change over the course of treatment; and 3) display sensitivity towards context-specific social and cultural norms affecting individual and collective experiences of being on ATT.

Community and health staff perceptions on non-communicable disease management in El Salvador's health system: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of global mortality and disability with a rising burden in low- and middle-income countries. Their multifactorial aetiology, and their requirement of long-term care, implies the need for comprehensive approaches. From 2009, the Ministry of Health (MoH) in El Salvador has developed a national public health system based on comprehensive primary health care. This study aims to describe the different stakeholders' perceptions about the management of NCDs along the pathways of care in this health system. METHODS: During three fieldwork periods in 2018, three complementary qualitative data collection methods were deployed and conducted in settings with high prevalence of NCDs within El Salvador. First, illness narrative methodology was used to document the life histories of people living with a chronic disease and being treated in second and third level health facilities. Second, through social mapping, support resources that NCD patients used throughout the process of their illness within the same settings were analysed. Third, semi-structured interviews were conducted in the same locations, with both chronic patients and health personnel working at different levels of the primary health care setting. Participants were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling, and a deductive approach was implemented for coding during the analysis phase. After grouping codes into potential themes, a thematic framework was developed using a reflexive approach and following triangulation of the data. RESULTS: This innovative approach of combining three well-defined qualitative methods identified key implications for the implementation of a comprehensive approach to NCD management in resource-poor settings. The following elements are identified: 1) social risk factors and barriers to care; 2) patient pathways to NCD care; 3) available resources identified through social connections mapping; 4) trust in social connections; and 5) community health promotion and NCD prevention management. CONCLUSIONS: The Salvadoran public health system has been able to strengthen its comprehensive approach to NCDs, combining a clinical approach - including long-term follow-up - with a preventive community-based strategy. The structural collaboration between the health system and the (self-) organised community has been essential for identifying failings, discuss tensions and work out adapted solutions.

Comprehensive primary health care and non-communicable diseases management: a case study of El Salvador.

BACKGROUND: One of today's greatest challenges in public health worldwide - and especially its key management from Primary Health Care (PHC) - is the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In El Salvador, since 2009 the Minister of Health (MoH) has scaled up a national public health system based on a comprehensive PHC approach. A national multi-sectorial strategic plan for a comprehensive approach to NCDs has also been developed. This analysis explores stakeholders' perceptions related to the management of NCDs in PHC and, in particular, the role of social participation. METHODS: A case-study was developed consisting of semi structured interviews and official document reviews. Semi-structured interviews were developed with chronic patients (14) and PHC professionals working in different levels within PHC (12). Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants. A non-pure, deductive approach was implemented for coding. After grouping codes into potential themes, a thematic framework was elaborated through a reflexive approach and the triangulation of the data. The research was conducted between March and August of 2018 in three different departments of El Salvador. RESULTS: The structure and the functioning of the Salvadoran PHC system and its intersectoral approach is firstly described. The interdisciplinary PHC-team brings holistic health care closer to the communities in which health promoters play a key role. The findings reflect the generally positive perception of the PHC system in terms of accessibility, quality and continuity of care by chronic patients. Community engagement and the National Health Forum are ensuring accountability through social controllership mechanisms. However, certain challenges were also noted during the interviews related to the shortage of medication and workforce; coordination between the levels of care and the importance of prevention and health promotion programmes for NCDs. CONCLUSIONS: The Salvadoran PHC and its comprehensive approach to NCDs with an emphasis on intersectoral participation has been positively perceived by the range of stakeholders interviewed. Social engagement and the NHF works as a driving force to ensure accountability as well as in the promotion of a preventive culture. The challenges identified provide keys to amplify knowledge for addressing inequalities in health by strengthening PHC and its NCDs management.

Understanding fragility: implications for global health research and practice.

Advances in population health outcomes risk being slowed-and potentially reversed-by a range of threats increasingly presented as 'fragility'. Widely used and critiqued within the development arena, the concept is increasingly used in the field of global health, where its relationship to population health, health service delivery, access and utilization is poorly specified. We present the first scoping review seeking to clarify the meaning, definitions and applications of the term in the global health literature. Adopting the theoretical framework of concept analysis, 10 bibliographic and grey literature sources, and five key journals, were searched to retrieve documents relating to fragility and health. Reviewers screened titles and abstracts and retained documents applying the term fragility in relation to health systems, services, health outcomes and population or community health. Data were extracted according to the protocol; all documents underwent bibliometric analysis. Narrative synthesis was then used to identify defining attributes of the concept in the field of global health. A total of 377 documents met inclusion criteria. There has been an exponential increase in applications of the concept in published literature over the last 10 years. Formal definitions of the term continue to be focused on the characteristics of 'fragile and conflict-affected states'. However, synthesis indicates diverse use of the concept with respect to: level of application (e.g. from state to local community); emphasis on particular antecedent stressors (including factors beyond conflict and weak governance); and focus on health system or community resources (with an increasing tendency to focus on the interface between two). Amongst several themes identified, trust is noted as a key locus of fragility at this interface, with critical implications for health seeking, service utilization and health system and community resilience.

IMPACT study on intervening with a manualised package to achieve treatment adherence in people with tuberculosis: protocol paper for a mixed-methods study, including a pilot randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Compared with the rest of the UK and Western Europe, England has high rates of the infectious disease tuberculosis (TB). TB is curable, although treatment is for at least 6 months and longer when disease is drug resistant. If patients miss too many doses (non-adherence), they may transmit infection for longer and the infecting bacteria may develop resistance to the standard drugs used for treatment. Non-adherence may therefore risk both their health and that of others. Within England, certain population groups are thought to be at higher risk of non-adherence, but the factors contributing to this have been insufficiently determined, as have the best interventions to promote adherence. The objective of this study was to develop a manualised package of interventions for use as part of routine care within National Health Services to address the social and cultural factors that lead to poor adherence to treatment for TB disease. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study uses a mixed-methods approach, with six study components. These are (1) scoping reviews of the literature; (2) qualitative research with patients, carers and healthcare professionals; (3) development of the intervention; (4) a pilot randomised controlled trial of the manualised intervention; (5) a process evaluation to examine clinical utility; and (6) a cost analysis. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study received ethics approval on 24 December 2018 from Camberwell St. Giles Ethics Committee, UK (REC reference 18/LO/1818). Findings will be published and disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations, published in an end of study report to our funder (the National Institute for Health Research, UK) and presented to key stakeholders. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN95243114 SECONDARY IDENTIFYING NUMBERS: University College London/University College London Hospitals Joint Research Office 17/0726.National Institute for Health Research, UK 16/88/06.

Medical countermeasures during the 2018 Ebola virus disease outbreak in the North Kivu and Ituri Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a rapid genomic assessment.

BACKGROUND: The real-time generation of information about pathogen genomes has become a vital goal for transmission analysis and characterisation in rapid outbreak responses. In response to the recently established genomic capacity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we explored the real-time generation of genomic information at the start of the 2018 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in North Kivu Province. METHODS: We used targeted-enrichment sequencing to produce two coding-complete Ebola virus genomes 5 days after declaration of the EVD outbreak in North Kivu. Subsequent sequencing efforts yielded an additional 46 genomes. Genomic information was used to assess early transmission, medical countermeasures, and evolution of Ebola virus. FINDINGS: The genomic information demonstrated that the EVD outbreak in the North Kivu and Ituri Provinces was distinct from the 2018 EVD outbreak in Équateur Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Primer and probe mismatches to Ebola virus were identified in silico for all deployed diagnostic PCR assays, with the exception of the Cepheid GeneXpert GP assay. INTERPRETATION: The first two coding-complete genomes provided actionable information in real-time for the deployment of the rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP Ebola virus envelope glycoprotein vaccine, available therapeutics, and sequence-based diagnostic assays. Based on the mutations identified in the Ebola virus surface glycoprotein (GP12) observed in all 48 genomes, deployed monoclonal antibody therapeutics (mAb114 and ZMapp) should be efficacious against the circulating Ebola virus variant. Rapid Ebola virus genomic characterisation should be included in routine EVD outbreak response procedures to ascertain efficacy of medical countermeasures. FUNDING: Defense Biological Product Assurance Office.

High level of treatment failure and drug resistance to first-line antiretroviral therapies among HIV-infected children receiving decentralized care in Senegal.

BACKGROUND: In Senegal in 2015, an estimated 4800 children were living with HIV, with 1200 receiving ARV treatment, of whom half had follow-up care in decentralized sites outside Dakar. However, until now no studies have determined the efficacy of pediatric treatment in decentralized settings, even though the emergence of viral resistance, particularly among children in Africa, is a well-known phenomenon. This study aimed to assess the virological status of HIV-infected children in all decentralized facilities to help improve access to quality care. METHODS: A cross-sectional epidemiological and virological study was conducted in all of Senegal's regions, except Dakar, between March and June 2015 and sought to include all HIV-infected children and adolescents (0-19 years), treated or not with ARVs. Socio-demographic and clinical data and a blood sample on blotting paper were collected for children from treatment sites. Samples were routed on public transportation, assisted by a network of community health workers. A viral load (VL) assay was performed for each child, followed by genotyping when it exceeded 1000 copies/mL (3 log10). RESULTS: Of the 851 identified children, 666 (78%) were enrolled in the study. Half of the children were girls, and the average age was 8 years (6 months-19 years). Most of the children (96.7%) were infected with HIV-1, and 90% were treated with ART, primarily with AZT + 3TC + NVP/EFV therapeutic regimen. The median duration of time on ART was 21 months (1-129). VL was measured for 2% of children before this study. Almost two-thirds (64%) of the children are experiencing virological failure. Among them, there was resistance to at least one drug for 86.5% of cases. Also, 25% children presented resistance to one drug and 40% to two out of three. For nearly one-third of the children presenting resistance, none of the three drugs of the treatment was active. Factors associated with virological failure were male sex, follow-up by a generalist rather than a specialist, and treatment interruptions. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a high level of virological failure and a high percentage of viral resistance among children receiving health care in decentralized facilities in Senegal.