Background: Blood transfusion saves many people every year that would otherwise have died. The present study aimed to provide an update and insightful information regarding prevalence of the common Transfusion-Transmitted Infections (TTIs) and associated factors among blood donors in Tanzania.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving retrospectively collected data of blood donors from the Tanzania Northern Zone Blood Transfusion Center between 2017 and 2019. Descriptive statistics were performed to describe characteristics of the blood donors. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to determine association between prevalence of TTIs and socio-demographic factors. P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: A total of 101, 616 blood donors were included in the present study of which 85,053(83.7%) were males while 16,563 (16.3%) were females. Of all participants, the majority 45,400 (44.7%) were aged between 18 and 25 years; 79,582 (78.3%) were voluntary non-remunerated donors while 22,034 (21.7%) were replacement donors. The vast majority of them 99,626 (98%) were first time blood donors while 1990 (2%) were multiple donors. The overall prevalence of TTIs was 10.1% (10,226 out of 101,616) of which the leading was HBV accounting for 5.1% (5,264 out of 101,616). Being a replacement donor was associated with all the four types of TTIs: HIV (AOR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.10–1.35), HBV (AOR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.27–1.44), HCV (AOR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.12–1.46), and syphilis (AOR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.20–1.48).Conclusions: Our study has demonstrated that Tanzania has relatively high prevalence of TTIs compared to some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. HBV infection seems to be the most common infection among blood donors and replacement blood donors are at a higher risk of harboring the commonest TTIs among blood donors.

Cancer remains a significant global health challenge, with low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) disproportionately burdened by high mortality rates despite a lower overall incidence. Barriers to timely diagnosis and care exacerbate these disparities. This scoping review synthesizes existing literature on barriers for women in LMICs following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Studies on women in LMICs reporting barriers to accessing care for breast, colorectal, lung, cervix uteri, thyroid, corpus uteri, and stomach cancers were included. Twenty-nine studies involving 7,031 participants were included. The most common barriers included financial challenges (65.5%), geographic obstacles (34.5%), health system limitations (55.2%), and low health literacy (51.7%). Patients experienced significant delays, averaging 7.4 months from symptom onset to diagnosis and 4.9 months from diagnosis to treatment initiation. Structural issues such as limited diagnostic services, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, and healthcare provider shortages were widespread. Addressing the multifaceted barriers to cancer care in LMICs requires comprehensive strategies, including increasing financial support, decentralizing care services, improving healthcare infrastructure, and enhancing education for patients and providers. Policymakers and stakeholders should prioritize investments in cancer care to reduce disparities and improve outcomes. These findings will inform strategies for improving cancer care in low-resource settings globally.

Background: Severe post-partum anemia is an important cause of maternal deaths and severe morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, little information is available to guide health care professionals in ensuring good health of women after delivery. The objective of our study was to determine the prevalence of post-partum anemia and associated factors among women attending public primary health care facilities. Materials and methods: An institutional based cross sectional study was carried out. Women in post-partum period (the period from child birth to six weeks after delivery) attending the public primary health care facilities from October to December 2019 for children vaccination were recruited. The prick method was used to obtain blood for haemoglobin estimation. Post-partum anemia was defined as a haemoglobin level of less than 11g/dl. Participants found anaemic were asked to undertake malaria and helminths parasites tests from blood and stool samples respectively. The samples were examined by an experienced laboratory scientist on study sites according to the Tanzania national standard for medical laboratories protocols. Results: A total of 424 women were enrolled with mean age of 27.8 years (SD 5.93). Most of the participants 234(55.2%) had primary education and nearly half 198(46.7%) of them were house wives. The overall prevalence of post-partum anemia was 145(34.2%). Among the anaemic participants, 34(23.5%) had positive blood slide for malaria parasite while 15(10.3%) had positive test for stool helminths infection. Delivery by vaginal route and low parity were protective against post-partum anemia (p<0.001).Other factors that were associated with post-partum anemia included absence of a marital partner (p<0.001) and inter pregnancy interval of less than two years (p<0.001). The risk of post-partum anemia in women with less than two years interval between their last two pregnancies was about 18 times more as compared to women with more than two years interval between their last two pregnancies, (COR = 18; 95% CI 8.617–38.617).Women without marital partners were 10 times more likely to get anemia as compared to married women, (COR = 10; 01.910–54.935). Conclusions: The prevalence of anaemia among post-partum women found in this study points to a situation of public health problem according to WHO cut-off values for the public health significance of anaemia. Inter pregnancy interval of less than two years and absence of a marital partner were associated with post-partum anemia while delivery by vaginal route and low parity were protective against post-partum anemia. Strategies should therefore be put in place to encourage thorough health education and promotion programs among both pregnant and post-partum women.

Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) is a multifocal angioproliferative tumor involving blood and lymphatic vessels, caused by Human Herpes Virus-8 (HHV-8). KS is an important AIDS-defining tumor with high prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Tanzania which has high HIV and HHV-8 sero-prevalence. It is critically important to monitor the prevalence of AIDS-defining tumors, such as KS, in the age of HIV/AIDS. We studied the prevalence of KS and associated risk factors among HIV-positive patients at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC), a referral hospital in northern Tanzania, over the period from January 2012 to December 2015. This was a retrospective hospital-based cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of KS among HIV/AIDS patients between 2012 and 2015. The study included 1100 HIV patients’ data which were collected at the Infectious Disease Clinic (IDC) from patients’ files. Stata version 13 (StataCorp LP, Texas 77,845 USA) was used for all statistical analyses. The prevalence of KS was calculated across levels of a number of categorical variables. Logistic regression was performed to determine relative risk of KS for all characteristics. We included all variables with p-values ≤10% in the multivariate analysis, including ART use, as this is considered to have an influence on KS. In the multivariate analysis, statistical significance was established based on a two-tailed p-value ≤5%. All patients’ notes were kept confidential as per the Helsinki declaration. Our results revealed a 4.6% prevalence of KS at KCMC hospital, between January 2012 and December 2015, 51(4.6%) patients were diagnosed with KS out of 1100 HIV-positive patients. The study further revealed that KS in HIV patients was most associated with low CD4 cell count (less than or equal to 200 cells/μl). Moreover, women were more likely than men to diagnosed with KS, with higher odds significantly associated with KS (OR 0.42, p < 0.009). Increased age, above 35 years, among the HIV seropositive patients was significantly associated with KS (OR 25.67, p < 0.007). HIV patients who were none smokers were more likely to suffer from KS compared to HIV smokers (OR 0.41, p < 0.010). KS remains a common malignant vascular tumor commonly associated with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. Our study highlights the need for continued efforts to combat HIV, as well as associated diseases such as KS. Continued availability of ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy) to HIV/AIDS patients, and test reagents for CD4 cell count and viral load determination are important measures to alleviate the suffering of these patients. Furthermore, studies to gather more evidence on ART resistance are highly needed to guide treatment choices.

Objective There is a concern about performance of the screening approaches, where information on the quality of novel and affordable screening approaches that will perform well in remote areas is warranted. This lack of information makes it difficult to prioritise resource use in efforts to improve cervical cancer outcomes. We aimed to compare the diagnostic value of human papillomavirus (HPV) testing on self-collected samples, Pap smear and visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid (VIA) tests for detection of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or worse (CIN2+). Design A combined cross-sectional and cohort study. Setting Three primary healthcare centres in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania. Participants 1620 women undergoing cervical cancer screening from December 2018 to September 2021. Inclusion criteria were being aged 25–60 years, and no history of premalignant or cervical cancer. Exclusion criteria were overt signs of cancer and previous hysterectomy. Interventions Participants underwent HPV self-sampling with Evalyn Brush and Care HPV kit assay was used to determine prevalence of high-risk HPV infection. Women with positive HPV test were together with a random sample of HPV negative women scheduled for follow-up where VIA was performed, and Pap smear and cervical biopsies obtained. Results Of 1620 women enrolled, 229 (14.1%) were HPV positive and 222 of these attended follow-up together with 290 (20.8%) women with negative HPV test. On VIA, 17.6% were positive. On Pap smear, 8.0% were classified as high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion. The sensitivity and specificity, respectively, of the various tests, compared with histopathology for the detection of CIN2+ were: HPV test 62.5%, 59.3%; Pap smear 82.8%, 82.1% and; VIA 48.4%, 56.8%. When combined, the sensitivity and specificity for HPV and Pap smear were 90.6%, 70.6% while HPV and VIA were 65.6% and 75.5% for the detection of CIN2+. Conclusions The performance of care HPV testing on self-collected samples opens the possibility of increasing coverage and early detection in resource-constrained settings.