Browsing by Author "Kassile, Telemu"

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Health and social support services to HIV/AIDS infected individuals in Tanzania: Employees and Employers perceptions
(BMC Public Health, 2014) Kassile, Telemu; Anicetus, Honest; Kukula, Raphael; Mmbando, Bruno P
Background: HIV is a major public health problem in the world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. It often leads to loss of productive labour and disruption of existing social support system which results in deterioration of population health. This poses a great challenge to infected people in meeting their essential goods and services. This paper examines health and social support services provided by employers to HIV/AIDS infected employees in Tanzania. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, which employed qualitative and quantitative methods in data collection and analysis. Structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews were used to assess the health and social support services provision at employers and employees perspectives. The study participants were employees and employers from public and private organizations. Results: A total of 181 employees and 23 employers from 23 workplaces aged between 18–68 years were involved. The results show that 23.8% (i.e., 20.4% males and 27.3% females) of the employees had at least one member of the family or close relatives living with HIV at the time of the study. Fifty six percent of the infected employees reported to have been receiving health or social support from their employers. Employees’ responses were consistent with those reported by their employers. A total of 12(52.2%) and 11(47.8%) employers reported to have been providing health and social supports respectively. Female employees (58.3%) from the private sector (60.0%) were more likely to receive supports than male employees (52.6%) and than those from the public sector (46.2%). The most common health and social support received by the employees were treatment, and nutritional support and reduction of workload, respectively. Conclusions: HIV/AIDS infected employees named treatment and nutritional support, and soft loans and reduced workload respectively, as the most important health and social supports they needed from their employers. This study provides baseline information for further studies on provision of health and social support services by employers to HIV/AIDS infected employees in the context of a developing economy like Tanzania. Keywords: Family member, Treatment and nutritional support, Workload, Workplaces
Reproductive health in sierra leonean refugees in Guinea: a knowledge, attitude and practice survey
(Limburgs Universitair Centrum, 2002) Kassile, Telemu
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS, spread more fast where there is poverty, powerlessness and social instability. The disintegration of community and family life in refugee situations leads to the break-up of sta ble relationships and the disruption of social norms governing sexual behavior. In refugee situations, populations that have different rates of HIV/AIDS prior to becoming refugees may be mixed. In addition, many refugee situations are like large urban settings and may create conditions that increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Therefore, in order to have effec tive health promotion programs, knowledge on behavioral aspects is required to identify at-risk populations and develop targeted prevention programs with appropriate prevention messages. The objective of this thesis is to assess the prevalence of relevant knowledge and attitude with respect to STDs and AIDS and to identify subgroups, which are in particular need of the RHG’s intervention. More specifically: to assess knowledge about how to prevent and recognize STDs, to identify the most important source of information on STDs, to assess perceived incidence of genital ulcer and genital discharge, to learn about treatment seeking behavior, to assess knowledge about AIDS prevention, to assess perceived risk to attract AIDS and to have an indication whether knowledge and perception have in fluenced sexual behavior among refugees of reproductive age (15-49 years). In order to accomplish this goal, logistic regression models, which have become the standard analyzing tool for binary responses in a variety of disciplines, were used to describe the relationships between the responses and the explanatory variables of age, sex, education level, religion, time of arrival in Guinea, civil status, marital status and presence of partner. Teenagers, non-reproductive health group clients and non-school attendants had less STD symptoms knowledge than the older age groups, reproductive health group clients and school attendants (0/1=0.186, CI: 0.072, 0.479), (077=0.402, CI: 0.204, 0.793), (077=0.221, CI: 0.095, 0.517) respectively. Women were about 2.5 times more likely to describe STD symptoms than men (CI: 1.206, 5.024). Non-school attendants and non-RHG clients had less STD prevention knowl edge than those who have attended school and RHG clients (0/2=0.609, C.I: 0.447, 0.829) and (077=0.483, C.I: 0.349, 0.667) respectively. Over one-quarter (27%) of all the respondents reported that they had experi enced genital discharge, genital ulcer or both within the past one year. The perceived incidence for women was 30.3% and 23.6% for men. The most af fected refugees were of ages between 20 and 29 years. For this group, the odds of STD incidence were about 53% more than the odds of STD incidence for respondents aged 30 years and above (CI: 1.051, 2.222). Approximately 78% of all perceived STD patients sought advice at a health facility although women were loss likely to seek advice at a health facility than men (077=0.483, CI: 0.241, 0.970). In contrast, women were about 2.1 times more likely to visit traditional healers than men (CI: 1.123, 4.027). 71.4% of all STD patients reported that they told their partners about their symptoms. Those who sought advice at a health facility were more likely to tell their partners than those who did not seek advice at a health facility. Women scored high in knowledge about AIDS and were also more likely to perceive themselves to be at high risk for HIV than men (O7?=1.531, CI: 1.13S, 2.059). However, they were less likely to report personal changes in their sexual behavior to avoid HIV transmission than men (077=0.710, CI: 0.527, 0.955).
Treatment seeking behaviour after the onset of fever among under-five children in Dodoma region, Tanzania
(University of Dar es Salaam, 2015-10) Kassile, Telemu
Fever is a major indicator of malaria and one ofthe frequently reported causes of under management of malaria with an effective drug is an essential element of control of the disease. In Tanzania, despite improvement in access to health care services, still many people seek care when it is too late or not at all. This study examined caretakers’ responses to an episode of fever among under-five children in Dodoma region. Data on treatment seeking behaviour of caretakers of 1390 under-five children from 1027 duration analysis approaches were employed. The findings show that 329 (23.7 percent) of the total children in the study had fever within the previous four weeks preceding the date of the survey. Of these, 74.8 percent were perceived by their caretakers to have some chances for harmful effects of fever to occur. Secondary education and above of caretakers was associated with decreased beliefs about the occurrence of harmful effects of fever. Meanwhile, 54 percent of the 287 children with fever whose caretakers sought seeking include number of under-five children in the household, relationship of child to head of household, place of residence, and distance to health facility. Study findings required for better healthcare and development of children. This includes empowering caretakers with the ability to deal with febrile illnesses and ensuring constant supply of essential drugs especially in lower-level public health facilities.