Browsing by Author "Nkrumah, Francis"
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Item African Burkitt Lymphoma: Age-Specific Risk and Correlations with Malaria Biomarkers(The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 2011) Emmanuel, Benjamin; Kawira, Esther; Ogwang, Martin D.; Wabinga, Henry; Magatti, Josiah; Nkrumah, Francis; Neequaye, Janet; Bhatia, Kishor; Brubaker, Glen; Biggar, Robert J.; Mbulaiteye, Sam M.African Burkitt lymphoma is an aggressive B-cell, non-Hodgkin lymphoma linked to Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Malaria biomarkers related to onset of African Burkitt lymphoma are unknown. We correlated agespecific patterns of 2,602 cases of African Burkitt lymphoma (60% male, mean ± SD age = 7.1 ± 2.9 years) from Uganda, Ghana, and Tanzania with malaria biomarkers published from these countries. Age-specific patterns of this disease and mean multiplicity of P. falciparum malaria parasites, defined as the average number of distinct genotypes per positive blood sample based on the merozoite surface protein-2 assessed by polymerase chain reaction, were correlated and both peaked between 5 and 9 years. This pattern, which was strong and consistent across regions, contrasted parasite prevalence, which peaked at 2 years and decreased slightly, and geometric mean parasite density, which peaked between 2 and 3 years and decreased sharply. Our findings suggest that concurrent infection with multiple malaria genotypes may be related to onset of African Burkitt lymphoma.Item Sub-Saharan Africa’s Mothers, Newborns, and Children: Where and Why Do They Die?(PLoS medicine, 2010) Kinney, Mary V.; Kerber, Kate J.; Black, Robert E.; Cohen, Barney; Nkrumah, Francis; Coovadia, Hoosen; Nampala, Paul Michael; Lawn, Joy E.This paper is part of a PLoS Medicine series on maternal, newborn, and child health in Africa. Nearly 4.7 million mothers, newborns, and children die each year in sub-Saharan Africa: 265,000 mothers die due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth [1]; 1,208,000 babies die before they reach one month of age ; and 3,192,000 children, who survived their first month of life, die before their fifth birthday [1]. This toll of more than 13,000 deaths per day accounts for half of the world’s maternal and child deaths. In addition, an estimated 880,000 babies are stillborn in sub- Saharan Africa and remain invisible on the policy agenda. With only five years left to achieve the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for maternal and child health, most African countries in the region are currently unlikely to meet their MDG targets. Since time is short for achieving success, a critical understanding of where and why these deaths occur, and of strategic, data-based prioritization of interventions, are essential to accelerate progress.