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Browse normalized, publication-ready research with direct links to its evidence and source.
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Readable research linked to original sources
Browse normalized, publication-ready research with direct links to its evidence and source.
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Readable research linked to original sources
Browse normalized, publication-ready research with direct links to its evidence and source.
57 articles
Newest firstBACKGROUND: Adolescent substance abuse is a growing public health concern associated with poor mental health, unsafe sexual behaviour, violence, school dropout, and psychosocial dysfunction. In rural South Africa, peer influence, cultural practices, poverty, and inadequate psychosocial support may increase learners' vulnerability to substance use. However, limited qualitative evidence exists on how these factors i…
Open article record in new tab ↗Cannabis sativa L. is a medicinal plant cultivated globally due to its remarkable historical and scientific relevance. Through the consumption of its flowers, also referred to as inflorescences, which contain a high content of cannabinoids, terpenes and polyphenols, the therapeutic properties of C. sativa can be harnessed. This study therefore aimed to determine the chemical profile, antioxidant and anti-inflammat…
BackgroundStrong management capacity is essential for effective primary healthcare (PHC) service delivery and health system strengthening [1]. The AURUM Management Development Programme (MDP) was implemented to strengthen district and PHC leadership in the Western Cape province of South Africa. This study explored the contextual barriers and enabling conditions influencing the scalability of the programme within d…
BackgroundThe use of substances by university nursing students is a significant public health challenge and may impact their professional conduct and compromise the quality of patient care.AimThe study aimed to investigate alcohol and substance use by undergraduate nursing students, and the associated risk factors, at a university in the Western Cape province, South Africa.SettingThe study was conducted at a unive…
Open article record in new tab ↗Cannabis sativa L. is an aromatic medicinal plant with various biologically active classes of compounds such as cannabinoids, polyphenols, and terpenes. Unlike the widely investigated inflorescence and leaf, the stembark of C. sativa has been overlooked regarding its medicinal potential. This study, therefore, was aimed at determining the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of the essential oils (EOs) ob…
Background Mental illness and substance use are major global challenges, with their impact on Emergency Centres becoming evident, especially in South Africa. Patients facing these issues require significant resources from both hospital and community services. However, there is a lack of local data regarding the prevalence of concurrent mental health and substance use disorders. This study aims to evaluate the exte…
Open article record in new tab ↗BackgroundSeveral tuberculosis (TB) vaccines intended for adults and adolescents are in late-stage clinical trials, but there is limited research into how a new TB vaccine would be introduced. South Africa is at the forefront of TB vaccine research, with involvement in the clinical trials of leading candidates, in this study; we sought to understand what the interest, priorities and roll out approach of a potentia…
Open article record in new tab ↗The capacity of health systems to provide quality care for pregnant adolescents remains underexplored. This study examined the quality of care and adverse delivery outcomes (mistreatment and obstetric complications) among pregnant adolescents in Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa using data from the MNH eCohort longitudinal survey. This study followed 3,051 pregnant women from their first antenatal care (ANC) visit…
BackgroundMental health is an essential component of well-being, yet marginalized groups, particularly adolescents, face systemic inequities and barriers to accessing care. This paper describes the experiences of adolescent girls in their access to healthcare services and how these experiences might have contributed to their mental health and well-being in the Western Cape province, South Africa. MethodsThis quali…
Open article record in new tab ↗South Africa is one of 25 countries identified by the World Health Organization as having the potential to eliminate malaria in the near future. In response to the emerging threat of antimalarial resistance, South Africa enhanced its surveillance programs to enable the mapping of resistance markers prevalence down to the facility level. A total of 4 471 samples, collected between January 2022 and August 2024 from…
Open article record in new tab ↗As South Africa strives to meet the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) 95-95-95, targets require adequate patient data to track people living with HIV (PLHIV) and link them to care. The National District Health Management Information System (DHMIS) Facility Report Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) aims to standardise data collection and use across health facilities. However, data quality issues…
BackgroundExtreme weather events (EWEs) in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa are increasingly common causing disease outbreaks, loss of homes, damage to infrastructure, increased mortality and life as well as increasing the pressure on the health system. An Early Warning System (EWS) intervention is needed to alert communities and government increasing preparedness for floods, improving resilience of health ser…
Performance management, primarily developmental-oriented, improves individual and organisational performance as key enablers of improved services. Accomplishing performance managements objectives are critical in the current global challenges of the shortage of healthcare workers and providing equitable, quality healthcare for all. The weakened South African district-based primary healthcare system is strongly link…
Open article record in new tab ↗Background Substance use is an escalating public health problem in South Africa resulting in risky behaviours and poor educational attainment among adolescents. There is a huge battle to overcome substance use among learners as more drugs become easily available with the mean age of drug experimentation reported to be at 12 years of age. It is important to continuously understand the trends in substance use in ord…
Open article record in new tab ↗The ongoing public health crisis of substance use among school adolescents and young adults (AYAs) in South Africa is not new in research parlance, amidst the national policy of drug abuse management in schools. In view of no tangible progress to reduce substance use in high schools in the country, we conducted a cross-sectional quantitative study aimed at investigating substance use among adolescents and young ad…
Open article record in new tab ↗Background Cannabis is the most widely used substance worldwide, and its use is much higher among adolescents. However, adolescents are at higher risk of negative sequelae secondary to this use, including the possible development of mental disorders. On 31 March 2017, the South African High Court ruled that cannabis use by an adult in a private dwelling should be decriminalised. Aim This study aimed to determine t…
The prevalence and influence of gangs on adolescents and young adults remain a concern in Western Cape, South Africa-particularly as they have one of the largest gang presence. While less attention has been focused on young women, there is a need to elucidate the relationship between gang exposure and health behaviors, such substance use, in addition to understanding whether becoming a caregiver impacts this relat…
Open article record in new tab ↗BackgroundThe measurement of cause-specific mortality is critical for health system planning but remains a challenge in many low-resource settings due to societal, legal, and logistical barriers. We present a co-development process with community members for the design and implementation of an autopsy program to improve cause of death data in a historically underserved population. MethodsWe sought to develop an au…
Open article record in new tab ↗BackgroundThe era of universal treatment for HIV has seen high rates of disengagement from antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs and re-engagement after interruptions, with modeled estimates of non-naive initiators >50% in many places. Most re-engagers are reluctant to admit prior antiretroviral exposure, and non-self-reported data on proportions of re-initiators are scarce. We synthesized data from multiple sourc…
BackgroundA growing number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) also have non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Shifting the health systems paradigm from vertical, parallel care to an integrated delivery model may facilitate better care-seeking and ultimately improve outcomes for people with a dual burden of HIV and NCDs. We describe the current state of integration of hypertension and diabetes care into HIV treatment in…