We are excited to announce: Haules Zaniku from Malawi successfully completed his study on “Prevalence and associated factors of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among adults in Neno District, Malawi”.
His findings were presented at 3rd International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA 2023) Lusaka, Zambia from 27th-30th November, 2023. The full publication in the International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease can be found here: https://www.dovepress.com/articles.php?article_id=90249
His study, which used spirometry to diagnose COPD, found an overall COPD prevalence of 10% (51 out of 510 participants) which was higher (15.0%) among males compared to females (6.4%). Age 60 years and above, history of smoking, and previous PTB were significantly associated with COPD.
The findings highlight that COPD poses a public health challenge and that prevention and early detection and management of COPD should be considered a priority. It also highlights the need to follow-up post-PTB patients to detect and improve COPD management. We congratulate Haules on this great achievement. Moving forward, Haules intends to further research the correlations between post-PTB and COPD care in Malawi.
