The economics of poisoning: The role of telemedicine and toxicovigilance

Balme, K; Stephen, Cindy; Curling, Linda; Mohamed, F.; Marks, Carine; Lorente, V Pillay-Fuentes; Rensburg, R Van; Voigt, G

doi:10.7196/samj.2020.v110i12.15296

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…All these studies were reported in 2020 during the COVID 19 outbreak. Two articles were cross‐sectional surveys (Armand et al, 2021 ; Feldman et al, 2021 ), one was a randomized controlled trial (Owolabi et al, 2020 ), one was a news article (Adebayo et al, 2020 ), one was a narrative review from Kenya (Jaguga & Kwobah, 2020 ), two were observational studies (Adebayo et al, 2021 ; Nlemadim et al, 2021 ), two were letters (Balme et al, 2020 ; Moolla et al, 2020 ), one was a commentary (Kamulegeya et al, 2020 ) and the other one was a retrospective and prospective analysis (Moyo & Madziyire, 2020 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The review showed the utilization of telemedicine in Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya. The most utilized mode of engaging patients was the telephones (P. Adebayo et al, 2020 ; Armand et al, 2021 ; Balme et al, 2020 ; Kamulegeya et al, 2020 ) and (Feldman et al, 2021 ). Two studies made use of the social media platform Whatsapp (Armand et al, 2021 ; Moyo & Madziyire, 2020 ) while some employed virtual platforms and video calls such as Skype (Armand et al, 2021 ; Moolla et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A randomized controlled trial in South Africa indicated moderate improved adherence levels to medication by diabetics (Owolabi et al, 2020 ). In the same country, the use of teleconsultation for poisoning cases and virtual meeting to discuss trends and interesting cases helped to improve toxicovigilance and reduce visits to the hospital (Balme et al, 2020 ). The use of video calls enabled relatives to communicate with their loved ones in hospital quarantine while minimizing the risk of transmission.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Utility of telemedicine in sub‐Saharan Africa during the COVID ‐19 pandemic. A rapid review

Chitungo

Mhango

Mbunge

et al. 2021

Human Behav and Emerg Tech

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Telemedicine is the use of technology to achieve remote care. This review looks at the utility of telemedicine during the pandemic, period March 2020 to February 2021. Eleven articles met inclusion criteria. There was moderate use of telemedicine in sub‐Sahara Africa during the pandemic, however, there were also some limitations. Benefits of telemedicine include continuing medical service provision, connecting relatives with loved ones in quarantine, education, and awareness of mental health issues, and toxicovigilance and infection control. Challenges to the implementation of telemedicine on the continent were lack of supporting telemedicine framework and policies, digital barriers, and patient and healthcare personnel biases. To address these challenges, this article proposes the development of policy frameworks that fosters telemedicine use by all stakeholders, including medical insurance organizations, the introduction of telemedicine training of medical workers, educational awareness programs for the public, and improvement of digital platforms access and affordability.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Utility of telemedicine in sub‐Saharan Africa during the COVID ‐19 pandemic. A rapid review

Chitungo

Mhango

Mbunge

et al. 2021

Human Behav and Emerg Tech

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Toxicovigilance 2.0 – modern approaches for the hazard identification and risk assessment of toxicants in human beings: A review

Niżnik,

Toporowska-Kaźmierak,

Jabłońska

et al. 2024

Toxicology

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Child and adolescent mortality associated with pesticide toxicity in Cape Town, South Africa, 2010–2019: a retrospective case review

Davies¹,

Hlela²,

Rother³

2023

BMC Public Health

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Background Poisoning of children after exposure to pesticides is a major public health concern, particularly in countries with poorer urban populations, such as South Africa. This may stem from the illegal distribution and domestic use of street pesticides, which are highly hazardous agricultural pesticides. The aim of this study was to profile paediatric deaths due to acute pesticide poisoning in the west-metropole of Cape Town, South Africa; to identify whether the active ingredients were highly hazardous pesticides according to the FAO and WHO; and to inform policy and public health interventions to prevent future exposures and mortality. Methods A retrospective and descriptive analysis of forensic post-mortem records (2010 to 2019) was conducted to identify cases of paediatric deaths (< 18 years old) in the west metropole of Cape Town, involving pesticide poisoning admitted to the Salt River mortuary (one out of 16 mortuaries in the Western Cape province). Demographic, circumstantial, autopsy, and toxicological information was captured. Descriptive statistics, together with chi-square tests, Fisher’s probability tests, and Mann–Whitney U tests were used to analyse the data. Results In total, 54 paediatric pesticide deaths were identified, including 22 (40.7%) males and 32 (59.3%) females, out of 5,181 paediatric unnatural deaths admitted over the 10-year period. The median age of the decedents was 8.3 years (range: 1 day to 17.9 years), with the majority under five years (42.6%) or between 15 and 18 years old (40.7%). All incidents occurred in peri-urban areas of Cape Town, with most individuals being admitted to hospital (88.9%) for a median survival time of 4.8 h. Toxicological analysis was requested in 50 cases (92.6%) with the organophosphate pesticides terbufos (n = 29), methamidophos (n = 2) and diazinon (n = 2) detected most frequently. Adolescent (15–18 years) suicides (29.6%) and accidental child deaths (< 4 years) (18.5%) were common. Conclusions Terbufos and methamidophos are highly hazardous pesticide (HHP) active ingredients registered in South Africa for agricultural uses, yet commonly sold as street pesticides for domestic use in lower socioeconomic areas. Reducing access and availability of toxic pesticides, especially through the illegal selling of street pesticides, and providing low toxic alternatives to poorer communities, may support mortality reduction initiatives. Mortality and toxicology data provide important, often overlooked, surveillance tools for informing policy and public health interventions to reduce toxic pesticide harm in local communities.

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The economics of poisoning: The role of telemedicine and toxicovigilance

Abstract: This open-access article is distributed under Creative Commons licence CC-BY-NC 4.0.

Cited by 4 publications

References 2 publications

Utility of telemedicine in sub‐Saharan Africa during the COVID ‐19 pandemic. A rapid review

Utility of telemedicine in sub‐Saharan Africa during the COVID ‐19 pandemic. A rapid review

Toxicovigilance 2.0 – modern approaches for the hazard identification and risk assessment of toxicants in human beings: A review

Child and adolescent mortality associated with pesticide toxicity in Cape Town, South Africa, 2010–2019: a retrospective case review

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