Prevalence, Awareness and Risk Factors of Hypertension among Health Workers at the Connaught Teaching Hospital, Sierra Leone.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension among the health workforce is a major public health problem due to its high prevalence and dire consequences. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of hypertension, awareness, and related cardiovascular risk factors among health workers in a Teaching Hospital in Sierra Leone. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted among 250 health workers. A modified World Health Organization Non-Communicable Disease (WHO NCD) questionnaire was used to collect information on the socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric, and lifestyle variables. RESULTS: The prevalences of hypertension and pre-hypertension were 37.2% and 22.4% respectively. The level of hypertension awareness was 36.6 %. The univariate logistic regression showed a significant crude odds ratio for gender, age, marital status, smokers, alcohol, extra sugar to tea/coffee, years of employment, weight, Waist Circumference, Hip Circumference, and Waist-Hip-Ratio (WHR) in the prediction of hypertension. The multivariate logistic regression revealed that male sex (AOR = 1.89; C.I 95%: [0.01- >20], p = 0.002), duration of employment (AOR = 0.36; C.I 95%: [0.17- 0.94], p = 0.01), and Waist Circumference (WC) (AOR = 1.46; C.I 95%: [0.58 - 3.68], p = 0.017), were positive predictors of hypertension. Males were about 2 times more likely to have hypertension, (AOR = 1.89; C.I 95%: [0.01- >20]). Participants with abnormal Waist Circumference (WC) were 1.5 times more likely to have hypertension (AOR = 1.46; C.I 95%: [0.58 - 3.68]). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of hypertension in this study population was slightly higher than the 34.8% reported for the general population even though this study population is relatively younger. The level of awareness was low. This calls for the implementation of an effective workplace health education program to improve lifestyle and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Looking back and moving forward: 50 years of soil and soil fertility management research in sub-Saharan Africa.

Low and declining soil fertility has been recognized for a long time as a major impediment to intensifying agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Consequently, from the inception of international agricultural research, centres operating in SSA have had a research programme focusing on soil and soil fertility management, including the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The scope, content, and approaches of soil and soil fertility management research have changed over the past decades in response to lessons learnt and internal and external drivers and this paper uses IITA as a case study to document and analyse the consequences of strategic decisions taken on technology development, validation, and ultimately uptake by smallholder farmers in SSA. After an initial section describing the external environment within which soil and soil fertility management research is operating, various dimensions of this research area are covered: (i) 'strategic research', 'Research for Development', partnerships, and balancing acts, (ii) changing role of characterization due to the expansion in geographical scope and shift from soils to farms and livelihoods, (iii) technology development: changes in vision, content, and scale of intervention, (iv) technology validation and delivery to farming communities, and (v) impact and feedback to the technology development and validation process. Each of the above sections follows a chronological approach, covering the last five decades (from the late 1960s till today). The paper ends with a number of lessons learnt which could be considered for future initiatives aiming at developing and delivering improved soil and soil fertility management practices to smallholder farming communities in SSA.

Rapid epidemiologic assessment of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in malaria-endemic areas in Southeast Asia using a novel diagnostic kit.

We recently reported a new rapid screening method for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. This method incorporates a new formazan substrate (WST-8) and is capable of detecting heterozygous females both qualitatively and quantitatively. Here, we report its evaluation during field surveys at three malaria centres and in malaria-endemic villages of Myanmar and Indonesia, either alone or in combination with a rapid on-site diagnosis of malaria. A total of 57 severe (45 males and 12 females) and 34 mild (five males and 29 females) cases of G6PD deficiency were detected among 855 subjects in Myanmar whilst 30 severe (25 males and five females) and 23 mild (six males and 17 females) cases were found among 1286 subjects in Indonesia. In all cases, severe deficiency was confirmed with another formazan method but due to limitations in its detection threshold, mild cases were misdiagnosed as G6PD-normal by this latter method. Our results indicate that the novel method can qualitatively detect both severely deficient subjects as well as heterozygous females in the field. The antimalarial drug, primaquine, was safely prescribed to Plasmodium vivax-infected patients in Myanmar. Our new, rapid screening method may be essential for the diagnosis of G6PD deficiency particularly in rural areas without electricity, and can be recommended for use in malaria control programmes.