Global health review
A weekly round-up of all the latest global health research from MSF projects and beyond
17 June 2022
This week, BMC Trials publishes the full study protocol for the TB-PRACTECAL clinical trial by MSF and partners to evaluate a shorter, less toxic and more efficacious regimen to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). The results from the trial recently impacted WHO guidelines for the treatment of drug-resistant TB. And in Vaccine, MSF and Epicentre find that one dose of the typhoid conjugate vaccine is effective in controlling typhoid fever in children between 6-months and 15 years of age in Zimbabwe.
In Transactions RSTMH, DNDi co-authors use visual ethnographic documentaries to highlight the impacts of mycetoma – an extremely neglected tropical disease – in a bid to improve awareness among policymakers, medical staff, and the wider international community. And in The Journal of Nutrition, Epicentre contributes to a discussion on how nutrition research can better reflect the relationship between wasting and stunting in children by examining the learnings from the Wasting and Stunting project launched in 2014.
Malaria Journal reviews multiple factors that motivate or demotivate women from accessing malaria in pregnancy services in sub-Saharan Africa, calling for strengthening of health systems to ensure these interventions are accessible. Meanwhile, PLOS One examines the quality of antenatal care (ANC) and associated factors in public health centres in Ethiopia. The study finds that only one-third of pregnant mothers received high-quality ANC and identifies ANC initiation time, maintaining confidentiality, and waiting times as significant predictors of the quality of ANC.
Finally, The Lancet calls for urgent action to prevent conflict-related sexual violence globally, highlighting the mounting crisis faced by vulnerable women and children in Ukraine and other conflict-affected settings.
Best Regards,
Emma Levrau, Lydia Lampiri, Sreeshna Jagadeesan and Holly Baker with MSF-authored article assistance from Patricia Kahn and Amelia Zhao
Job vacancy
MSF is looking for a Research Manager Consultant to support the Sapling Nursery Malaria Anticipation Project (MAP). Read more about the role and how to apply on our careers page.
Climate change and Planetary Health
BMJ Opinion • Opinion: Twin crises in Nepal: covid-19 and climate change
Conflict, migration and health
The Lancet • Comment: Prevention of conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine and globally
The Lancet • Correspondence: The Palestinian people: erased from World Health Statistics
BMJ Global Health • Practice: Questioning the ethics of evidence-based practice for Indigenous health and social settings in Australia
Conflict and Health • Article: Factors impacting antenatal care utilization: a systematic review of 37 fragile and conflict-affected situations
Global health
The Lancet • Comment: Offline: Why science is not enough
BMJ Global Health • Editorial: Public health and emergency workforce: a roadmap for WHO and partner contributions
BMJ Global Health • Practice: Universal access to comprehensive COVID-19 services for everyone in Thailand
BMJ Global Health • Practice: Implementing an emergency risk communication campaign in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria: lessons learned
Tropical Medicine and Health • Article: Medicinal plant use, conservation, and the associated traditional knowledge in rural communities in Eastern Uganda
HIV
The Lancet HIV • Article: Associations between integrase strand-transfer inhibitors and cardiovascular disease in people living with HIV: a multicentre prospective study from the RESPOND cohort consortium
The Lancet HIV • Comment: Integrase inhibitors hand us a new HIV clinical puzzle
PLOS One • Article: Mapping HIV prevalence in Nigeria using small area estimates to develop a targeted HIV intervention strategy
Infectious diseases
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Correspondence: Tracking the 2022 monkeypox outbreak with epidemiological data in real-time
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Correspondence: Immune responses after omicron infection in triple-vaccinated health-care workers with and without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Editorial: Monkeypox: a neglected old foe
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Correspondence: Immune responses after omicron infection in triple-vaccinated health-care workers with and without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection
NEJM • Editorial: Audio Interview: Protecting the Immunocompromised from Covid-19
Tropical Medicine and Health • Article: A qualitative exploration of the contributions of Polio Eradication Initiative to the Nigerian health system: policy implications for polio transition planning
Speaking of Medicine and Health • Blog: When will Pakistan stand on two legs? A polio story
Malaria
Conflict and Health • Article: Factors influencing severity of recurrent malaria in a conflict-affected state of South Sudan: an unmatched case-control study
Malaria Journal • Article: Motivators and demotivators to accessing malaria in pregnancy interventions in sub-Saharan Africa: a meta-ethnographic review
Malaria Journal • Article: Surveillance to achieve malaria elimination in eastern Myanmar: a 7-year observational study
Malaria Journal • Article: Comparison of two malaria multiplex immunoassays that enable quantification of malaria antigens
Malaria Journal • Article: Cattle-related risk factors for malaria in southwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study
Malaria Journal • Article: Malaria mosquitoes acquire and allocate cattle urine to enhance life history traits
Malaria Journal • Article: Treatment-seeking behaviour, awareness and preventive practice toward malaria in Abu Ushar, Gezira state, Sudan: a household survey experience from a rural area
Malaria Journal • Article: High asymptomatic malaria among seasonal migrant workers departing to home from malaria endemic areas in northwest Ethiopia
Malaria Journal • Editorial: STARTER checklist for antimalarial therapeutic efficacy reporting
Maternal and child health
The Lancet • Correspondence: Opportunities for women's health in the first postnatal year
The Lancet • Correspondence: Hunting down the cause of acute hepatitis in children
JAMA Pediatrics • Letter: Risk and Phenotype of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Danish Children Before and During the Omicron Wave
PLOS One • Article: Quality of antenatal care and associated factors in public health centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a cross-sectional study
Journal of Nutrition • Article***EPICENTRE AUTHOR***: How Can Nutrition Research Better Reflect the Relationship Between Wasting and Stunting in Children? Learnings from the Wasting and Stunting Project
Mental health
The Lancet • Perspectives: Lola Kola: developing mHealth for mental health in west Africa
Neglected tropical diseases
BMJ Global Health • Comment: Enhancing research integration to improve One Health actions: learning lessons from neglected tropical diseases experiences
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Prevalence of Leishmania RNA virus in Leishmania parasites in patients with tegumentary leishmaniasis: A systematic review and meta-analysis
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: A mixed-methods approach to understanding domestic dog health and disease transmission risk in an indigenous reserve in Guyana, South America
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Risk factors for infection with chikungunya and Zika viruses in southern Puerto Rico: A community-based cross-sectional seroprevalence survey
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Estimating the global demand curve for a leishmaniasis vaccine: A generalisable approach based on global burden of disease estimates
Transactions RSTMH • Article***DNDi AUTHOR***: Visual ethnographic documentation: a novel tool for mycetoma awareness and advocacy
Non-communicable diseases
The Lancet • Comment: Head-to-head biologic therapy in Crohn's disease
The Lancet • Correspondence: Obesity definition for personalised treatment of type 2 diabetes
The Lancet • other: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
BMJ Global Health • Article: The case for investing in the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council: an economic evaluation
Research and reporting
PLOS One • Article: Perceptions of quality and the integrated delivery of family planning with childhood immunisation services in Kenya and Uganda
Sexual and reproductive health
The Lancet • Perspectives: Obstetric violence in historical perspective
BMJ Global Health • Comment: Addressing the second ‘R’ in sexual and reproductive health and rights: why norms and values matter for development cooperation
Conflict and Health • Article: Risk factors for miscarriage in Syrian refugee women living in non-camp settings in Jordan: results from the Women ASPIRE cross-sectional study
JAMA Pediatrics • Editorial: Use of Antenatal Corticosteroids for Risk of Preterm Birth—Is Timing Everything?
Tuberculosis
BMC Trials • Article***MSF AUTHOR***: TB-PRACTECAL: study protocol for a randomised, controlled, open-label, phase II–III trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of regimens containing bedaquiline and pretomanid for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis
PLOS One • Article: Quality assurance practices in tuberculosis diagnostic health facilities in Ethiopia
PLOS One • Article: Tuberculosis among refugees and migrant populations: Systematic review
Vaccines
The Lancet • Comment: COVID-19 mRNA vaccination and myocarditis or pericarditis
The Lancet • Comment: Increasing children's global access to COVID-19 vaccines
The Lancet Global Health • Comment: Culturally relevant COVID-19 vaccine acceptance strategies in sub-Saharan Africa
Vaccine • Article***MSF AUTHOR***: Effectiveness of typhoid conjugate vaccine in Zimbabwe used in response to an outbreak among children and young adults: A matched case control study