Kamuzu Central Hospital

About: Kamuzu Central Hospital is a healthcare organization based out in Lilongwe, Malawi. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 336 authors who have published 469 publications receiving 10173 citations.

Timing of Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV-1 Infection and Tuberculosis

Abstract: Background Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is indicated during tuberculosis treatment in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), but the timing for the initiation of ART wh...

Neonatal sepsis: an international perspective

Abstract: Neonatal infections currently cause about 1.6 million deaths annually in developing countries. Sepsis and meningitis are responsible for most of these deaths. Resistance to commonly used antibiotics is emerging and constitutes an important problem world wide. To reduce global neonatal mortality, strategies of proven efficacy, such as hand washing, barrier nursing, restriction of antibiotic use, and rationalisation of admission to neonatal units, need to be implemented. Different approaches require further research.

Quantitating the Multiplicity of Infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Subtype C Reveals a Non-Poisson Distribution of Transmitted Variants

Abstract: Identifying the specific genetic characteristics of successfully transmitted variants may prove central to the development of effective vaccine and microbicide interventions. Although human immunodeficiency virus transmission is associated with a population bottleneck, the extent to which different factors influence the diversity of transmitted viruses is unclear. We estimate here the number of transmitted variants in 69 heterosexual men and women with primary subtype C infections. From 1,505 env sequences obtained using a single genome amplification approach we show that 78% of infections involved single variant transmission and 22% involved multiple variant transmissions (median of 3). We found evidence for mutations selected for cytotoxic-T-lymphocyte or antibody escape and a high prevalence of recombination in individuals infected with multiple variants representing another potential escape pathway in these individuals. In a combined analysis of 171 subtype B and C transmission events, we found that infection with more than one variant does not follow a Poisson distribution, indicating that transmission of individual virions cannot be seen as independent events, each occurring with low probability. While most transmissions resulted from a single infectious unit, multiple variant transmissions represent a significant fraction of transmission events, suggesting that there may be important mechanistic differences between these groups that are not yet understood.

Understanding the barriers to setting up a healthcare quality improvement process in resource-limited settings: a situational analysis at the Medical Department of Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Abstract: Background Knowledge regarding the best approaches to improving the quality of healthcare and their implementation is lacking in many resource-limited settings. The Medical Department of Kamuzu Central Hospital in Malawi set out to improve the quality of care provided to its patients and establish itself as a recognized centre in teaching, operations research and supervision of district hospitals. Efforts in the past to achieve these objectives were short-lived, and largely unsuccessful. Against this background, a situational analysis was performed to aid the Medical Department to define and prioritize its quality improvement activities.