Month: March 2026

Categories : Infection Control NeurologyTags :

Severe Infections May Raise Dementia Risk, Study Finds

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Finnish registry study finds that infections like cystitis and bacterial disease are linked to higher dementia risk independently of other coexisting conditions

Source: CC0

Severe infections increase the risk of dementia independently of other coexisting illnesses, according to a new study published March 24th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Pyry Sipilä of the University of Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues.

Severe infections have been linked to an increased risk of dementia. However, it has been unclear whether this association is explained by other coexisting, non-infectious diseases that predispose people to both infections and dementia.

In the new study, researchers used nationwide Finnish health registry data covering more than 62 000 individuals aged 65 or older who were diagnosed with late-onset dementia between 2017 and 2020, along with more than 312 000 matched dementia-free controls. Taking a broad approach, they examined all hospital-treated diseases recorded during the previous twenty years, identifying 29 diseases that were robustly associated with increased dementia risk. Nearly half (47%) of dementia cases had at least one of the 29 identified diseases before their diagnosis.

Of those diseases, two were infections: cystitis (a urinary tract infection) and bacterial infection of an unspecified site. Among the non-infectious diseases, the strongest associations with dementia were seen for mental disorders due to brain damage or physical disease, Parkinson’s disease, and alcohol-related mental and behavioural disorders.

When the researchers then adjusted for all 27 non-infectious dementia-related diseases identified, the association between both infections and dementia remained largely intact. Less than one-seventh of the excess dementia risk among individuals with hospital-treated cystitis or bacterial infections was attributable to pre-existing conditions. The link between infections and dementia was even stronger for early-onset dementia (diagnosed before age 65), where five types of infection – including pneumonia and dental caries – were associated with elevated risk.

The study was limited by the lack of baseline cognitive assessments and clinical examination data before dementia diagnoses, as well as a lack of data on infection treatments.

“Overall, our findings support the possibility that severe infections increase dementia risk; however, intervention studies are required to establish whether preventing or effectively treating infections yields benefits for dementia prevention,” the authors say.

The authors add, “We found 27 diverse severe, hospital-treated diseases that were robustly associated with an increased risk of dementia. Two of these diseases were infections, namely urinary tract infections and unspecified bacterial infections.” 

“In our study, dementia-related infections occurred on average 5 to 6 years before dementia diagnosis. Given that the development of dementia often takes years or even decades, these findings suggest that severe infections might accelerate underlying cognitive decline. However, as these findings were observational, we cannot exclude the possibility that some unmeasured confounding factors might also have affected our findings. Thus, we cannot prove cause and effect.”

“Ideally, intervention trials should examine whether better infection prevention helps reduce dementia occurrence or delay the onset of this disease.”

Provided by PLOS

Categories : IT in HealthcareTags :

The Next Leap for AI Scribes Provides Eyes in the Clinic

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Vision-enabled artificial intelligence (AI) medical scribes could increase the accuracy of patient notes and save valuable time for clinicians

The introduction of vision-enabled artificial intelligence (AI) to medical scribes – the recording devices used by doctors to document meetings with patients in real-time – could increase the accuracy of patient notes and save valuable time for clinicians.

A Flinders University study, published in npj Digital Medicine, has found that AI medical scribes already reduce some administrative work that takes time away from patients, but these devices have the capacity to do more when fitted with visual recording apparatus.

Researchers from Flinders’ College of Medicine and Public Health found that a vision-enabled AI scribe, employing a combination of Google’s Gemini model and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, substantially improved the documentation accuracy of pharmacist-patient consultations and reduced omissions and errors in clinical notes.

“AI scribes are already helping clinicians by listening to consultations, but healthcare involves far more than spoken words,” says research author Bradley Menz, an academic pharmacist in Flinders’ College of Medicine and Public Health.

“A lot of clinically important information is visual. Important visual cues during consultations include patients’ medicine containers, prescriptions and devices, as well as their body language. When an AI system can use both what it hears and what sees in these consultations, it captures more of the details that matter for patient care.”

In the study, 10 clinical pharmacists recorded 110 ‘mock’ medication-history interviews, which contained more than 100 different medicine containers, including tablets, capsules, injections and creams.

Researchers wore Meta AI Ray-Ban glasses to record the interview before passing the video footage through to the AI scribe, which was developed using Google’s Gemini AI model.

An AI scribe that analysed both video and audio achieved 98% accuracy, compared with 81 per cent  when the same system processed only audio information.

A significant benefit was capturing medication strength and form, which are crucial details for safe dosing. The AI scribe with video input captured this information 97% of the time, while audio-only recordings fell to 28%.

“This is an augmented tool, not a replacement for clinical judgement,” says Mr Menz. “The clinician still needs to review and sign off the document.

“The AI scribe can contain a verification step, take screenshots of medication packages, and generate a full spoken transcript, giving the health professional a much stronger basis for checking what the AI has produced.”

Senior author, Associate Professor Ashley Hopkins, says the study may point to the next stage of AI scribe usage in health care.

“AI scribes have gained traction because they reduce the burden of documentation and give clinicians more time with their patients. These findings suggest that the next step – when the scribe can see as well as hear – produces a more accurate and complete draft,” says Associate Professor Hopkins. “This means less time editing AI-documentation and even more time focusing on patient care.

“These findings suggest the next step may be that all scribe systems can interpret visual information as well as speech, which could open the door to wider clinical uses.”

The authors say the study has some limitation and underlines the need for human oversight and careful governance before these tools are adopted more broadly. The paper also highlights privacy, consent, data security and workflow integration as important issues that will need to be addressed as vision-enabled AI scribes move closer to practice.

Source: Flinders University

Categories : Infection ControlTags :

Promising Advances in Accurately Diagnosing Sepsis

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Photo by Rodnae Productions on Pexels

Doctors in the UK have identified promising evidence for the effectiveness of an early and rapid diagnostic test for sepsis.

Sepsis is a serious complication arising from infection, which can swiftly progress to life-threatening organ failure and is responsible for around 48 000 deaths annually in England. Recent findings, published today in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, demonstrate that an accessible clinical decision-making tool significantly reduced mortality, with the greatest benefit seen among patients from the most deprived communities. However, the study also showed no difference in the speed of intravenous antibiotic initiation, despite initial expectations.

Diagnosing sepsis in emergency departments remains difficult, as many non-infectious illnesses can mimic its symptoms and there is currently no definitive diagnostic test. This uncertainty contributes to both over- and underdiagnosis. In both situations, delayed treatment can cost lives, while rapid antibiotics are required for those with confirmed sepsis some patients may be treated for sepsis unnecessarily, contributing to the urgent global issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). At the same time, misdiagnosis can lead to a failure to correctly identify and treat the actual underlying condition.

A procalcitonin‑guided algorithm is a clinical decision‑making tool that uses levels of the biomarker procalcitonin (PCT) to help guide antibiotic therapy in patients with suspected bacterial infections. However, it is not currently recommended for use in emergency settings because previous research has been inconsistent.

To address this gap, the research team conducted a large, controlled trial which randomised 7667 patients who presented to emergency departments with suspected sepsis. The study tested whether adding the rapid procalcitonin-guided algorithm testing to current clinical practice could help clinicians recognise sepsis more accurately, reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing, and maintain at least the same level of patient safety, measured by overall mortality.

The study shows:

  • There was a 17% relative reduction in mortality from 16.6% to 13.6% which means for every 1000 patient treated as suspected sepsis, 31 lives are potentially saved.
  • Patients from the most deprived areas experienced the greatest mortality benefit. Existing research explores inequality in sepsis outcomes, and this latest research may help to overcome identified systemic biases.
  • Importantly, the trial found that regardless of whether patients were treated with the procalcitonin‑guided algorithm or received standard care, there was no difference in how quickly intravenous antibiotics were started. Although the research team had anticipated that the algorithm might improve early antibiotic initiation, the trial showed it did not – a key finding, given this was one of the co‑primary outcomes.

Co-chief investigator, Dr Stacy Todd, Consultant in Infectious Diseases and General Medicine, NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, said: “The evidence supports the value of early and rapid diagnostics and indicates a need for further biomarker and algorithm development. Uptake of procalcitonin-guided care into health systems will now depend on greater understanding of the mechanism of effect, further health economic evaluations, and robust implementation frameworks.”

Source: University of Liverpool

Categories : HIVTags :

Existing Medication Can Restore HIV-affected Immune Cells

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The LiU researchers have shown that HIV exhausts the body’s immune system by overactivating it, despite effective antiviral treatment. Photo: Charlotte Perhammar

HIV exhausts the body’s immune system by overactivating it, despite effective antiviral treatment. Researchers from Linköping University have conducted cell studies showing that an existing medication restores immune cell function. The findings raise hopes that this medication could improve the health of people living with HIV.

For people living with HIV, antiviral treatment is effective in limiting the amount of virus in the blood and slowing the progression of AIDS. But the virus can stay hidden in the body for many years and contribute to premature ageing of the immune system. Despite effective treatment, the immune system is commonly impaired in people with HIV. Linköping University researchers therefore investigated how the virus causes dysregulation of the immune system.

In healthy people infected with a virus, a protein called type I interferon is activated that plays a very important role in the body’s immune system. Type I interferon is the first protection against viral infections and also ensures that other parts of the immune system kick in. Once the infection is combated, the amount of type I interferon falls back to a very low level.

In their study, the researchers show how HIV exploits the body’s type I interferon signalling to drive chronic immune activation, also when the virus is under control due to medication.

“In the case of an HIV infection, type I interferon provides protection in the first stage when the body gets infected. But if the interferon is chronically activated, an overactivation of the immune system will instead facilitate the spread of HIV in the body,” says Cecilia Svanberg, postdoctoral fellow at Linköping University and lead author of the study, published in the journal PLOS pathogens.

May be treateable

A chronically activated immune system eventually leads to several different types of cells in the immune system becoming exhausted and less effective. Two important cell types affected are dendritic cells and T cells.

The researchers’ experiments on human cells showed that the chronic activation of interferon occurs precisely when dendritic cells and T cells are in contact with each other. This opens up an opportunity to restore immune cell function.

“When we treated the cells with a medication currently used to treat another disease, this perfectly restored the function of the immune cells. It looks just like when HIV is not present,” says Cecilia Svanberg.

The medication, anifrolumab, blocks type 1 interferon and is used to treat systemic lupus erythematosus, SLE, an autoimmune disease. Other research groups have conducted studies on animals with HIV-like infections, treating them with either anifrolumab or other substances with the same function. The amount of HIV virus in the blood has decreased and the animals’ health has improved.

“Using this interferon blocker together with existing antiviral treatment could possibly improve the health of people living with HIV. We think it would be worth investigating further,” says Marie Larsson, professor of virology at Linköping University, who led the study.

By Karin Söderlund Leifler

Source: Linköping University

Categories : Expert Opinion Respiratory DiseasesTags :

South Africa Can End TB by Replacing Stigma with Early Action

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Dr Jessica Hamuy Blanco, Product and Clinical Risk Executive at Dis-Chem

As the world marks World TB Day on 24 March under the theme “Yes! We can end TB!”, South Africa faces a clear challenge turning awareness into early action.

“TB is all around us,” says Dr Jessica Hamuy Blanco, Product and Clinical Risk Executive at Dis-Chem. “Many people don’t realise that exposure is common. The bacteria can lie dormant for years and only become active when the immune system is compromised.”

Despite widespread awareness, a critical gap remains between what people know about TB and how quickly they act on symptoms. This gap continues to shape outcomes for thousands living with this preventable and curable disease.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 249 000 people in South Africa developed tuberculosis in 2024.

TB remains close to home

Although preventable and curable, TB continues to spread quietly often because symptoms are ignored and treatment is delayed.

“People don’t always recognise the signs early enough or know where to seek help,” says Dr Hamuy Blanco. “This is where informed, trusted healthcare makes the difference.”

South Africa remains one of the countries hardest hit by TB globally. The disease is closely linked to HIV, with weakened immune systems increasing the risk of TB becoming active. At the same time, socio-economic realities such as overcrowding and limited access to healthcare continue to drive transmission.

Delayed diagnosis means individuals remain infectious for longer, placing families and communities at greater risk.

Early detection can change outcomes

Detecting TB early remains one of the most effective ways to reduce its spread and improve recovery. Treatment typically involves a six- to nine-month course of antibiotics, with strong success rates when completed. However early symptoms are often missed.

“The signs can be missed or ignored,” explains Dr Hamuy Blanco. “A persistent cough, fatigue, night sweats or weight loss are easy to dismiss as stress or a lingering illness. That delay gives TB time to spread.”

Creating space for early conversations, whether at a clinic, pharmacy or with a nurse can make the difference between early intervention and prolonged illness.

Finishing treatment is non-negotiable

Another major barrier to ending TB is interrupted treatment. Many patients begin to feel better within weeks and assume they are cured, while others struggle with side effects or the practicalities of repeated clinic visits.

“When treatment is stopped too soon, the bacteria are not fully eliminated,” says Dr Hamuy Blanco. “This is how drug-resistant TB develops, which is far more difficult and costly to treat.”

Supporting patients through the full course of treatment is essential, with clear communication and ongoing support improving adherence.

Bringing care closer to people

“Accessible healthcare is critical in closing the gap between awareness and action”, says Dr Hamuy Blanco. Retail health clinics and digital health platforms are increasingly helping to make care part of people’s everyday lives.

These routine touchpoints create opportunities for people to ask questions, seek advice and act early helping to normalise testing, reduce stigma and support patients throughout their treatment journey.

“Care needs to fit into people’s daily lives,” she adds. “It should be easy to access, easy to understand and supportive from start to finish.”

Turning intent into impact

TB is both preventable and curable, yet it continues to claim lives because of delayed action and incomplete treatment.

“Ending tuberculosis takes more than medicine. It requires a human-centred approach that supports people from early testing through to completed treatment. By breaking down stigma and acting sooner, South Africa can move from awareness to impact,” she concludes.

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Are Psychedelics Better than Antidepressants? New Study Says No

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With an innovative approach, scientists try to get around the problem of participant expectation in tests of psychedelics.

Photo by Marek Piwnicki

Psychedelic-assisted therapy may be no more effective than traditional antidepressants when patients know what drugs they are actually taking, according to a first-of-its kind analysis that compared how well each type of drug worked for major depression.

Psychedelic-assisted therapy has resisted placebo-controlled testing methods, the gold standard in clinical trial design. Due to their powerful subjective effects, nearly everyone in the trial knows whether they received a psychedelic or the placebo even if they are not told.

But in trials of antidepressants, participants may not figure out whether they have received the drug or a placebo, which makes it hard to compare them with psychedelics.

To get around this problem, researchers from UC San Francisco, UCLA, and Imperial College, London tried a different approach. They compared the results from psychedelic therapy trials to the results from so-called open-label trials of traditional antidepressants, in which the participants all knew they were getting an antidepressant. That way, both treatments benefitted equally from the positive effect of patients knowing that they were being given a drug instead of a placebo. 

The findings both surprised and disappointed them: there was virtually no difference.

“Unblinding is the defining methodological problem of psychedelic trials. What I wanted to show is that even if you compare psychedelics to open-label antidepressants, psychedelics are still much better,” said Balázs Szigeti, PhD, a clinical data scientist at UCSF’s Translational Psychedelic Research Program, who led the study. “Unfortunately, what we got is the opposite result – that they are the same, which is very surprising given the enthusiasm around psychedelics and mental health.” 

Szigeti is the co-first author of the paper with Zachary J. Williams, MD, PhD, of UCLA; Hannah Barnett, MSc, of Imperial College, London is also an author. The study appeared March 18 in JAMA Psychiatry.

A sobering view

The hype around the use of psychedelics like psilocybin, or “magic mushrooms,” and LSD, to treat such conditions as depression and addiction has grown in recent years as an increasing number of studies have shown promising results, particularly for people who haven’t responded to traditional antidepressants.

The new findings don’t mean that psychedelic therapy does not work – just that it does not work better than traditional antidepressants. Patients improved substantially from both types of treatments, reducing depression scores by about 12 points on a standard scale.

Part of what has made psychedelics seem impressive in trials than antidepressants is how much more those who received the psilocybin or LSD improved than those who did not get it.

But the researchers concluded that this was the result of the lack of blinding in psychedelic trials: those who got the drug improved more because they knew they had gotten it, while those who received a placebo did worse because they knew they did not. Whereas in trials of traditional antidepressants, the difference between the groups was much smaller, making it seem like the drugs weren’t that effective.

When this ‘knowing the treatment’ factor leveled out, the seeming advantage of psychedelics disappeared. 

“Psychedelics may still be a valuable treatment option,” Szigeti said. “But if we want to understand their true benefits, we have to compare them fairly – and when we do that, the advantage over standard antidepressants is much smaller than many people, including myself, expected.”

Source: EurekAlert!

Categories : Paediatrics Respiratory DiseasesTags :

No Benefit from Surfactant Treatment for Babies with Severe Bronchiolitis

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Photo by William Fortunato on Pexels

A major UK-led clinical trial has found that a treatment commonly used to help premature babies breathe offers no benefit for infants on life support with severe bronchiolitis – a seasonal viral illness that hospitalises thousands of babies each year.

Funded by a partnership between the UK’s UKRI Medical Research Council (MRC) and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and by Chiesi Farmaceutici SpA, Italy, the Bronchiolitis Endotracheal Surfactant Study (BESS) trial is the largest-ever randomised study of surfactant for bronchiolitis.

The results are published 21 March in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

Bronchiolitis occurs when a virus – most commonly respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – infects a baby’s lungs. There is currently no specific treatment for RSV infection, and the illness can be especially severe in premature and newborn infants. Babies with bronchiolitis have reduced levels of surfactant in their lungs, a condition similar to that seen in babies born prematurely. Because surfactant is routinely used to help premature infants breathe more easily, the study team set out to determine whether this therapy could also benefit babies hospitalised with bronchiolitis.

The study ran across 15 children’s hospitals in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland and involved 232 critically ill babies. However, surfactant did not reduce the time they needed to be on a ventilator (life-support breathing machine).

Professor Calum Semple OBE, the study’s lead from the University of Liverpool and Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The treatment was safe, but it didn’t make any difference to how long babies stayed on ventilators. We had hoped that surfactant might speed up recovery for these very sick babies, but the evidence doesn’t support this.”

Bronchiolitis is the leading reason why babies are admitted to hospital in the UK during winter. It typically affects babies under one year old and can be especially severe in those born prematurely. While most of the twenty-five thousand babies admitted will recover with oxygen and fluids, around a thousand of the most unwell require intensive care and a ventilator to support their breathing. Currently, there is no other treatment for bronchiolitis, but a vaccine is now being offered to the mother-to-be in the last months of pregnancy.

The BESS trial was designed to give families and clinicians clear answers. It ran over six winter seasons from 2019 to 2024.

Professor Semple added: “While we continue to research better ways to care for these sick babies, I urge Mums-to-be to accept the offer of the RSV vaccine during pregnancy, which will protect their newborn babies from severe bronchiolitis.”  

The researchers emphasise that surfactant therapy remains essential for premature newborn babies and advocate for further studies to explore targeted treatments for bronchiolitis.

Source: University of Liverpool

Categories : Obstetrics & GynaecologyTags :

Why Women’s Health Drives Economic Resilience 

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Photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash

By Merilynn Steenkamp, Managing Director, Southern Africa, Multi-Country Network, Roche Diagnostics

Across South Africa, women play a central role in sustaining economic activity. They lead classrooms, staff hospital wards, run small businesses, work in agriculture, build enterprises and manage households. In many communities, they are the primary earners and the primary caregivers.1

In March, as South Africa observes International Women’s Month, recognising women’s contribution also means ensuring that systems are structured to protect their health. Reliable access to early diagnostics remains one of the most practical levers available to support that protection.

When women experience illness, the impact extends well beyond a single diagnosis. Time away from work affects income, productivity and career progression. In informal employment, where many South African women operate without formal protections, illness can immediately reduce household earnings. The economic effects are felt first at the family level, then across communities.

Women make up the majority of South Africa’s health and social services workforce. They also carry a disproportionate share of unpaid care work in households². Globally, UN Women reports that women reinvest up to 90 percent of their income into their families and communities³. That reinvestment strengthens education, nutrition and long-term stability across generations.

Imagine a young nurse, working at a local clinic, earning a mid-level salary. As the sole breadwinner in her home, living month-to-month, she must use the funds available to pay school fees and associated costs for her children. As she also cares for her aged mother, five people rely on her steady income to survive. If she becomes seriously ill for an extended period of time, the effects are potentially catastrophic for her family, and compound pressure on the economy at large.

South Africa continues to carry a high burden of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis⁴ and HIV, while non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cancer are rising. Cervical cancer remains the second most common cancer among South African women⁵. But when this cancer is detected early, the five-year relative survival rate exceeds 90 percent. That makes it imperative to raise awareness around early detection, as when cervical cancer is diagnosed at an advanced stage, survival drops significantly⁶.

Early and accurate diagnostics protect women’s ability to remain economically active, particularly for preventable illnesses. Early testing enables faster treatment, reduces complications and limits the need for more complex interventions later. In the case of infectious diseases, it also reduces transmission and protects colleagues, families and communities.

South Africa has a strong laboratory foundation to build on. The National Health Laboratory Service operates one of the largest diagnostic networks in the region, supporting large-scale testing every day⁷. Leveraging existing laboratory capacity allows screening and early detection programmes to expand in ways that are sustainable and aligned with national health priorities.

High-performance HPV testing, rapid HIV diagnostics, molecular tuberculosis testing and integrated blood panels are examples of tools that shorten the path from suspicion to confirmation. Reducing diagnostic delays supports workplace continuity and strengthens health system efficiency. In a country focused on improving workforce participation and economic resilience, this connection is direct.

Protecting women’s health strengthens household stability, supports workforce participation and reinforces economic resilience. Prioritising early diagnosis is a clear and measurable way to invest in South Africa’s long-term growth. 

It starts at home, with our mothers, sisters and daughters. Let’s keep reminding them, every now and then, to take a moment and consider their own well-being, for them, and for all of us.  

References

  1. Statistics South Africa. Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). Available at: https://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=16408
  2. Statistics South Africa. South Africa Time Use Survey. Available at: https://www.statssa.gov.za
  3. UN Women. Facts and figures: Economic empowerment. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org
  4. World Health Organization. Global Tuberculosis Report. Available at: https://www.who.int/teams/global-tuberculosis-programme/tb-reports
  5. Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA). Cervical cancer. Available at: https://cansa.org.za/cervical-cancer/
  6. National Cancer Institute. Cervical Cancer Survival Rates. Available at: https://www.cancer.gov/types/cervical/survival
  7. National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS). About NHLS. Available at: https://www.nhls.ac.za/

Categories : HospitalsTags : 1 Comment

Investment to Bring Quality Primary Healthcare Closer to Home for Many South Africans

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Photo by Hush Naidoo on Unsplash

To significantly expand access to affordable, quality primary healthcare in underserved communities, the Cipla Foundation’s Sha’p Left initiative has partnered with the FirstRand Empowerment Foundation (FREF). The partnership aims to aggressively scale the cost-effective nurse-driven surgeries in local communities, across the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

HEALTHCARE CLOSER TO HOME

This collaboration will help to overcome systemic barriers to healthcare, particularly in terms of equitable access for low-income, uninsured individuals. For many people living in peri-urban and rural areas, access to quality primary healthcare services poses a significant challenge. Over-burdened State medical facilities are often congested, resulting in long waiting times for patients.

Sha’p Left is a patient-centred, cost-aware, nurse-driven primary healthcare service, in the heart of local communities. These nurse surgeries are located in easily accessible hubs such as busy taxi ranks to promote ease of access. The greatest benefit of Sha’p Left is that in addition to saving travel time, it helps to empower people both in terms of caring for their health, but also financially: the lack of queues mean that people don’t need to take a full day off work (resulting in a loss of income) to access basic healthcare.

Currently, Sha’p Left serves more than 5 000 patients monthly, with the patient profile comprising a 60% / 40% female / male split. The existing clinics are GMP compliant containerised solutions, as part of environmental sustainability initiatives and lowering overhead costs, solar solutions are being implemented at these clinics.

CHAMPIONING CHANGE

Strengthening community-based primary healthcare supports national health priorities by reducing the burden on State facilities, promotes preventative healthcare and creates an empowering, dignified experience for patients.

The investment by FREF will help Sha’p Left to deploy more nurse surgeries, and these solutions will ultimately help address inequality and reduce poverty as access to quality healthcare is basic human right. The partnership will scale Sha’p Left from 11 to 61 surgeries by the end of 2029. 

SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL IMPACT

The business model involves enterprise development in conjunction with qualified, predominantly female clinical nurse practitioners (CNPs) and assists them to establish sustainable, owner-operated clinics in identified communities to provide affordable primary healthcare services.

This fee-for-service model, driven by the “entreprenurses”, provides a dignified and holistic patient experience. The surgeries have dispensing licenses and therefore a consultations includes the necessary medication required, up to Schedule 4 medicines.

The first three nurse surgeries being deployed in 2026, as part of this partnership, are in these areas:

·      Senoane (Gauteng)

·      KwaNyuswa (KZN)

·      Verulam (KZN)

Blending social impact with sustainability creates a blueprint for scaling primary healthcare in South Africa. With FREF’s support, the Sha’p Left model will expand further into communities where access gaps remain widest, ensuring that more South Africans can easily receive the care they need. This investment ensures that good health is not merely a privilege for a select few people, but for all South Africans.

Categories : Diet and Nutrition GastrointestinalTags :

Trace Levels of Food Pathogen Aren’t Always a Health Risk, Study Finds

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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels

Ultra-sensitive food safety tests may drive food waste and unavailability with limited public health benefit, according to a Frontiers in Science study.

These food safety measures and ultra-sensitive tests may drive edible food being thrown away, excessive packaging, and extra costs for consumers.

The international team of researchers make it clear that food safety is an important concern, as foodborne pathogens account for approximately 420 000 deaths and 600 million cases of illness each year. However, the authors argue that food systems will be more sustainable, while continuing to protect public health, if “zero-detection” expectations are replaced with evidence-based targets for “sufficiently safe” food.

Their new article sets out how regulators might find trade-offs with other important factors, such as food supply security, sustainability, and nutritional health.

“Although the public expects food to be completely safe, there will always be some risk of foodborne illness. Zero risk doesn’t exist, and we shouldn’t be aiming for that either. Just as we don’t limit highway speeds to 10 miles per hour to minimize road deaths, we need to take a balanced approach that considers possible negative consequences of extreme food safety measures,” said lead author Prof Martin Wiedmann from Cornell University.

Read and download the article

Impact of aiming for zero risk

The study’s authors highlight several situations where excessive caution can cause harm.

Many rules and purchasing standards rely heavily on detecting a pathogen, sometimes treating any detection as unacceptable without fully considering dose, exposure, the food’s ability to support microbial growth, or who is most at risk.

For example, a food product might be considered contaminated if it tests positive for the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, regardless of levels.

These alarms can result from ultra-sensitive tests detecting small amounts of microbes unlikely to cause disease in humans. In some cases, the concerns may come from bacteria that are not harmful themselves, but are an indirect indicator of contamination.

Throwing away such food reduces the available food supply and wastes resources. Similarly, recalling food products from consumers can damage consumer trust, pushing people away from otherwise healthy products.

Other protective measures, such as storage temperatures, packaging, and heat treatment, can waste energy, increase costs, and reduce nutritional content. While these are all important safety measures, they should only be applied if needed and associated trade-offs should be considered.

“A tremendous amount of food is wasted that would have been sufficiently safe to eat. Too often, trade-offs such as environmental or economic costs are only considered after a traditional microbial risk assessment. We cannot afford to carry on like this at a time when we desperately need to reduce our impact on the planet and assure not only food safety but food security,” said co-author Prof Sophia Johler at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany.

Focus on risk rather than hazard

The current situation is driven by an emphasis on hazard-based assessments, according to the authors, where regulations focus on detecting pathogens, regardless of the threat to consumers. The researchers argue that the food system should move towards more flexible risk-based approaches, which assess the probabilities of harms and adjust the safety measures accordingly.

Regulations that overemphasize stringent corrective actions (such as recalls) when swab samples from a food-processing facility test positive for an indicator, for example, could lead to undue corrective actions in areas that are unlikely to contaminate the food. The authors explain that this could be an opportunity cost that diverts resources away from more effective interventions and control strategies in high-risk areas.

“There’s well-established evidence that focusing on end-product testing is generally ineffective to ensure safety. Overemphasis on end-product testing may distract from other food safety measures (e.g., applying validated and verified process controls), which can provide greater public health benefits,” said co-author Dr Sriya Sunil at Cornell University.

Better tools to assess priorities

Computational tools that incorporate vast amounts of information across the food production system could help with establishing acceptable risks.

One challenge is how to prioritize different hazards. For example, in the US, norovirus causes thousands of times more cases than Listeria monocytogenes, yet Listeria monocytogenes causes more deaths per year.

While there are trade advantages to having consistent international food safety standards, the balance between competing interests may vary between regions. This can become even more complex when factoring in the health and environmental implications of greenhouse gas emissions.

“Specialists across social sciences, economics, and life sciences must work together to establish values that align with consumers’ priorities. Together with advanced models that build on geographic information, AI, and genomics, we can assess, manage, and communicate risks far more accurately,” said Wiedmann.

Source: Frontiers