Measuring the burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection among persons living with HIV and healthcare workers and its impact on service delivery in Mozambique: protocol of a prospective cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: As COVID-19 continues to spread globally and within Mozambique, its impact among immunosuppressed persons, specifically persons living with HIV (PLHIV), and on the health system is unknown in the country. The 'COVid and hIV' (COVIV) study aims to investigate: (1) the seroprevalence and seroincidence of SARS-CoV-2 among PLHIV and healthcare workers providing HIV services; (2) knowledge, attitudes, practices and perceptions regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection; (3) the pandemic's impact on HIV care continuum outcomes and (4) facility level compliance with national COVID-19 guidelines. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A multimethod study will be conducted in a maximum of 11 health facilities across Mozambique, comprising four components: (1) a cohort study among PLHIV and healthcare workers providing HIV services to determine the seroprevalence and seroincidence of SARS-CoV-2, (2) a structured survey to assess knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and practices regarding COVID-19 disease, (3) analysis of aggregated patient data to evaluate retention in HIV services among PLHIV, (4) an assessment of facility implementation of infection prevention and control measures. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was obtained from the National Health Bioethics Committee, and institutional review boards of implementing partners. Study findings will be discussed with local and national health authorities and key stakeholders and will be disseminated in clinical and scientific forums. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT05022407.

Users' perspectives on the quality of family planning services in Mozambique: a case study.

Introduction: user satisfaction assessment has been increasingly important in ensuring health care quality and guidance in the health sector. Africa is the region in the world with the lowest prevalence of contraception use. Universal access to family planning has one of the highest rates of benefits for cost among strategic options for development. Family planning can reduce mortality associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum, and family planning consultations are available in primary health care in Mozambique since 1980, with services delivered at all different levels of the national public health system. In 2017 this country had a high maternal mortality rate and one of the known causes was the low use of family planning. Among other causes for low utilization is the bias introduced by health professionals in the prescription of contraceptives and service deficiencies. We intended to assess the users' opinion about family planning visit quality at the Marrere Health Center, to understand how we might consequently increase the use and quality of these services. This study was designed as a planned intermediary evaluation, as part of a larger implementation research project, aiming to reduce maternal and newborn mortality rates in Natikiri neighbourhood, in Nampula peri-urban area. Methods: we carried out a descriptive cross- sectional quantitative case study, where the target population was users of family planning services at a local health center. A random sample of 137 individuals answered a survey consisting of satisfaction, and we consulted family planning service statistical indicators. Users were considered satisfied if they answered "satisfied" or "very satisfied" on questions. Frequencies were calculated with statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) 22.0 with a confidence interval of 95% and a 5% margin of error. The study protocol was approved by Lúrio University and the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) Ethics Committees. Results: almost all respondents (93%), were adult women with low levels of education. They stated, in general (88%), they were satisfied with the quality of care in the family planning consultation. There was minor participation of men in family planning. However, health professionals were found to not generally follow a patient-centered service protocol, with weaknesses in communication and information sharing, more commonly with adolescent clients. Conclusion: most family planning visits users were adult women, satisfied with the service provided. Successful changes in family planning practice require broad support from political, religious and community sectors. Additionally, proper technical and professional training of health professionals is necessary to achieve a positive impact on individuals, families, communities, and government. Family planning promotion in primary health care is recommended as an important strategy for achieving universal health coverage, protecting the lives of women, and promoting the country's development.

An analysis of the quality of maternity services in Nampula, Mozambique: implementation research.

Introduction: the quality of maternity services is an essential factor in reducing maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality, which remains extremely high in Africa. In Mozambique, maternal mortality rate is 451.6 deaths per 100,000 live births (2017). The reasons for this are complex, but one important factor to reduce this burden is to provide effective and efficient care, to improve institutional deliveries. To reduce maternal and newborn mortality rates in Nampula, researchers from Lúrio University and the University of Saskatchewan, carried out an implementation research program, including various interventions such as training activities for health professionals in maternal and child health care. We planned a mid-project evaluation, to assess the trainings´ impact on the quality of services at Marrere Hospital Maternity. Methods: quantitative pre-post study, carrying out two cross-sectional surveys about maternity service quality, one being conducted after five health professionals´ trainings and the other after six more trainings. The two surveys included samples of post-partum women in the maternity, calculated with a 10% margin error and 90% confidence interval for the first survey, and with a 7% margin error and 95% confidence interval for the second. The surveys were entered into REDCap and analysed to assess frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviations. This research was approved by the Institutional Committees of Bioethics at Lúrio University and at the University of Saskatchewan. Results: one hundred and sixteen post-partum women were surveyed at the maternity, assessing standards of patient centred care during delivery labour. Most areas showed no improvement. Some positive improvements were delivering women were given the option to have a person of their choice accompany them during labour (75%), notably a traditional birth attendant (34%), and they had continuous support from a health professional (68%). But many shortcomings persisted in areas of privacy (33%) and confidentiality (57%). Conclusion: the quality of patient centred care at Marrere Hospital Maternity did not improve much with health professionals´ trainings. Decreasing the large turnover rate of such staff, reviewing their learning styles, and promoting continuous professional capacity building would be the next steps to improve quality of care.

Covid-19 pandemic impact on maternal and child health services access in Nampula, Mozambique: a mixed methods research.

BACKGROUND: The Covid-19 pandemic has so far infected more than 30 million people in the world, having major impact on global health with collateral damage. In Mozambique, a public state of emergency was declared at the end of March 2020. This has limited people's movements and reduced public services, leading to a decrease in the number of people accessing health care facilities. An implementation research project, The Alert Community for a Prepared Hospital, has been promoting access to maternal and child health care, in Natikiri, Nampula, for the last four years. Nampula has the second highest incidence of Covid-19. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of Covid-19 pandemic Government restrictions on access to maternal and child healthcare services. We compared health centres in Nampula city with healthcare centres in our research catchment area. We wanted to see if our previous research interventions have led to a more resilient response from the community. METHODS: Mixed-methods research, descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective, using a review of patient visit documentation. We compared maternal and child health care unit statistical indicators from March-May 2019 to the same time-period in 2020. We tested for significant changes in access to maternal and child health services, using KrushKall Wallis, One-way Anova and mean and standard deviation tests. We compared interviews with health professionals, traditional birth attendants and patients in the two areas. We gathered data from a comparable city health centre and the main city referral hospital. The Marrere health centre and Marrere General Hospital were the two Alert Community for a Prepared Hospital intervention sites. RESULTS: Comparing 2019 quantitative maternal health services access indicators with those from 2020, showed decreases in most important indicators: family planning visits and elective C-sections dropped 28%; first antenatal visit occurring in the first trimester dropped 26%; hospital deliveries dropped a statistically significant 4% (p = 0.046), while home deliveries rose 74%; children vaccinated down 20%. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated the negative collateral effects of Covid-19 pandemic Government restrictions, on access to maternal and child healthcare services, and highlighted the need to improve the health information system in Mozambique.

Quality assessment in primary health care: Adolescent and Youth Friendly Service, a Mozambican case study.

INTRODUCTION: despite the Mozambican Ministry of Health's efforts to deliver family planning to all girls of childbearing age, the adolescent pregnancy rate remains high. The Adolescent and Youth Friendly Service (AYFS), integrated into overall primary health care programs throughout the country, aims to reverse this situation. Our study objective was to assess this health care service's quality in its location in Marrere Health Centre, Nampula, northern Mozambique, using clients' perspective. METHODS: we implemented a descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study sampling 124 individuals, who had recently accessed the AYFS at Marrere Health Centre. Data were collected through a questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale in questions regarding satisfaction level (i.e. always, most times, sometimes, few times, never) and additional open answer questions to gain greater specific understanding. RESULTS: a total of 126 users of the AYFS were evaluated, all from the Emacua ethnic-linguistic group. 85 (67%) were adolescents (<19 years), 78.2% female. The mean age was 17.6 years. We found an average of 0.54 pregnancies per woman and 87 participants (69%) never had a pregnancy; of 39 (31%) who had been pregnant, 17 (44%) were able to report the date of the first prenatal visit, on average performed at week 16 (2nd trimester), though with 9 (53%) having performed it during the first trimester. Spontaneous and induced abortions were reported respectively in 4 and 34 cases, respectively, and none with adolescents. The "overall satisfaction" rate was more frequent in both groups, being answered by 93.8% of youth and adults (>= 19 years) and 72.0% of adolescents, a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p <0.05). CONCLUSION: while most users are satisfied with the services there was, however, some sharp criticism. Health professionals' practice with the protocol varied, and there were significant deficiencies in information and communication with users. Open communication within families and information reinforcement about sexual and reproductive health and male participation in family planning were found to be in need of strengthening. Our recommendations include reinforcing health professional's training to protect adolescents and young people' sexual health, an important strategy in primary health care to achieve universal health coverage.

Prevalence and risk factors for latent tuberculosis infection among healthcare workers in Nampula Central Hospital, Mozambique.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers in high tuberculosis burdened countries are occupationally exposed to the tuberculosis disease with uncomplicated and complicated tuberculosis on the increase among them. Most of them acquire Mycobacterium tuberculosis but do not progress to the active disease - latent tuberculosis infection. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors associated with latent tuberculosis infection among healthcare workers in Nampula Central Hospital, Mozambique. METHODS: This cross-sectional study of healthcare workers was conducted between 2014 and 2015. Participants (n = 209) were administered a questionnaire on demographics and occupational tuberculosis exposure and had a tuberculin skin test administered. Multivariate linear and logistic regression tested for associations between independent variables and dependent outcomes (tuberculin skin test induration and latent tuberculosis infection status). RESULTS: The prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection was 34.4%. Latent tuberculosis infection was highest in those working for more than eight years (39.3%), those who had no BCG vaccination (39.6%) and were immunocompromised (78.1%). Being immunocompromised was significantly associated with latent tuberculosis infection (OR 5.97 [95% CI 1.89; 18.87]). Positive but non-significant associations occurred with working in the medical domain (OR 1.02 [95% CI 0.17; 6.37]), length of employment > eight years (OR 1.97 [95% CI 0.70; 5.53]) and occupational contact with tuberculosis patients (OR 1.24 [95% CI 0.47; 3.27]). CONCLUSIONS: Personal and occupational factors were positively associated with latent tuberculosis infection among healthcare workers in Mozambique.

The rise of medical training in Portuguese speaking African countries.

BACKGROUND: Medical training has shown to be strategic for strengthening health systems, especially in those countries identified to have critical shortage of human resources for health. In the past few years, several studies have been conducted to characterize and identify major challenges faced by medical schools worldwide, and particularly in Africa. Nevertheless, none has previously addressed medical training issues in Portuguese Speaking African Countries (PSAC). The aim of this study was to establish baseline knowledge of the PSAC's medical schools in terms of creation and ownership, programmes offered, applicants and registered students, barriers to increased intake of students, teaching workforce and available resources. METHODS: A quantitative, observational, multicentric, cross-sectional study of all medical schools active in 2012 in the PSAC. An adapted version of the questionnaires developed by Chen et al. (2012) was sent to all medical schools electronically. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: A total of nine medical schools answered the questionnaire (three from Angola, two from Guinea Bissau and four from Mozambique). Since 2006 an effort has been made to increase the number of medical trainees. Besides the medical degree offered by all schools, some offered other undergraduate and postgraduate training programmes. The number of applicants to medical schools largely outnumbers the available vacancies in all countries but insufficient infrastructures and lack of teaching personnel are important constraints to increase vacancies. The teaching personnel are mainly trained abroad, employed part-time by the medical school and do not have a PhD qualification. CONCLUSION: Governments in the PSAC have significantly invested in training to address medical shortages. However, medical schools are still struggling to give an adequate and effective response. Developing a local postgraduate training capacity for doctors might be an important strategy to help retain medical doctors in the home country and develop local faculty capacity.