In 2020, 11.9% of abortions in Quebec were medication abortions, compared with 32.4% in Ontario. The objective of this evaluation was to assess the quality of access to medication abortion in Quebec abortion clinics, where 91% of these abortions are performed.
Quebec abortion clinics were contacted by 2 mystery client clinical profiles between October 8 and November 17, 2021. Descriptive analyses and statistical tests were performed, as well as a qualitative analysis of collected comments.
Medication abortion up to 63 days of gestational age or less was available in 39/47 abortion clinics, more in rural and remote areas than in urban or suburban areas (P = 0.013). The mean time from first call to first appointment was 6.2 calendar days (standard deviation [SD] 4.0), shorter in rural and remote areas (P = 0.005) and in clinics affiliated with a hospital or local community service center (P = 0.010). The mean number of visits required for medication abortion was higher than for surgical abortion (2.9 [SD] 0.9 vs. 2.3 [SD] 1.1) (P < 0.001). For one in three clinical profiles (26/78, 33%), a telemedicine visit was possible. Medication abortion entirely accessible through telemedicine was not available. Unfavorable comments about medication abortion were frequent.
Access to medication abortion is difficult in Quebec and access through telemedicine is almost non existent. Restrictions imposed by the Collège des médecins du Québec (CMQ) and constraints imposed on patients limit access.

The primary objective was to compare the efficacy of a single-dose misoprostol for abortion before 7 weeks of gestation and between 7 and 9 weeks of gestation. The secondary objectives were to compare the amount of misoprostol required for complete expulsion, the need for endo-uterine aspiration, and to assess pain and patient experience in these two groups.
This was a single-centre prospective observational study conducted at the University Hospitals of Strasbourg from 1st October 2019 to 31st December 2020.
A total of 306 patients were included, 150 in the group before 7 weeks of gestation and 156 in the group between 7 and 9 weeks of gestation. There was no significant difference in the success rate of the single dose of misoprostol between the two groups with 34.7 and 37.8% respectively (P=0.63). After taking painkillers, there is no difference in terms of pain relief (EN ≤ 4 for 92 et 95% of patients P=0.37).
The single dose of misoprostol for in-hospital abortion is as effective between 7 and 9 weeks of gestation as it is before 7. By extension, therefore, we would suggest that there should be no difference in efficacy between home abortions before 7 weeks of gestation and between 7 and 9 weeks of gestation and therefore suggest that home abortions can be performed up to 9 weeks of gestation without fear of a decrease in the rate of complete expulsion and the efficacy of analgesia, with potentially less use of misoprostol compared with the hospital setting.

Despite effectiveness and clear international guidelines, respiratory rehabilitation remains underutilized: less than 15% of suitable patients in France and worldwide receive this treatment. The factors of this lack of referral and uptake have been studied and are not limited to a problem of quantitative adequacy of supply and demand. The lack of knowledge of health professionals, patients, payers, heterogeneous programs which does not necessary correspond to the needs of the patient (modalities, geography, duration), the lack of trained and available professionals, the profile of patients and prescribers and the quality of the programs are identified as potentially hindering the completion of a rehabilitation program. It is essential to analyze these barriers and to find solutions to the greatest number of respiratory patients can benefit optimal healthcare and integrate into a coherent care planning.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had major consequences for the organization of care. In France and around the world, centers practicing electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) have seen their activity decrease, or even stop for many reasons. In this context, maintaining or resuming this essential therapeutic activity for many patients suffering from psychiatric disorders requires material, human and logistical adaptations that should be supervised. The objective of this collective and national work is to offer simple recommendations that can be applied immediately by any healthcare establishment, public or private, practicing ECT. They are the result of feedback from multiprofessional and inter-establishment experiences. Declined in three stages, these recommendations are accompanied by a practical sheet which describes in detail the necessary conditions and prerequisites for any resumption of ECT activity.

BACKGROUND: Different evaluations conducted on blood safety between 2004 and 2013 in Africa showed some progress in most countries. This paper describes the current status of the availability and access to safe blood in the Region.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from January to December 2018. Data were collected through a questionnaire prepared using key indicators of blood safety and analysis was done using Excel 2010 and results were compared to those of the 2013.
RESULTS: A total of 2,678 blood centres were reported including 244 (9%) stand-alone and 2,434 (91%) hospital based. Amongst these countries, 90.2% had a blood policy, 60.1% participated in an External Quality Assessment Scheme for Transfusion Transmissible Infections screening, 12% had accredited blood services, 73.2% had national guidelines on clinical use of blood and 78% had a government budget. The total number of blood units collected was 4,899,913 and the average proportion of voluntary blood donations was 71%. Plasma-derived medicinal products were included in the national essential medicines list in 52.6% of countries. The average proportion of units of blood tested for infections was 99.5% for HIV, 92.3% for HBV, 98.9% for HCV, 98.8% for syphilis. The percentage of whole blood separated into blood components was 63.4%.
CONCLUSIONS: Countries in the region continue to improve availability and access to safe blood, but challenges still remain and call for concrete actions required to reach universal access to quality and safe blood for transfusion throughout the region.

UNASSIGNED: The World Health Organization has identified occupational therapists as integral human resources on health care teams, yet in many contexts, occupational therapy services are not adequately provided. One example is occupational therapy in mental health care in Saskatchewan.
UNASSIGNED: This study aimed to uncover what is known about the case of occupational therapy in the context of mental health services in Saskatchewan.
UNASSIGNED: An instrumental case study design was employed, applying a critical interpretive approach and thematic analysis to examine 40 publicly available documents.
UNASSIGNED: Three main themes (with subthemes) were identified: access (representation, funding, rural communities), awareness (comprehension, value, collaboration), and advocacy (leadership, education).
UNASSIGNED: This study illuminates how restricted access to, limited awareness of, and ineffective advocacy for occupational therapy impacts mental health services in Saskatchewan and provides a replicable process for other contexts where occupational therapy is underrepresented.

The populations of many low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) are young. Despite progress made towards achieving Universal Health Coverage and remarkable health gains, evidence suggests that many children in LMIC are still not accessing needed healthcare services. Delayed or lack of access to health services can lead to a worsening of health and can in turn negatively impact a child\'s ability to attend school, and future employment opportunities.
We conducted a systematic review to assess the effectiveness of interventions aimed at increasing access to health services for children over 5 years in LMIC settings. Four electronic databases were searched in March 2017. Studies were included if they evaluated interventions that aimed to increase: healthcare utilisation, immunisation uptake and compliance with medication/referral. Randomised controlled trials and non-randomised study designs were included in the review. Data extraction included study characteristics, intervention type and measures of access to health services for children above 5 years of age. Study outcomes were classified as positive, negative, mixed or null in terms of their impact on access outcomes.
Ten studies met the criteria for inclusion in the review. Interventions were evaluated in Nicaragua (1), Brazil (1), Turkey (1), India (1), China (1), Uganda (1), Ghana (1), Nigeria (1), South Africa (1) and Swaziland (1). Intervention types included education (2), incentives (1), outreach (1), SMS/phone call reminders (2) and multicomponent interventions (4). All evaluations reported positive findings on measured health access outcomes; however, the quality and strength of evidence were mixed.
This review provides evidence of the range of interventions that were used to increase healthcare access for children above 5 years old in LMIC. Nevertheless, further research is needed to examine each of the identified intervention types and the influence of contextual factors, with robust study designs. There is also a need to assess the cost-effectiveness of the interventions to inform decision-makers on which are suitable for scale-up in their particular contexts.

OBJECTIVE: To report epidemiology and characteristics of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and renal transplant candidates, and to evaluate access to waiting list and results of renal transplantation.
METHODS: An exhaustive systematic review of the scientific literature was performed in the Medline database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and Embase (http://www.embase.com) using different associations of the following keywords: \"chronic kidney disease, epidemiology, kidney transplantation, cost, survival, graft, brain death, cardiac arrest, access, allocation\". French legal documents have been reviewed using the government portal (http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr). Articles were selected according to methods, language of publication and relevance. The reference lists were used to identify additional historical studies of interest. Both prospective and retrospective series, in French and English, as well as review articles and recommendations were selected. In addition, French national transplant and health agencies (http://www.agence-biomedecine.fr and http://www.has-sante.fr) databases were screened using identical keywords. A total of 3234 articles, 6 official reports and 3 newspaper articles were identified; after careful selection 99 publications were eligible for our review.
RESULTS: The increasing prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) leads to worsen organ shortage. Renal transplantation remains the best treatment option for ESRD, providing recipients with an increased survival and quality of life, at lower costs than other renal replacement therapies. The never-ending lengthening of the waiting list raises issues regarding treatment strategies and candidates\' selection, and underlines the limits of organ sharing without additional source of kidneys available for transplantation.
CONCLUSIONS: Allocation policies aim to reduce medical or geographical disparities regarding enrollment on a waiting list or access to an allotransplant.

As the scale of the South African HIV epidemic calls for innovative models of care that improve accessibility for patients while overcoming chronic human resource shortages, we (i) assess the cost-effectiveness of lay health worker-led group adherence clubs, in comparison with a nurse-driven \'standard of care\' and (ii) describe and evaluate the associated patient cost and accessibility differences.
Our cost-effectiveness analysis compares an \'adherence club\' innovation to conventional nurse-driven care within a busy primary healthcare setting in Khayelitsha, South Africa. In each alternative, we calculate provider costs and estimate rates of retention in care and viral suppression as key measures of programme effectiveness. All results are presented on an annual or per patient-year basis. In the same setting, a smaller sample of patients was interviewed to understand the direct and indirect non-healthcare cost and access implications of the alternatives. Access was measured using McIntyre and colleagues\' 2009 framework.
Adherence clubs were the more cost-effective model of care, with a cost per patient-year of $300 vs. $374 and retention in care at 1 year of 98.03% (95% CI 97.67-98.33) for clubs vs. 95.49% (95% CI 95.01-95.94) for standard of care. Viral suppression in clubs was 99.06% (95% CI 98.82-99.27) for clubs vs. 97.20% (95% CI 96.81-97.56) for standard of care. When interviewed, club patients reported fewer missed visits, shorter waiting times and higher acceptability of services compared to standard of care.
Adherence clubs offer the potential to enhance healthcare efficiency and patient accessibility. Their scale-up should be supported.

OBJECTIVE: Situational analysis of lymphatic filariasis (LF) morbidity and its management in Ahanta West, Ghana, to identify potential barrier to healthcare for LF patients.
METHODS: Lymphoedema and hydrocoele patients were identified by community health workers from a subset of villages, and were interviewed and participated in focus group discussions to determine their attitudes and practices towards managing their morbidity, and their perceived barriers to accessing care. Local health professionals were also interviewed to obtain their views on the availability of morbidity management services in the district.
RESULTS: Sixty-two patients (34 lymphoedema and 28 hydrocoeles) and 13 local health professionals were included in the study. Lymphoedema patients predominantly self-managed their conditions, which included washing with soap and water (61.8%), and exercising the affected area (52.9%). Almost 65% of patients had sought medical assistance at some stage, but support was generally limited to receiving tablets (91%). Local health professionals reported rarely seeing lymphoedema patients, citing stigma and lack of provisions to assist patients as a reason for this. Almost half of hydrocoele patients (44%) chose not to seek medical assistance despite the negative impact it had on their lives. Whilst surgery itself is free with national health insurance, 63% those who had not sought treatment stated that indirect costs of surgery (travel costs, loss of earnings, etc.) were the most prohibitive factor to seeking treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: The information obtained from this study should now be used to guide future morbidity strategies in building a stronger relationship between the local health services and LF patients, to ultimately improve patients\' physical, psychological and economic wellbeing.