BMC International Health and Human Rights via MedWorm.com
  • Perceptions and utilization of primary health care services in Iraq: findings from a national household survey
    Conclusions: There is widespread satisfaction reported with primary health care services, and levels did not differ appreciably between public and private sectors. The public sector PHCCs are preferentially used by poorer populations where they are important providers. PHCC services are indeed free, with little evidence of informal payments to providers. (Source: BMC International Health and Human Rights)

  • Evaluation of knowledge levels amongst village AIDS committees after undergoing HIV educational sessions: results from a pilot study in rural Tanzania
    Background: Village AIDS committees (VAC) were formed by the Tanzanian government in 2003 to provide HIV education to their communities. However, their potential has not been realised due to their limited knowledge and misconceptions surrounding HIV, which could be addressed through training of VAC members. In an attempt to increase HIV knowledge levels and address common misconceptions amongst the VACs, an HIV curriculum was delivered to members in rural north western Tanzania Methods: An evaluation of HIV knowledge was conducted prior to and post-delivery of HIV training sessions, within members of three VACs in Kisesa ward. Quantitative surveys were used with several open-ended questions to identify local misconceptions and evaluate HIV knowledge levels. Short educational training sessi...

  • An approach to addressing governance from a health system framework perspective
    As countries strive to strengthen their health systems in resource constrained contexts, policy makers need to know how best to improve the performance of their health systems. To aid these decisions, health system stewards should have a good understanding of how health systems operate in order to govern them appropriately. While a number of frameworks for assessing governance in the health sector have been proposed, their application is often hindered by unrealistic indicators or they are overly complex resulting in limited empirical work on governance in health systems. This paper reviews contemporary health sector frameworks which have focused on defining and developing indicators to assess governance in the health sector. Based on these, we propose a simplified approach to look at gove...

  • Compulsory Drug Detention Center Experiences among a Community-Based Sample of Injection Drug Users in Bangkok, Thailand
    Conclusion: These findings raise concerns about the current approach to compulsory drug detention in Thailand. Exposure to compulsory drug detention was associated with police abuse and high rates of relapse into drug use, although additional research is needed to determine the precise impact of exposure to this form of detention on future drug use. More broadly, compulsory "treatment" based on a penal approach is not consistent with scientific evidence on addressing drug addiction and should be phased out in favor of evidence-based interventions. (Source: BMC International Health and Human Rights)

  • Health-care seeking behaviour among persons with diabetes in Uganda: an interview study.
    Conclusions: Healthcare was mainly sought from nurses and physicians in the professional sector and females used more free-of-charge governmental institutions. Perceived failure in health care to manage DM or related complications led many, particularly women, to seek alternative treatment from CAM practitioners in the folk sector. Living conditions, including healthcare organisation and gender, seemed to influence healthcare seeking, but further studies are needed.Key words: Healthcare-seeking behaviour, Diabetes Mellitus, Complementary Alternative Medicine, Uganda. (Source: BMC International Health and Human Rights)