Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a public health problem worldwide and is a common cause of work-related disorder among workers, especially in the nursing profession. Recruitment and retention of nurses is a challenge, and the nursing shortage has been exacerbated by the burden of occupational injuries such as LBP and related disabilities. The physiotherapy clinical records revealed that caseload of nurses presenting for the management of LBP was increasing. The prevalence and factors associated with LBP were unclear.Methods: A cross-sectional study design with an analytic component was implemented. Data were collected utilising a self-administered questionnaire to determine the prevalence and factors associated with LBP among nurses at a regional hospital. Bivariate analyses were performed to determine the factors associated with LBP.Results: The point prevalence of current LBP in nurses was 59%. The highest prevalence was recorded among enrolled nurses (54%), respondents aged 30–39 (46%), overweight respondents (58%) and those working in obstetrics and gynaecology (49%). Bending (p = 0.002), prolonged position (p = 0.03) and transferring patients (p = 0.004) were strongly associated with LBP. Nurses with more than 20 years in the profession reported a high prevalence of LBP. The prevalence of LBP was higher among the participants who were on six-month rotations (76%) compared with those on yearly rotation (16%).Conclusion: A high proportion of nurses reported to have LBP. Occupational factors are strongly associated with LBP. Education programmes on prevention and workplace interventions are required in order to reduce occupational injuries.

Men have poor access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Nevertheless, in LMIC and high-income countries (HICs), low SRH utilisation happens on account of several factors, such as individual, health system-related, and sociocultural factors. Identifying and addressing men’s SRH service underutilisation remains essential to improving their sexual health and averting higher mortality and early morbidity associated with poor health seeking behaviour (HSB) among men. This narrative review identifies factors influencing whether men do or do not utilise SRH services in LMICs. We report on articles published in LMICs: Africa, Asia and South America. In this narrative review, we searched for quantitative and qualitative articles published between 2004 and 2021 from international databases, including Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost, Scopus, PubMed, Medline, and reference lists of retrieved published articles. A total of 2219 articles were retrieved, from which 36 met the inclusion criteria. Factors contributing to poor uptake of SRH services by men included: a lack of access and availability of SRH services, poor health-seeking behaviour among men, and SRH facilities not being perceived as ‘male-friendly spaces’. Furthermore, our review reveals that decreased use of SRH services is attributed to factors such as a lack of focus on men’s SRH. The current underutilised state of SRH services calls for urgent implementation of evidence-based interventions. Identifying men’s SRH service inhibitors and enablers will assist programme managers and policymakers in designing SRH services tailored to their sexual health needs. Despite numerous global interventions to motivate men, the findings provide insight into the underutilisation of SRH services. The study also reveals the inadequate comprehensive investigation of men’s SRH service utilisation, especially older men, to comprehend men’s problems fully. Further research needs to be conducted on SRH issues, including vasectomy, mental health, and chronic conditions related to sexual and reproductive health. The analysis can assist SRH policymakers and program managers in strengthening the policies to motivate men to engage better with SRH services.

Background: The massification of higher education is often associated with poor student engagement, poor development of their critical thinking, inadequate feedback and poor student throughput. These factors necessitate the need to devise novel, innovative methods to teach, assess and provide feedback to learners to counter the restrictions imposed due to the large class learning environments. This study was conducted to ascertain the perceptions of 1st year medical students and staff at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine regarding the value of poster presentations as a strategy to enhance learning, assessment and feedback.Methods: This was an exploratory observational, descriptive cross-sectional, case study. Data was collected through separate student and staff questionnaires that required participant responses on a five-point Likert scale. The data was extracted into Excel spreadsheets for quantitative analysis.Results: Two-hundred- and-thirty (92%) student questionnaires were returned (N = 250). Most students indicated that the design and presentation of the poster had helped them to select important material (92%), understand and describe disadvantage (86%) and to make a difference in the community (92%). The students agreed that the poster assessment was an efficient (81%) and fair method (75%) that provided opportunities for meaningful feedback. Ten staff members responded to the questionnaire. Most staff members (90%) indicated that the poster presentation had allowed students to demonstrate their engagement in a meaningful and appropriate way around issues of disadvantage and HIV and agreed that the poster presentations allowed for immediate and effective feedback.Conclusion: Students’ interactions in the tasks promoted active engagement with others and course material; the development of higher order thinking and skills which added to students’ accounts of transformative learning experiences. They could describe and illustrate the difference that they had made in their chosen community. The poster presentations allowed for quick and efficient marking, immediate feedback and an opportunity to validate the students’ participation.Poster presentations offered an innovative way to encourage deep meaningful engagement and learning amongst peers and facilitators. Poster presentations should be more widely considered as an innovative way of encouraging deeper engagement and learning in a large class setting.

The demand for highly skilled public health personnel in low- and middle-income countries has been recognised globally. In South Africa, the need to train more public health professionals has been acknowledged. The Human Resource for Health (HRH) Strategy for South Africa includes the establishment of public health units at district and provincial levels. Programmes such as Master of Public Health (MPH) programmes are viewed as essential contributors in equipping health practitioners with adequate public health skills to meet the demands of the health care system. All MPH programmes have been instituted independently; there is no systematic information or comparison of programmes and requirements across institutions. This study aims to establish a baseline on MPH programmes in South Africa in terms of programme characteristics, curriculum, teaching workforce and graduate output. A mixed method design was implemented. A document analysis and cross-sectional descriptive survey, comprising both quantitative and qualitative data collection, by means of questionnaires, of all MPH programmes active in 2014 was conducted. The MPH programme coordinators of the 10 active programmes were invited to participate in the study via email. Numeric data were summarized in frequency distribution tables. Non-numeric data was captured, collated into one file and thematically analysed. A total of eight MPH programmes responded to the questionnaire. Most programmes are affiliated to medical schools and provide a wide range of specialisations. The MPH programmes are run by individual universities and tend to have their own quality assurance, validation and assessment procedures with minimal external scrutiny. National core competencies for MPH programmes have not been determined. All programmes are battling to provide an appropriate supply of well-trained public health professionals as a result of drop-out, low throughput and delayed time to completion. The MPH programmes have consistently graduated MPH candidates, although the numbers differ by institution. The increasing number of enrolments coupled by insufficient teaching personnel and low graduate output are key challenges impacting on the production of public health professionals. Collaboration amongst the MPH programmes, standardization, quality assurance and benchmarking needs considerable attention.

Background: Physical activity plays a significant role in the managing of type 2 diabetes and is essential in reducing morbidity and mortality associated with diabetes mellitus. A number of factors influence non-adherence to physical activity: social, personal, environmental and economic factors. Diabetes research conducted in Botswana has focused on behavioural change, treatment adherence and nutrition. The physical activity levels of type 2 diabetes patients and associated factors are not known.Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the physical activity levels (PALs) and factors associated with physical activity in type 2 diabetes mellitusSetting: The study was conducted at a public clinic in Gaborone, Botswana, in 2017.Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted at a public clinic in Gaborone, Botswana. An interview-administered questionnaire was used to assess the PALs and factors associated with physical activity in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Data were captured on Excel and exported to SPSS software version 25 for analysis. Chi-square test, Fischer’s exact test and Pearson’s moment correlation examined the relationship between participants’ characteristics and their engagement in regular exercise.Results: The majority of the study participants had low PALs (54.7%). The results showed a non-significant negative correlation between age and PAL (r = −0.085) and between sitting time (sedentary time) and PAL (−0.098).Conclusion: Most type 2 diabetes mellitus patients had low PALs. Health-promoting activities are needed to promote physical activity and thus prevent complications associated with physical inactivity.

Introduction Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is one of the low-income regions in the world which is affected by the critical shortage of human resources for health amid a high disease burden, including physical disability. Community health workers are viewed as the possible solution to increase population access to health services, including rehabilitation at the community level. The purpose of this scoping review is to map the evidence and scope of physical rehabilitation services delivered by community health workers in SSA. Methods and analysis The framework by Arksey and O’Malley will be used to guide the scoping review protocol. Database searching will be conducted using PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Central and databases within the EBSCOhost platform. Other sources of literature will include reference lists, conference presentations and publications on organisational websites such as WHO, Ministries of Health, and Non-governmental Organisations in SSA. The screening will be guided by the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thematic content analysis aided by NVivo V.12 will be done to present the narrative account of the review. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool version 2018 will be used to evaluate the methodological quality of the studies. Ethics and dissemination The review is part of a larger study that has received ethical clearance. The result will be disseminated using print and electronic media.