MD, PhD, Consultant Urologist, Department of Urology, Antwerp University Hospital, BE; Professor, Antwerp Surgical Training, Anatomy and Research Centre (ASTARC), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wilrijk, BE; Honorary Consultant in Adolescent @ Reconstructive Urology, University College London Hospital, London, UK.
Breast cancer (BC) is the leading cancer among women in Namibia. Examining the BC journey in this multiracial country where inequalities remain large is needed to inform effective interventions to red...
To describe the entire BC journey of Namibian women by race, utilizing the World Health Organization Global Breast Cancer Initiative (GBCI) framework....
This cohort study used the Namibian subset of the African Breast Cancer-Disparities in Outcomes prospective cohort. Participants were all Namibian residents with confirmed incident BC who presented at...
Participants' self-reported ethnicities were aggregated into 3 population groups: Black, mixed ancestry, and White....
Three-year overall survival (OS) was examined using Cox models, and summary statistics were used to describe women's BC journey, including GBCI pillar key performance indicators: (1) early stage (TNM ...
Of 405 women, there were 300 (74%) Black (mean [SD] age, 53 [15] years), 49 (12%) mixed ancestry (mean [SD] age, 53 [7] years), and 56 (14%) White (mean [SD] age, 59 [12] years) patients. Three-year O...
In this cohort study of 405 Namibian residents with BC, marked racial disparities in survival were paralleled by inequities all along the BC journey. To improve BC survival, interventions are needed t...
In resource-constrained settings like Namibia, breast self-examination (BSE) is considered an important cost-effective intervention that is critical to the early detection of breast cancer, and better...
This study relied on the 2013 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), analysing data from women aged 15-49 years. Statistical analyses including bivariate and multivariate logistic regression an...
Only 30.67% of the respondents practiced BSE. The odds of performing BSE were higher among those with health insurance coverage [AOR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.34, 1.89], those who were separated from their sp...
We conclude that the determinants of BSE practice are age, educational level, marital status, health insurance coverage, religion, mobility in the last 12 months, early sexual debut, parity, household...
Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the most commonly acquired heart disease in children and young people in low and middle-income settings. Fragile health systems and scarcity of data persist to limit t...
Data was retrieved from outpatient and inpatient registers for all patients diagnosed and treated for RHD between January 2010 to December 2020. We used descriptive statistics to estimate the prevalen...
The outpatient register covered 0.032% of the adult Namibian population and combined with the cumulative incidence from the inpatient register we predict the prevalence of clinically diagnosed RHD to ...
The prevalence of RHD is expected to be lower than previously reported. It will be valuable to investigate latent RHD and patient follow-ups for better estimates of the true burden of disease. Surveil...
Low viral load suppression rates among older adolescents and young adults with HIV are a global challenge, including in Namibia. Healthcare providers struggle with managing these age groups due to the...
This study aimed to explore and describe healthcare practitioners' understanding and experiences in managing older adolescents and younger adults living with HIV in seven high-burden districts of Nami...
Qualitative descriptive phenomenological research was followed in this study. Healthcare practitioners directly managing older adolescents and younger adults living with HIV were purposively recruited...
Two themes emerged from the study: (1) healthcare practitioners' knowledge of viral load management and (2) the strategies employed to manage high viral load in these age groups. These strategies incl...
The findings revealed inadequate knowledge among healthcare practitioners regarding viral load management, which negatively impacts the provision of quality care and an effective HIV response within t...
Millions of dollars have been spent in fighting malaria in Namibia. However, malaria remains a major public health concern in Namibia, mostly in Kavango West and East, Ohangwena and Zambezi region. Th...
Malaria data, climatic data, and population data were merged and Global spatial autocorrelation statistics (Moran's I) was used to detect the spatial autocorrelation of malaria cases while malaria occ...
Average rainfall received on an annual basis and maximum temperature were found to have a significant spatial and temporal variation on malaria infection. Every mm increase in annual rainfall in a spe...
The study discovered that the spatial temporal model with both random and fixed effects best fit the model, which demonstrated a strong spatial and temporal heterogeneity distribution of malaria cases...
Cowpeas (Vigna uniculata L. Walp) are grown by many smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa for food and their ability to fix nitrogen even under stress. Their performance depends on the indigenous ...
Hypertension (HTN) is highly prevalent among people with HIV (PWH) in Namibia, but screening and treatment for HTN are not routinely offered as part of HIV care delivery. We report the implementation ...
Twenty-four facilities participated in the QIC with the aim of increasing HTN screening and treatment among adult PWH (>15 years). HTN was defined according to national treatment guidelines (i.e., sys...
Between March 2017 and March 2018, hypertension screening occurred as part of 183,043 (86%) clinical encounters at participating facilities. Among 1,759 PWH newly diagnosed with HTN, 992 (56%) were in...
Implementation of a QIC provided a structured approach for integrating HTN and HIV services across 24 high-volume facilities in Namibia. As rates of HTN treatment remained low despite ongoing facility...
Namibia, a low malaria transmission country targeting elimination, has made substantial progress in reducing malaria burden through improved case management, widespread indoor residual spraying and di...
This study introduces innovative infectious disease mapping techniques to generate high-resolution spatio-temporal risk maps for malaria in Namibia. A two-stage approach is employed to create maps usi...
A fine-scale spatial endemicity surface was produced for annual average incidence, followed by a spatio-temporal modelling of seasonal fluctuations in weekly incidence and aggregated further to distri...
While the study acknowledges certain limitations, such as population mobility and incomplete clinical case reporting, it underscores the importance of continuously refining geostatistical techniques t...
Bush encroachment affects much of the Namibian woodland landscape, causing significant loss of open savannah habitat and farm profits. Thinning of the trees/shrubs is recommended; however, research is...
Disparities in resources and access to material opportunities are important determinants of income-related health inequality. This paper hypothesises that the gradient of the inequality in health betw...
