Age identity, self-rated health, and life satisfaction among older adults in Dakar, Senegal

The objectives of this quantitative study were to (1) ascertain to what extent older adults aged 50 and above feel and desire to be younger than their age, and classify themselves as young versus old; (2) compare these patterns with those found among other cross-cultural populations; and (3) assess the extent to which self-rated health and life satisfaction predict age identities. This study was carried out on a sample of 500 dwellers of the Senegalese capital aged 50 and older. This sample was constructed using the quota method to strive for representativeness. Most of the respondents wanted to be younger than their chronological age (51.8 %), but only 27.8 % felt younger than they were. Moreover, 80 % of the sample claimed to be old. Self-rated health predicted felt age and the feeling of being old. Furthermore, the less-satisfied Dakar residents were with their life, the younger they wanted to be. We first discuss our results in a comparative perspective focused on how orientations toward individualism and collectivism could be related to age identity, and on demographic characteristics of the Senegalese population—where life expectancy is 59.3 years old. We then analyze the relevance of age identity dimensions as indicators of successful aging in Dakar.     

Donneurs de sang réguliers ou donneurs occasionnels : différences sociodémographiques et motivationnelles

AimBlood donor retention represents a fundamental objective in public health. Comparison between the sociodemographic characteristics and motivational factors between lapsed and regular donors is then required. The objectives of this analysis were: (1) to compare the sociodemographic characteristics of lapsed donors and current donors; (2) to compare the motivations to donate blood expressed by lapsed and current donors.Patients and methodsData from a 2008 survey, representative of the population by crossed quotas method, of 1400 individuals questioned by phone were used to reach these objectives. Chi² tests and binary logistic regressions were used.ResultsResults show that socio-occupational categories and motivational factors are different between lapsed and regular donors. Workers, senior management and higher intellectual professions are more often lapsed than regular donors. Concerning motivations, results show that lapsed donors more frequently mention the first experience with blood donation (with colleagues, friends, and parents) than regular donors, for whom altruistic and community motivations are more frequently cited.ConclusionWorkers, senior management and higher intellectual professions should be targeted uppermost, in order to convert them in regular donors. Finally, concerning motivations, the social pressure applied to lapsed donors for their first blood donation appears crucial, whereas regular donors have internalized their motives, more often altruistic and community motivations.     

Recommendation for hygiene and topical in neonatology from the French Neonatal Society

We sought to establish guidelines for hygiene care in newborns based on a systematic review of the literature and grading of evidence using the Groupe de Réflexion et d’Evaluation de l’Environement des Nouveau-nés (GREEN) methodology. We examined 45 articles and 4 reports from safety agencies. These studies recommend a tub bath (rather than a sponge bath) for full-term infants and a swaddle bath for preterm newborns. They also recommend against daily cleansing of preterm infants. The literature emphasized that hygiene care must consider the clinical state of the newborn, including the level of awareness and behavioral responses. Hospitalized newborns treated with topical agents may also experience high exposure to potentially harmful excipients of interest. Caregivers should therefore be aware of the excipients present in the different products they use. In high-resource countries, the available data do not support the use of protective topical agents for preterm infants.

Conclusions: We recommend individualization of hygiene care for newborns. There is increasing concern regarding the safety of excipients in topical agents that are used in neonatology. A multidisciplinary approach should be used to identify an approach that requires lower levels of excipients and alternative excipients.

Analysis of Swine Movements in a Province in Northern Vietnam and Application in the Design of Surveillance Strategies for Infectious Diseases

While swine production is rapidly growing in South‐East Asia, the structure of the swine industry and the dynamic of pig movements have not been well‐studied. However, this knowledge is a prerequisite for understanding the dynamic of disease transmission in swine populations and designing cost‐effective surveillance strategies for infectious diseases. In this study, we assessed the farming and trading practices in the Vietnamese swine familial farming sector, which accounts for most pigs in Vietnam, and for which disease surveillance is a major challenge. Farmers from two communes of a Red River Delta Province (northern Vietnam) were interviewed, along with traders involved in pig transactions. Major differences in the trade structure were observed between the two communes. One commune had mainly transversal trades, that is between farms of equivalent sizes, whereas the other had pyramidal trades, that is from larger to smaller farms. Companies and large familial farrow‐to‐finish farms were likely to act as major sources of disease spread through pig sales, demonstrating their importance for disease control. Familial fattening farms with high pig purchases were at greater risk of disease introduction and should be targeted for disease detection as part of a risk‐based surveillance. In contrast, many other familial farms were isolated or weakly connected to the swine trade network limiting their relevance for surveillance activities. However, some of these farms used boar hiring for breeding, increasing the risk of disease spread. Most familial farms were slaughtering pigs at the farm or in small local slaughterhouses, making the surveillance at the slaughterhouse inefficient. In terms of spatial distribution of the trades, the results suggested that northern provinces were highly connected and showed some connection with central and southern provinces. These results are useful to develop risk‐based surveillance protocols for disease detection in the swine familial sector and to make recommendations for disease control.     

How barriers to blood donation differ between lapsed donors and non‐donors in France

Blood donors are underrepresented in the general population. Thus, comparing barriers to blood donation between non‐donors and lapsed donors is crucial to improving their participation in blood donation and to targeting theses groups in recruitment programmes. The aims of this study were to identify barriers to blood donation and to compare their occurrence between lapsed and non‐donors in France. Data from a 2008 survey of 1400 individuals were used to evaluate differences in barriers between two subpopulations: 619 non‐donors and 567 lapsed donors. Individuals answered questions concerning sociodemographic variables and donation‐related variables. Results show that, in decreasing order, individuals cited medical reasons (32%), lack of time (15·12%), fear (12·20%), negligence (10·03%), lack of information (7·69%), no particular reason (7·18%), lack of solicitation (6·18%), lack of opportunity (5·18%) and prior deferral (4·43%) as barriers to blood donation. After adjusted analysis, non‐donors mentioned fear, lack of information and no particular reason more often than lapsed donors, who cited lack of time more often than non‐donors. This study has pinpointed nine main barriers to blood donation among the French population, the most significant being medical reasons (for both lapsed and non‐donors), lack of time, cited more frequently by lapsed donors, and fear of donating blood, most often cited by non‐donors. Future studies are needed to gain greater insight into what these barriers represent for individuals to improve awareness and for recruitment of French blood donors.     

Application of loop analysis for the qualitative assessment of surveillance and control in veterinary epidemiology

Background

Systems for animal disease mitigation involve both surveillance activities and interventions to control the disease. They are complex organizations that are described by partial or imprecise data, making it difficult to evaluate them or make decisions to improve them. A mathematical method, called loop analysis, can be used to model qualitatively the structure and the behavior of dynamic systems; it relies on the study of the sign of the interactions between the components of the system. This method, currently widely used by ecologists, has to our knowledge never been applied in the context of animal disease mitigation systems. The objective of the study was to assess whether loop analysis could be applied to this new context. We first developed a generic model that restricted the applicability of the method to event-based surveillance systems of endemic diseases, excluding the emergence and eradication phases. Then we chose the mitigation system of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in Cambodia as an example of such system to study the application of loop analysis to a real disease mitigation system.

Results

Breaking down the generic model, we constructed a 6-variables model to represent the HPAI H5N1 mitigation system in Cambodia. This construction work improved our understanding of this system, highlighting the link between surveillance and control which is unclear in traditional representations of this system. Then we analyzed the effect of the perturbations to this HPAI H5N1 mitigation system that we interpreted in terms of investment in a given compartment. This study suggested that increasing intervention at a local level can optimize the system’s efficiency. Indeed, this perturbation both decreases surveillance and intervention costs and reduces the disease’s occurrence.

Conclusion

Loop analysis can be applied to disease mitigation systems. Its main strength is that it is easy to design, focusing on the signs of the interactions. It is a simple and flexible tool that could be used as a precursor to large-scale quantitative studies, to support reflection about disease mitigation systems structure and functioning.

     

Prevalence of obesity in Dakar

The present study is to our knowledge the first to evaluate the prevalence of obesity among both men and women in Dakar. It was carried out on a sample of 600 dwellers of the Senegalese capital. The prevalence of general obesity is 8.3%, and that of overweight is 22.3%. The underweight rate remains high, given that 12.3% of the adults in this sample show a body mass index (BMI) of <18.5 kg/m². The prevalence of central obesity is 41.2% according to waist to hip ratio (WHR), and 21.2% according to waist circumference (WC). These figures mask considerable differences between men and women and between generations. For instance, women are often more obese than men, whether it is a question of general obesity (13% and 3.9% respectively) or central obesity (37.5% and 5.5% by WC respectively). Moreover, prevalence of general and central obesity rise drastically with age, irrespective of gender. Thus, in addition to combating infectious disease and undernutrition, Senegal must now face problems associated with overweight and obesity.     

Prevalence,awareness, treatment and control of hypertension among adults 50 years and older in Dakar,Senegal

Background

Older adults are disproportionately affected by hypertension, which is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Despite these facts, no study on the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control on arterial hypertension in Senegal has been conducted, specifically among elderly people.

Methods

Five hundred people aged 50 years and older, living in the city of Dakar were interviewed. This sample was constructed using the combined quota method in order to strive for representativeness of the target population.

Results

Prevalence of hypertension was 65.4% in our sample. Half of those suffering from high blood pressure were aware of their problem and among the latter, 70% said they were on treatment. However, of these, only 17% had controlled arterial blood pressure. The only factor associated with awareness, treatment and control of hypertension was the frequency of doctor visits.

Conclusion

Improving follow-up health checks of older adults are necessary to limit the consequences of hypertension in Dakar.