SSMJ August 2012

Editorials

Editorial - Clinical attachment: a learning experience

A clinical attachment is an opportunity for doctors from South Sudan to experience the hospital and clinical practice in a setting different from their own. What they learn in the attachment will help them improve their medical practice on their return. I attended a clinical attachment in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Poole Hospital, UK, in March 2012. This attachment involved attendance in diagnostic clinics, ward rounds and operations.

News, Reports and Policy

Resources: Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition

-The first 1,000 days -A new injectable contraceptive -Child Health e-learning resources -Primary Mothercare and Population -State of the World’s Mothers -Family planning in The Lancet

Clinical Guidance

Examples of checklists for community-based frontline health workers in South Sudan

Research

Management of malaria at Juba Teaching Hospital: a clinical audit

Worldwide there are 247 million cases of malaria annually and nearly a million deaths [1,2]. In South Sudan, especially during the rainy season, malaria is responsible for most admissions and is the leading cause of mortality in the Medical Department of Juba Teaching Hospital (JTH).

Health psychology and health care interventions in sub-Saharan African countries

Health psychology is a specialty within the discipline of psychology concerned with individual behaviours and lifestyles affecting physical health. The discipline strives to “enhance health, prevent and treat disease, identify risk factors, improve the health care system, and improve public opinion regarding health issues”

Assessing Information and Communication Technology in surgical training, Sudan as example

The Internet has enabled increasing numbers of healthcare professionals to access flexible, convenient and interactive forms of continuing medical education. The advantages of these computer-based technology tools are clear but they are expensive, may not be available and there is a lack of Information Technology (IT) skills.

Can primary health care staff be trained in basic life-saving surgery?

Two billion people in low- and middle-income countries have no access to basic surgical care. Surgical conditions account for a significant proportion of the global health burden. Surgery is still not considered a public health priority even though surgical services may be as cost-effective as other well-accepted preventive procedures

Evaluation of community-based surveillance for Guinea worm, South Sudan, 2006

Background: Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis) is an ancient parasitic disease and is set to be the next disease eradicated from the world and the first to be overcome without a vaccine or treatment. South Sudan and Ghana account for more than 95% of global dracunculiasis.

Case Reports

Case Study – Left ICA Aneurysm

A non enhanced CT of the brain has been acquired at patient admission (Pictures 1 and 2). There is no evidence of an intracranial haemorrhage or haematoma. There is also no evidence of midline shift or of signs of raised intracranial pressure. No recent ischaemic changes are identified. However, a hypodense secondary porencephalic defect area is noted involving the left sided striatum being in keeping with a chronic striatum infarct.

Summaries

No documents found.