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Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), widely known as “mad cow disease”, has virtually crippled the British livestock industry. Even though, no cases of BSE have been reported in the United States (US), a similar epidemic in the US would be catastrophic. The added concern for the risk of introduction of the human disease called variant Creutzfeldt‐Jacob disease that has been linked to eating meat of BSE infected cattle compounds the risk of BSE. Systems dynamics models based on the underlying transmission pathways of BSE can help to anticipate the spread of this disease in different cattle populations and assist in the evaluation of potential risk mitigations for preventing its introduction or controlling its spread if it was introduced. With this in mind, an age and health status structured systems dynamics model was developed. By making assumptions and setting up feasible scenarios, the model can be used to examine potential prevalence and incidences rates of BSE; the effect of mitigations including changes in feeding habits or rendering processes and/or other policies and regulations designed to prevent the introduction of BSE. The systems dynamics simulation model enabled us to create virtual experiments whose real‐world analogues would otherwise be expensive, dangerous, or even impossible to carryout.

Computational models can facilitate the understanding of complex biomedical systems such as in HIV/AIDS. Untangling the dynamics between HIV and CD4+ cellular populations and molecular interactions can be used to investigate the effective points of interventions in the HIV life cycle. With that in mind, we have developed a state transition systems dynamics and stochastic model that can be used to examine various alternatives for the control and treatment of HIV/AIDS. The specific objectives of our study were to use a cellular/molecular model to study optimal chemotherapies for reducing the HIV viral load and to use the model to study the pattern of mutant viral populations and resistance to drug therapies. The model considers major state variables (uninfected CD4+ lymphocytes, infected CD4+ cells, replicated virions) along with their respective state transition rates (viz. CD4+ replacement rate, infection rate, replication rate, depletion rate). The state transitions are represented by ordinary differential equations. The systems dynamics model was used for a variety of computational experimentations to evaluate HIV mutations, and to evaluate effective strategies in HIV drug therapy interventions.

The purpose of this paper was to examine rural women’s perceived quality of antenatal care (ANC) and its influence on the extent of ANC in the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted with 120 women attending postnatal care at selected public health facilities. Structured interviews were used to obtain data. Crude odds ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI) was generated to determine the odds of women’s utilisation of ANC with their perceived service quality. The association between women’s background characteristics and ANC use was determined and assessed using Pearson’s χ² (2) test.

Majority of the women (58.3 percent) utilised ANC for at least four times during pregnancy. Women’s education (p=0.027), religious affiliation (p=0.006), source of income (p=0.012) and insurance status (p=0.023) all had a positive relationship with ANC use. Women who perceived ANC quality as good were three times more likely to have four or more ANC visits than those who perceived quality as poor (OR= 3.042, 95% CI=0.181–0.647, p=0.001).

Ghana has had numerous policy interventions that address the accessibility and quality of ANC service. However, little is known about the extent to which they are observed and about the quality of service from users’ perspective. Most existing literature on ANC use in Ghana focusses on socio-economic factors that influence utilisation. This paper will be the first to examine the perceived quality of ANC provided, and its influence on the extent of ANC visits among rural women in Ghana.

Effective menstrual management is essential for the mental and physical well being of women. However, many women in low-income countries lack access to the materials and facilities required. They are thus restricted in their activities whilst menstruating thus compromising their education, income and domestic responsibilities. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This study describes the menstrual management challenges faced by women in an emergency situation in Uganda. Totally, 50 interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with women from villages, internally displaced person (IDP) camps and schools so that the menstrual management of the host population could be compared with the IDPs.

This study showed that in IDP camps there was a significant lack of materials including soap, underpants and absorbing cloth, and facilities like latrines and bathing shelters. As a consequence women in IDP camps suffer with poor health and diminished dignity. There is also a lack of education about menstruation and reproductive health and practices are strongly influenced by cultural taboos.

This is the first time that the menstrual management of women in IDP or refugee camps has been studied.