Background: The effect of food supplementation provided by the World Food Programme to patients and their families enrolled in a predominantly HIV/AIDS home based care programme in Bangwe Malawi is assessed.

The aim of this longitudinal study was to assess the effect of rotating shift work on perceived sleep quality and sleep duration of nurses at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi. Twenty four female nurses were recruited at random from among personnel engaged in rotating shift work. The nurses worked a three-phase schedule: five day shifts (7.00 -17.00) followed by three night shifts (17.00 -7.00) and five days off. Controls were 22 female nurses who did not perform night duties. Sleep quality and duration was assessed using standardized and validated questionnaires on sleep duration and subjective sleep quality (SSQ). One-way analysis of variance revealed a significant effect of shift phase on total sleep duration (F = 36.8, d.f. = 8, P < 0.000) and perceived sleep quality (F = 8.81, d.f. = 3, P < 0.000). Night shift work was associated with reduction of sleep quality and duration. The after effects of night shifts persisted during days of the recovery period indicating accumulation of fatigue.

Conclusion:The results show that paucibacillary leprosy though minor in Malawi can become endemic as paucibacillary leprosy is a reflection of leprosy contacts in the population. We therefore recommend continued epidemiological surveys of leprosy. Training in leprosy detection should be encouraged so that this disease can be totally eradicated in Malawi.

BACKGROUND: Incidence is a better measure than prevalence for monitoring AIDS, but it is not often used because longitudinal HIV data from which incidence can be computed is scarce. Our objective was to estimate the force of infection and incidence of HIV in Malawi using cross-sectional HIV sero-prevalence data from the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2004. METHODS: We formulated a recurrence relation of population prevalence as a function of a piecewise-constant force of HIV infection. The relation adjusts for natural and HIV-induced mortality. The parameters of the recurrence relation were estimated using maximum likelihood, and confidence intervals of parameter estimates were constructed by bootstrapping. We assessed the fit of the model using the Pearson Chi-square goodness of fit test. We estimated population incidence from the force of infection by accounting for the prevalence, as the force of infection applies only to the HIV-negative part of the population. RESULTS: The estimated HIV population incidence per 100,000 person-years among men is 610 for the 15-24 year age range, 2700 for the 25-34 group and 1320 for 35-49 year olds. For females, the estimates are 2030 for 15-24 year olds, 1710 for 25-34 year olds and 1730 for 35-49 year olds. CONCLUSIONS: Our method provides a simple way of simultaneously estimating the incidence rate of HIV and the age-specific population prevalence for single ages using population-based cross-sectional sero-prevalence data. The estimated incidence rates depend on the HIV and natural mortalities used in the estimation process.

The 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS) is a large, nationally representative sample survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO). The 2010 MDHS covered a total of 27,000 households, involving 24,000 female and 7,000 male respondents. The primary objective of the 2010 MDHS is to provide up-to-date information for policymakers, planners, researchers, and programme managers on fertility levels, nuptiality, fertility preferences, knowledge and use of family planning methods, breastfeeding practices, nutritional status of mothers and children, childhood illnesses and mortality, use of maternal and child health services, malaria, maternal mortality, and HIV and AIDS-related knowledge and behaviour. The survey also provides the anaemia status of women age 15-49 and children age 6-59 months. There have been four rounds of the MDHS conducted-in 1992,2000,2004, and 2010. This preliminary report presents tables showing the status and trends for a selected number of indicators current fertility, current use of contraception, vaccinations, nutritional status of children, and knowledge of HIV and AIDS among others.