Tivani Mashamba-Thompson

University of Pretoria | UP · Faculty of Health Sciences

Background HIV self-testing (HIVST) is one of the recommended approaches for HIV testing services, particularly for helping reach populations who would not normally access facility-based HIV testing. Key stakeholder engagement is paramount in tailoring health interventions to ensure uptake by target populations. Objective The main objective of thi...

Background: Poor medication adherence among patients with Chronic Diseases is one of the significant health problems globally. Despite this, evidence on chronic medication adherence in low and middle-income countries is unclear. Objective: This scoping review aimed to identify factors influencing poor medication adherence amongst patients with chro...

Abstract Background Despite significant achievements made towards HIV testing, linkage to antiretroviral therapy treatment and viral load suppression, the Sub-Saharan region of Africa continues to be reported to have the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS, with over 26 million people living with the disease. In light of the added burden on already over...

Introduction Evidence shows that women in sub-Saharan Africa have high rates of cervical cancer (CC) mortality compared with women in high-income countries. Effective screening programmes have significantly reduced the burden of CC in high-income countries. Self-sampling for human papillomavirus testing (HPVSS) has been reported to increase the par...

In Namibia, the prevalence of hypertension among women and men aged 35–64 years is high, ranging from 44% to 57%. In this study, we aimed to determine adherence and predictors to antihypertensive therapy in Khomas region, Namibia. A cross-sectional study was performed to consecutively sample 400 patients from urban and peri-urban settings in Namibi...

Background Adolescent reproductive health is still a challenge in Low and Middle Income Come Countries (LMICs). However, the reasons for the inability of most pregnant adolescent girls to access and utilize maternal and child health information (MCHI) are not well-documented. This is despite the policy guidelines promoting the provision of this nec...

Evidence shows that vulnerable populations have lower levels of health literacy, resulting in poor health-seeking behavior and poor uptake of diagnostics. Being health literate promotes health care-seeking behavior and improves engagement with diagnostic services. In this editorial, I define health literacy in the context of access to technology fo...

Background The South African Ward Based Primary Health Care Outreach Team (WBPHCOT) policy framework states that the distribution of community health workers (CHWs) should be proportional to levels of poverty and disease within the population. We aimed to describe the spatial distribution of CHWs in relation to the prevalence of the Human Immunodef...

Background The use of mobile technology has been reported to help improve access to education for people in remote areas. However, there is limited evidence of its adoption in resource-limited settings. The aim of this study was to utilize stakeholder generated ideas to design and pilot a mobile learning curriculum, with the purpose of facilitating...

Background Over the last 30 years, South Africa has experienced four ‘colliding epidemics’ of HIV and tuberculosis, chronic illness and mental health, injury and violence, and maternal, neonatal, and child mortality, which have had substantial effects on health and well-being. Using data from the 2019 Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Fa...

Background: Point of care (POC) testing has enabled rapid coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnosis in resource-limited settings with limited laboratory infrastructure and high disease burden. However, the accessibility of the tests is not optimal in these settings. This scoping review mapped evidence on supply chain management (SCM) systems f...

Background The global increase in the utilization of non - prescribed antibiotics (NPA), is concerning, with high persistence within the low and middle-income countries (LMICs). With a negative impact on the health of individuals and communities the use of NPA paves the way to the propagation of superbugs that potentially predisposes to changes in...

Background The use of indigenous food (IF) such as green leafy vegetables and fruits in rural communities has been the primary source of their diet despite being replaced by food high in sugar and fats. South Africans are over-reliant on maize and should diversify their diets to include more indigenous fruits and vegetables to improve nutrition. Ea...

Tuberculosis (TB) is still a major public health concern, despite the availability of preventative and curative therapies. Significant progress has been made in the past decade towards its control. However, the emergence of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has disrupted numerous essential health services, including those for TB. This s...

Background Health education interventions tailored to suit men have the potential to improve health outcomes for this underserved population. HIV self-testing (HIVST) is a promising approach to overcoming challenges associated with low HIV testing rates among men. The primary objective of this study is to assess the feasibility of conducting a defi...

Background: The medical aesthetics industry is a very profitable and rapidly growing branch of medicine. Currently, somatologists or beauty therapists who either independently perform or assist medical directors in these aesthetic procedures, are not regulated by a professional body in most countries including South Africa. The absence of a prescri...

Background The reasons for the inability of most pregnant adolescent girls to access and utilize maternal and child health information (MCHI) are not well-documented. This is despite the policy guidelines promoting the provision of this necessary information to pregnant adolescents in order to prepare them for delivery. This provision is one of the...

Background In recent years, the shift from traditional face-to-face teaching methods to eLearning methods has shown to improve professional training, particularly for the health workers in achieving necessary specialised worker training. However, there is a insufficient evidence on the costs and cost-effectiveness of designing and deploying eLearni...

A conceptual artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled framework is presented in this study involving triangulation of various diagnostic methods for management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its associated comorbidities in resource-limited settings (RLS). The proposed AI-enabled framework will afford capabilities to harness low-cost polymer...

Background South Africa has not achieved the 90–90–90 goals, in part due to low rates of antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation among those aware of their HIV status. Perceived risk of HIV at the time of testing may affect likelihood of rapid ART initiation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate factors associated with perceived risk of HIV an...

Objectives This study aimed to map evidence on health education programs (HEPs) for men engagement in health services in LMICs to guide future research. Study Design A scoping review was conducted. Methods We searched Google Scholar, PubMed, EBSCOhost (CINAHL, MEDLINE, Health Source, Nursing, Academic Edition and Academic Search Complete) and WEB...

Objectives To synthesise qualitative studies that address the barriers to and facilitators of providing HIV services by community health workers (CHWs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Design This meta-synthesis was guided by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. We included studies that were published between 2009 and 20...

Background: In recent decades low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are witnessing an increase in hypertension and thus becoming a significant public health issue due to associated Cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes. Antihypertensive medication adherence is crucial to controlling blood pressure; therefore, this systematic review aimed to eval...

Background: HIV self-testing (HIVST) is one of the recommended approaches for HIV testing services, particularly for helping reach populations who would not normally access facility-based HIV testing. HIVST must be tailored to different populations to ensure uptake. Objective: The main objective of this study was to develop an acceptable HIVST deli...

Background: The Ward Based Primary Health Care Outreach Team (WBPHCOT) policy framework states that community health workers (CHW)s should be distributed mainly according to poverty lines for each catchment population. We aimed to describe the spatial distribution of CHWs in relation to the HIV prevalence which has been associated with poverty in p...

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have been identified as promising strategies for improving access to healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. However, the extent of availability and use of mHealth among healthcare professionals in Ghana is not known. The study’s main objective was to examine the availability and use of mHealth for disease dia...

Mobile health devices are emerging applications that could help deliver point-of-care (POC) diagnosis, particularly in settings with limited laboratory infrastructure, such as Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The advent of Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has resulted in an increased deployment and use of mHealth-linked POC diagnostics in S...

Background Uninterrupted delivery of tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic services is paramount, since early diagnosis allows for timeous treatment which improves treatment outcomes, reduces the period of infectiousness and limits the development of antibiotic resistant strains of TB. In 2020, the urgency of the public health response to the COVID-19 pande...

Background A majority of women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are not able to access healthcare information due to different factors. This scoping review aimed to map the literature on access to healthcare information by women of reproductive age in LMICs. Methods The literature search was conducted through the fol...

Background Rapid and specific diagnostic tests are essential for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing to allow prompt isolation and early treatment initiation if necessary. Currently, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests are the gold standard for SARS-CoV-2 testing but are difficult to...

Background: HIV self-testing (HIVST) is one of the recommended approaches for HIV testing services, particularly for helping reach populations who would not normally access facility-based HIV testing. HIVST must be tailored to different populations to ensure uptake. Objective: The main objective of this study was to develop an acceptable HIVST deli...

Background The overuse of prescribed antimicrobials, concurrent use of traditional medicine, and prescribed antimicrobials have led to antimicrobial resistance. The absence of collaboration between traditional health practitioners and biomedically trained healthcare professionals can contribute to antimicrobial resistance, treatment failure, overdo...

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have been identified as promising strategies for improving access to healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. However, the extent of availability and use of mHealth among healthcare professionals in Ghana is not known. The main objective of this study is to determine the availability and use of mHea...

Mobile health devices are emerging applications that could help deliver point-of-care (POC) diagnosis, particularly in settings with limited laboratory infrastructure, such as sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The advent of coronavirus has resulted in an increased deployment and use of mHealth-linked POC diagnostics in SSA. We performed a systematic review...

Mapping evidence of interventions and strategies to bridge the gap in the implementation of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV programme policy in sub-Saharan countries: A scoping review

In previous studies, food insecurity has been hypothesised to promote the prevalence of metabolic risk factors on the causal pathway to diet-sensitive non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the associations between food insecurity and key metabolic risk factors on the causal pathway to diet-sen...

The advances in mobile technologies and applications are driving the transformation in health services delivery globally. Mobile phone penetration is increasing exponentially in low-and middle-income countries, hence using mobile phones for healthcare services could reach more people in resource-limited settings than the traditional forms of health...

Background and aims This review aims to systematically map global evidence on foot-care knowledge and practices in relation to diabetes mellitus (DM) and identify areas that need further research. Methods Database searches were undertaken using Google Scholar, Medline (PubMed), Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost), and Medline (EBSCOhost). Studies...

Background: KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is the province with the highest HIV prevalence in South Africa (SA). Community Health Workers (CHWs) are key to delivery of HIV services at community level. Evidence on knowledge and perceptions of people living with HIV (PLWH) regarding the HIV services that are offered by the CHWs is limited. Therefore, this study...

Background: Access to an adequate diet is a key criterion for improving nutritional status. Indigenous food (IF) can play a big role in improving dietary variety in rural populations. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of an IF diet for under-five children in Early childhood development (ECD) centres. Method: A one-group pretest-p...

Background The rapid growth of mobile technology has given rise to the development of mobile health (mHealth) applications aimed at treating and preventing a wide range of health conditions. However, evidence on the use of mHealth in high disease burdened settings such as sub-Sharan Africa is not clear. Given this, we systematically mapped evidence...

This book is a printed addition of a Special Issue, which presents translational research presenting evidence of the benefits of implementing POC diagnostics and strategies to help integrate POC diagnostic services into current healthcare services.

Background Prescription drug diversion, and misuse has increased over the past decade and is notably in high-income-countries and significantly contributes to the opioid epidemic. People living with HIV (PLWH) are particularly vulnerable to prescription drug diversion, and misuse as most experience chronic pain, mental health problems and HIV-relat...

Background Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are associated with high maternal mortality in Ghana and globally. Evidence shows that there is poor availability of pregnancy-related point-of-care (POC) tests in Ghana’s primary healthcare (PHC) clinics (health centre or community-based health planning services facilities). Therefore, we employ...

Objective This study sought to collaborate with key stakeholders to reach a consensus regarding the predominant barriers preventing the uptake of HIV testing services (HTS) by men and co-create an acceptable educational program to improve the knowledge of HIV self-testing (HIVST) among men in Rwanda. Methods We employed the nominal group techniq...

Introduction: Improving healthcare for all is one of the global health priorities, particularly in disease burdened settings such as sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Considering the high penetration rate of mobile phones in SSA, mobile health (mHealth) could be used to achieve universal health coverage. The proposed study will map evidence on the availab...

Background: The use of indigenous food (IF) such as green leafy vegetables and fruits in rural communities has been the main source of food despite being replaced by food high in sugar and fats. Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres are uniquely positioned for positive influence to healthy eating of children. The aim of this study was for ECD s...

Introduction In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Community healthcare workers (CHWs) worldwide have been reported to be effective in strengthening the HIV programme by providing services such as adherence support, HIV education and safe sex education as part of their roles...

Background: The use of indigenous food (IF) such as green leafy vegetables and fruits in rural communities has been the main source of food despite being replaced by food high in sugar and fats. Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres are uniquely positioned for positive influence to healthy eating of children. The aim of this study was for ECD s...

Background: The use of indigenous food (IF) such as green leafy vegetables and fruits in rural communities has been the main source of food despite being replaced by food high in sugar and fats. Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres are uniquely positioned for positive influence to healthy eating of children. The aim of this study was for ECD s...

Background: Research shows a high prevalence of sexual transmitted infections (STIs) among sexually active women throughout the world. Patient self-testing and self-sampling strategies are pivotal to facilitate rapid diagnosis of disease among key populations. The main objective of this study is to map evidence on self-sampling methods utilised to...

Background: In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), most prisons are overcrowded with poor ventilation and put prisoners disproportionally at risk of exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) and developing TB infection but are mostly missed due to poor access to healthcare. Active case-finding (ACF) of TB in prisons facilitates early diagnosis and treatme...

Point-of-care (POC) diagnostic services are commonly associated with pathology laboratory services. This issue presents a holistic approach to POC diagnostics services from a variety of disciplines including pathology, radiological and information technology as well as mobile technology and artificial intelligence. This highlights the need for tran...

Background Health system planning requires careful assessment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) epidemiology, but data for morbidity and mortality of this disease are scarce or non-existent in many countries. We estimated the global, regional, and national burden of CKD, as well as the burden of cardiovascular disease and gout attributable to impaire...

The purpose of an electronic health information system (EHIS) is to support health care workers in providing health care services to an individual client and to enable data exchange among service providers. The demand to explore the use of EHIS for diagnosis and management of communicable and non-communicable diseases has increased dramatically due...

BACKGROUND: There is a dire need to uplift the well-being of pregnant adolescent girls and young women through development and implementation of strategies that can reduce barriers to access maternal healthcare services. This in return will reduce pregnancy related complications which is a threat to many adolescents especially in developing countri...

Background: Globally, miniscule improvements have been implemented regarding equality, inclusion, access, and protection of people with diverse gender identities whilst accessing health care facilities of which transgender youth form part. Literature has highlighted that the care transgender youth receive at health care facilities can result in po...

Background: People living with HIV (PLHIV) are at a high risk of developing HPV-related cancers. HPV-related malignancies occur frequently and/or are high among PLHIV, with cervical cancer as a designated AIDS-defining condition. We aimed to explore the evidence on the interplay of HIV and HPV-related cancers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Methods:...

Background: Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency screening test is essential for malaria treatment, control, and elimination programs. G6PD deficient individuals are at high risk of severe hemolysis when given anti-malarial drugs such as primaquine, quinine, other sulphonamide-containing medicines, and chloroquine, which has recentl...