Subject(s)
Humans , Physician's Role , Violence/prevention & control , Counseling , Firearms/legislation & jurisprudence , Patient Advocacy , Health Education , Wounds, Gunshot/prevention & control , Jamaica , Health Planning , Primary Prevention , Physician-Patient Relations , Population SurveillanceABSTRACT
A brief review of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Jamaica is presented along with the details of a pilot programme aimed at training lay persons and practical nurses to assist with home care of persons with AIDS. Current (1997) estimates are that 2 to 4/1,000 Jamaican adults are HIV positive. 2,301 AIDS cases have been reported to the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health, 55of whom have died. Males represent 62of reported cases (1421) and children < or = 9 years old, 7(170 cases). In 1981 a Family Centre was started at the University Hospital of the West Indies to provide support to persons with AIDS and their families. This initiative identified the need to provide special training to persons who would be responsible for caring the AIDS patient at home, where most patients preferred to be managed. All but three of the 41 persons trained in the pilot programme achieved the required standards of attendance and proficiency. Certificates valid for two years were issued and refresher courses will follow.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adult , Child , Home Nursing/education , HIV Infections/therapy , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/therapy , Social Support , Certification , Caregivers/education , Cohort Studies , Age Factors , Sex Factors , HIV Infections/epidemiology , HIV Infections/nursing , Jamaica/epidemiology , Pilot Projects , Home Care Services , HIV Seropositivity/epidemiology , Disease Outbreaks , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/epidemiology , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/nursingABSTRACT
The results of tuberculin skin tests with PPDS-S done on patients with pulmonary tuberculosis seen over a three-year period (1979-1981) were compared with the results of similar tests done during the same period in a group of persons without tuberculosis. Ninety per cent of patients with culture-positive tuberculosis had positive tuberculin skin tests, compared to 83% of positive tests in the non-tuberculous group. The presence of such a large proportion of positive tuberculin reactions in persons without active disease indicates that the skin test reaction cannot be used on its own to establish the diagnosis of had negative sputum smears and cultures for acid-fast bacilli. Eighty-two per cent of these patients had positive tuberculin skin tests. Invasive diagnostic tests and newer serological diagnostic methods are likely to increase the yield of confirmed positive cases of tuberculosis in the future