Journal Article > ResearchFull Text
BMJ Glob Health. 18 October 2019; Volume 4 (Issue 5); e001855.; DOI:10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001855
Mbaye R, Gebeyehu R, Hossmann S, Mbarga NF, Bih-Neh E, et al.
BMJ Glob Health. 18 October 2019; Volume 4 (Issue 5); e001855.; DOI:10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001855
INTRODUCTION
Africa contributes little to the biomedical literature despite its high burden of infectious diseases. Global health research partnerships aimed at addressing Africa-endemic disease may be polarised. Therefore, we assessed the contribution of researchers in Africa to research on six infectious diseases.
METHODS
We reviewed publications on HIV and malaria (2013-2016), tuberculosis (2014-2016), salmonellosis, Ebola haemorrhagic fever and Buruli ulcer disease (1980-2016) conducted in Africa and indexed in the PubMed database using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. Papers reporting original research done in Africa with at least one laboratory test performed on biological samples were included. We studied African author proportion and placement per study type, disease, funding, study country and lingua franca.
RESULTS
We included 1182 of 2871 retrieved articles that met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 1109 (93.2%) had at least one Africa-based author, 552 (49.8%) had an African first author and 41.3% (n=458) an African last author. Papers on salmonellosis and tuberculosis had a higher proportion of African last authors (p<0.001) compared with the other diseases. Most of African first and last authors had an affiliation from an Anglophone country. HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and Ebola had the most extramurally funded studies (≥70%), but less than 10% of the acknowledged funding was from an African funder.
CONCLUSION
African researchers are under-represented in first and last authorship positions in papers published from research done in Africa. This calls for greater investment in capacity building and equitable research partnerships at every level of the global health community.
Africa contributes little to the biomedical literature despite its high burden of infectious diseases. Global health research partnerships aimed at addressing Africa-endemic disease may be polarised. Therefore, we assessed the contribution of researchers in Africa to research on six infectious diseases.
METHODS
We reviewed publications on HIV and malaria (2013-2016), tuberculosis (2014-2016), salmonellosis, Ebola haemorrhagic fever and Buruli ulcer disease (1980-2016) conducted in Africa and indexed in the PubMed database using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. Papers reporting original research done in Africa with at least one laboratory test performed on biological samples were included. We studied African author proportion and placement per study type, disease, funding, study country and lingua franca.
RESULTS
We included 1182 of 2871 retrieved articles that met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 1109 (93.2%) had at least one Africa-based author, 552 (49.8%) had an African first author and 41.3% (n=458) an African last author. Papers on salmonellosis and tuberculosis had a higher proportion of African last authors (p<0.001) compared with the other diseases. Most of African first and last authors had an affiliation from an Anglophone country. HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and Ebola had the most extramurally funded studies (≥70%), but less than 10% of the acknowledged funding was from an African funder.
CONCLUSION
African researchers are under-represented in first and last authorship positions in papers published from research done in Africa. This calls for greater investment in capacity building and equitable research partnerships at every level of the global health community.
Journal Article > ResearchFull Text
J Viral Hepat. 26 July 2018; Volume 25 (Issue 12); DOI:10.1111/jvh.12974
Bilounga Ndongo C, Eteki L, Siedner MJ, Mbaye R, Chen JH, et al.
J Viral Hepat. 26 July 2018; Volume 25 (Issue 12); DOI:10.1111/jvh.12974
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is hyperendemic in Cameroon, and health care workers (HCWs) are at high-risk of infection. We aimed to assess prevalence, risk factors and vaccine coverage of HBV infection among HCWs in Cameroon. We conducted a cross-sectional study in 16 hospitals across all regions of Cameroon. HCWs were tested for HBV using rapid diagnostic tests (RDT). We collected data on socio-demographics and HBV vaccination status. We estimated prevalence of HBV and used Poisson regression models with robust standard errors to model the prevalence ratios of HBV positivity between covariates. We enrolled 1,824 of 1,836 eligible HCWs (97.5%). The mean age was 34 (SD: 10) years, 65.3% (n=1787) were women, and 11.4% (n=1747) had three or more doses of the HBV vaccine. Overall, we found a HBV prevalence of 8.7% (95% CI: 5.2 - 14.3%). Patient transporters had the highest crude prevalence (14.3%; 95%CI: 5.4-32.9%), whereas medical doctors had the lowest (3.2%; 95%CI: 0.8%-12.1%). The Far North Region had the highest prevalence of HBV (24.0%; 95%CI: 18.3%-30.8%). HBV prevalence decreased with increasing doses of the HBV vaccine (10.3% for no doses vs 3.5% for three or more doses; P<0.001). In conclusion, approximately 1 in 12 HCWs in Cameroon have evidence of HBV infection, yet fewer than 1 in 6 have been fully vaccinated. Our results illustrate the urgent need to scale up systematic HBV screening and targeted vaccination of HCWs in the region. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.