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Balwani Chingatichifwe Mbakaya

Balwani Chingatichifwe Mbakaya
University of Livingstonia · Public Health

PhD. MPH.

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98
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Publications

Publications (98)
Article
Full-text available
Background In Malawi, women in prisons make up 2.7% of the total prison population. However, the experiences of women incarcerated are not well documented in the literature. We aim to describe the experiences of women incarcerated in a Malawian prison facility. We will concentrate on the qualitative findings that highlight the unique perspectives o...
Preprint
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Background Despite increased contraceptive use in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the region still has high fertility and unmet contraception needs. This study explored challenges in using modern FP methods among women of childbearing age in Chanunkha area in Mzimba, Malawi. Methodology This study used a cross-section descriptive study design, utilizing...
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Background: Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a widely used clinical assessment method in health professions education. It is a reliable and objective assessment tool that accurately measures students’ clinical skills and knowledge, confirming their competence in real world practice. However, despite the OSCE being used to certify...
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Objective: To identify the prevalence of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in a cohort of children under 5 years of age with World Health Organization (WHO)-defined pneumonia and the factors associated with developing severe RSV-associated community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in primary care in a single centre in Northern Malawi. Methods: The BIOm...
Preprint
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Background The emergence of COVID-19, caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, has posed profound challenges to the healthcare delivery system worldwide. This pandemic has not only resulted in severe illness and high mortality rates but has also significantly impacted the management of patients affected by the disease. This study aimed at exploring th...
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BACKGROUND: Clinical handover is the transfer of essential information, professional responsibility and authority for care of the patient from one health care provider to another. Clinical handover not only ensures patient safety and continuity of care but also provides learning opportunity for nursing students. Effective learning during clinical h...
Preprint
Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. Risk of TB disease is higher among people living with HIV. HIV prevalence among tuberculosis patients is in Africa is approximately 38%. Malawi registered a 44.6% TB/HIV coinfection in 2020. TPT prevents development of active TB disease. TPT uptake has been...
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Background: Individuals who are nonadherent to treatment have higher rates of symptom recurrence, higher rates of hospital readmission and poorer quality of life. Nkhoma Mission Hospital (NMH) in the central region of Malawi has been integrating mental health within the existing services to ensure that the services are accessible to people. The pur...
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Background Cancer continues to cause major morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries thereby contributing to unmet palliative care services. Palliative care among cancer patients aims to improve Quality of Life (QoL). This study was conducted to assess the quality of life of cancer patients in palliative care. Methods Through a d...
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Background Cancer continues to cause major morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries thereby contributing to unmet palliative care services. Palliative care among cancer patients aims to improve Quality of Life (QoL). This study was conducted to assess the quality of life of cancer patients in palliative care. Methods Through a d...
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Background The best chance of eradicating the COVID-19 pandemic lies in a successful vaccination campaign against the virus. There is still hesitancy among some of the Malawians over the use of COVID-19 vaccines that are readily available. This review’s objective was to currently analyze COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy among Malawians. Methods This...
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Background Health seeking behaviour is one of the major determinants of health of all people including the elderly as it helps to sustain individuals’ wellbeing. However, very few studies have examined the status of health seeking behaviour of the elderly population. This study aimed at analysing health seeking behaviour of the elderly aged 60 year...
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Vaccination is one of the essential measures in reducing transmission, morbidity, and mortality rates of a disease. However, the COVID-19 vaccination is facing hesitancy across the globe, Malawi included. A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Malawi to document knowledge, attitudes, and practices on COVID-19 vaccination. The stu...
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Background While triple anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has improved HIV-infected children surviving into adolescence and adulthood, these children remain vulnerable to HIV-related psychological disturbance due to both the direct HIV infection effects on the brain and indirect effects related to coping with a range of medical, psychological and socia...
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Introduction Pneumonia is one of the major causes of childhood mortality worldwide. Most of these deaths are readily preventable or treatable with proven cost effective interventions. The aim of this study is to investigate the assessment and management of childhood pneumonia in primary care in Malawi.Methods Semi-structured interviews were used to...
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Cervical cancer is preventable and curable if identified early. Although health workers have a critical role in influencing beliefs and practices of the entire population, some studies have shown paradoxical efforts among female health workers themselves-a threat towards attainment of the triple-intervention strategy as propagated by the World Heal...
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Background Little is known about experiences of rural people with diabetes care at a tertiary health facility in low-income settings. Understanding their experiences is essential for developing effective diabetes care interventions. Methods The study employed a qualitative narrative inquiry. Participants were identified at a diabetes clinic at a t...
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Abstract Objective: Incarcerated male youths in Malawi’s detention facilities face multiple threats to their health and well-being. The most common challenges are overcrowding, poor sanitation and a lack of access to basic needs such as adequate food, bedding and healthcare. In addition, youth are vulnerable to sexual abuse. Design:A qualitative...
Preprint
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Background While triple anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has improved HIV-infected children surviving into adolescence and adulthood, these children remain vulnerable to HIV-related psychological disturbance due to both the direct HIV infection effects on the brain and indirect effects related to coping with a range of medical, psychologicaland social...
Preprint
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Background The resurgence of the cholera epidemic in Malawi poses a substantive threat to the government schema and necessitates more targeted intervention methods for long-term management. This study focused on geographical analysis of cholera incidence in Malawi to investigate the existence of regional hotspots and predictors. Methods The geogra...
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As the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic continues, reports indicate that the global vaccination rate is still far below the target. Understanding the levels of reinfection may help refocus and inform policymakers on vaccination. This retrospective study in Malawi included individuals and patients who tested for COVID-19 infections via reverse tr...
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Background Eye care-seeking behavior plays a critical role in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of various eye conditions, enabling individuals to maintain good visual health and overall well-being. The study focused on three objectives: knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding eye care. Methods The study employed quantitative methods a...
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Background: Individuals who are non-adherent to treatment have higher rates symptom recurrence, higher hospital readmission and poor quality of life. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted at Nkhoma Mission Hospital, Lilongwe Malawi. Survey approach and total population sampling were used. MARS was used to assess medication adher...
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Aim: To evaluate hand hygiene knowledge and demonstrated technique before and after implementation of the hand hygiene programme and its sustainability among Malawian kindergarten students. Design: Quasi-experimental design, utilizing a repeated measure at three points, namely, before intervention (T0 ), soon after intervention (T1 ) and follow-...
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Aim: Helminth infections result from poor sanitation. We evaluated the effect of helminth infections on HIV disease progression through the monitoring of 2 outcomes: (1) plasma HIV-1 RNA Viral load (V/L) and (2) Cluster of Differentiation (CD4+) T-lymphocyte count amongst helminth-HIV-1 co-infected persons. We hypothesized that (1) concurrent helmi...
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Aim: Irrespective of co-trimoxazole prophylaxis, diarrhea among HIV-exposed infants (HEI) and people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) remains unacceptably high. We aimed to determine the combined effect of improved water supply interventions and co-trimoxazole prophylaxis on frequency and severity of diarrhea among HEI and PLWHA. Methods: Using key...
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Helminth infections result from either ingestion or contact with contaminated fecal matter. To date, there is insufficient evidence as to whether helminths have influence on HIV-1 specific immune responses as literature results are indeterminate. We evaluated the effect of helminth infections on HIV disease progression through the monitoring of 2 o...
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Helminth infections result from either ingestion or contact with contaminated fecal matter. To date, there is insufficient evidence as to whether helminths have influence on HIV-1 specific immune responses as literature results are indeterminate. We evaluated the effect of helminth infections on HIV disease progression through the monitoring of 2 o...
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Irrespective of co-trimoxazole prophylaxis, diarrhea among HIV-exposed infants (HEI) and people living with HIV (PLWHA) remains unacceptably high. We aimed to determine the combined effect of improved water supply interventions and co-trimoxazole prophylaxis on frequency and severity of diarrhea among HEI and PLWHA. Using key search terms of safe s...
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Objectives A cross-sectional and a policy document review study was performed to investigate perceived acceptability and feasibility to implementing different integration measures for tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes mellitus (DM) healthcare among healthcare workers (HCWs) and health managers, and to describe policy influence through a policy documen...
Preprint
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Introduction: People incarcerated in Malawi's detention facilities face a lot of problems. The most common challenges are overcrowding, poor sanitation, and lack of access to basic needs such as adequate food, bedding, clothing, security, and health care. In addition, young people are vulnerable to sexual abuse. Methods: A qualitative approach usin...
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Constant exposure to poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) contribute to environmental enteric dysfunction; a disorder that is frequently implicated as a cause of linear growth failure. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of WaSH on linear growth amongst children aged 0-59 months. We reviewed fourteen (14) studies retrieved from AMED, CINAHL, DOA...
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Constant exposure to poor sanitation contribute to the environmental enteric dysfunction-a disorder that is frequently implicated as a cause of linear growth failure. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) interventions on linear growth amongst children aged 0-24 months. We reviewed fourteen studies retrieved fro...
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Background Even though evidence based practice (EBP) is being considered as a critical element in improving the quality of health services and achieving excellence in patient care, there is currently little knowledge of how EBP relates to nursing and midwifery in Malawi. This paper is a report of a study describing EBP knowledge, attitudes, and use...
Article
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Background In 2016 the Malawi government embarked on several interrelated health sector reforms aimed at improving the quality of health services at all levels of care and attain Universal Health Coverage by 2030. Patient satisfaction with services is an important proxy measure of quality. We assessed patient satisfaction at a tertiary hospital in...
Article
Background: Previous studies have predominantly focused on the needs of persons with aphasia (PWA), after a stroke diagnosis. However, aphasia is found to cause communication challenges in persons with stroke and their family caregivers as a unit. Evidence is inconclusive about the communication patterns of both persons with aphasia and their fami...
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INTRODUCTION: A diverse group of neuroscience nurse experts discussed stroke nursing research at the 5th International Neuroscience Nursing Research Symposium. Panel experts from Singapore, India, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Malawi, Germany, Palestine, Kenya, Japan, and the United States collaborated to examine similarities and differe...
Preprint
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Background Unsafe sanitation disproportionally affects the most vulnerable groups in society such as HIV-exposed infants (HEI) and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Whilst there is emerging body of evidence on benefits of integration of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) and HIV/AIDS, experiences from sub-Saharan Africa has shown that there is...
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Objective: Orbito-ocular cancers are a common cause of morbidity and mortality in our population, yet these cancers have not been adequately described in Malawi. This study sought to describe the burden and histopathological profile of orbito-ocular cancers in Northern Malawi. Methods and analysis: A retrospective review of pathology reports was...
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Objectives According to the WHO (2014), cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women globally. More than 85% of the global cervical cancer morbidity and mortality occur in low-income and middle-income countries and the highest risk region is in Eastern and Southern Africa. Malawi has the highest age-standardised rate of cervical cancer...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background In 2016 the Malawi government embarked on several interrelated health sector reforms aimed at improving the quality of health services at all levels of care and attain Universal Health Coverage by 2030. Patient satisfaction with services is an important proxy measure of quality. We assessed patient satisfaction at a tertiary hospital in...
Article
Full-text available
Objective The aim of this study was to characterize Covid-19 cases and explore risk factors associated with mortality among hypertensive patients with COVID-19 country-wide. Methods We used a retrospective case control study design to provide a detailed account of cases and explore risk factors associated with mortality among hypertensive patients...
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Introduction Sickle cell disease (SCD) remains a major cause of childhood mortality and morbidity in Malawi. However, literature to comprehensively describe the disease in the paediatric population is lacking. Methods A retrospective review of clinical files of children with SCD was conducted. Descriptive statistics were performed to summarise the...
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ABSTRACT Introduction Sickle cell disease (SCD) remains a major cause of childhood mortality and morbidity in Malawi. However, literature to comprehensively describe the disease in the paediatric population is lacking. Methods A retrospective review of clinical files of children with SCD was conducted. Descriptive statistics were performed to summa...
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We estimated the seroprevalence of anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in residents of African countries and explored its associated factors. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, AMED, CINAHL, DOAJ and Google Scholar databases for peer reviewed articles and pre-prints that reported anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody...
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We estimated the seroprevalence of anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in residents of African countries and explored its associated factors. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, AMED, CINAHL, DOAJ and Google Scholar databases for peer reviewed articles and pre-prints that reported anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: Even though EBP is being considered as a critical element in improving the quality of health services and achieving excellence in patient care, there is currently little knowledge of how EBP relates to nursing and midwifery in Malawi. This paper is a report of a study describing EBP knowledge, attitudes and use of registered nurses-midw...
Article
Full-text available
Breast cancer is one of the major public health problem in developing countries. In Malawi, cancer of the breast among females is among the top four accounting for 4.9%. The study determined the histopathologic profile of breast cancer in Northern Malawi from July 2013 to June 2018. A record based retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted a...
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Poor sanitary practices are common amongst many food handlers posing a health risk to consumers. Maintenance of high quality water is one of the most important aspects of ensuring consumer safety. Therefore, regular water testing is critical in public food outlets where bacterial contamination may cause outbreak of disease. The study aimed at analy...
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Background: A caring environment in nursing education is one of the most essential factors for empowering students, which is achieved through trust and open academic communication. Aim: To explore the experiences of faculty caring and uncaring behaviours on students learning from the perspective of university nursing and midwifery students. Method...
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Objectives: This study was carried out to determine the histopathological profile of cervical biopsies in a public tertiary hospital in Mzuzu, northern region of Malawi. Setting: A public tertiary hospital in Mzuzu, northern region of Malawi Participants: This was a retrospective study of all cervical biopsy specimen reports received in a public te...
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Data on prevalence of Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis (EPTB) patients is limited in many African countries including Malawi. We conducted a retrospective review of all histology reports for cancer suspected patients at Mzuzu Central Hospital (MZCH) between 2013 and 2018 to determine the proportion of EPTB cases among cancer suspected patients and chara...
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Background Non - tuberculosis Mycobacteria (NTM) are increasingly being recognized as human pathogens, causing substantial morbidity and mortality in progressive lung disease, immunosuppressed, the elderly and the youth. Similarity of clinical symptoms with MTB, coupled with limited diagnostic capacities in tuberculosis (TB) endemic developing coun...
Article
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Abstract Background The clinical learning environment is an important part of the nursing and midwifery training as it helps students to integrate theory into clinical practice. However, not all clinical learning environments foster positive learning. This study aimed to assess the student nurses and midwives’ experiences and perception of the clin...
Article
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Background: Tippy-taps are locally made devices for washing hands with running water. They are simple and low-cost, enabling technology that provides adequate water sources, handwashing stations and motivation for people to prioritise handwashing. This systematic review aimed to establish the use, benefits, adoption and effectiveness of enabling t...
Preprint
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Background Orbito-ocular lesions are common cause of morbidity and mortality in our population yet, there is paucity of data on their pattern which is crucial for developing an effective strategy for prevention, timely detection and management. This study sought to describe the burden and histopathological pattern of orbito-ocular lesions at Mzuzu...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background The clinical learning environment is an important part of the nursing and midwifery training as it helps students to integrate theory into clinical practice. However, not all clinical learning environments foster positive learning. The aim of this study was to assess the experiences and perception of the clinical learning environment by...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background The clinical learning environment is an important part of the nursing and midwifery training as it helps students to integrate theory into clinical practice. However, not all clinical learning environments foster positive learning. The aim of this study was to assess the experiences and perception of the clinical learning environment by...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background The clinical learning environment is an important part of the nursing and midwifery training as it helps students to integrate theory into clinical practice. However, not all clinical learning environments foster positive learning. The aim of this study was to assess the experiences and perception of nursing and midwifery students of the...
Preprint
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Background A low cost and simple handwashing and enabling technology such as tippy-taps may provide adequate water sources, handwashing stations and motivation for people to prioritise handwashing. This systematic review aimed to establish the use, benefits, adoption and effectiveness of enabling technology; tippy-tap handwashing station, in resour...
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Background: Rhinocerebral mucormycosis is a life threatening fungal infection usually acute and often fatal. It is more aggressive among diabetic or immunosuppressed patients. It is a rare condition which has never been reported in our setting. This case is reported in order to create high index of suspicion for prompt intervention in resource limi...
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Background: Many newly qualified registered nurses find it difficult to make the transition from completing their registered nursing studies to taking up their first post; yet very little has been done to explore these experiences in Malawi. The aim of this study was to explore newly qualified registered nurses' perceptions of the transition from b...
Article
Aim: To explore the experiences of schoolchildren, school personnel and parents who participated in a school-based hand hygiene programme implemented by nurses in Malawi. Background: There is low uptake of hand hygiene practice in developing countries due to limited resources available and no standardized hand hygiene policy. Introduction: Cur...
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Abstract Background: Proper handwashing technique can reduce the child’s mortality. The study aimed to evaluate the impact of a school-based hand hygiene program on children’s handwashing compliance and school absenteeism in Southern Africa. Methods: This was a two-arm cluster randomized trial in which six private primary schools were allocated ran...
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Background High prevalence rates of people living with HIV (PLHIV) are more predominant in sub-Saharan Africa compared to any region globally. Nonetheless, many people in the region have little access to safe water and live in poor sanitation environment. This region is, therefore, faced with a challenge in protecting PLHIV from infectious diseases...
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Background: Typhoid fever is a global health challenge and burden. Contamination of water and hands were found associated with higher risk of contracting typhoid. Schoolchildren should be a target population in disease prevention. Experimental studies showed that water treatment and hand hygiene education were effective in reducing illness and sick...