Study advisory committees (SACs) provide critical value to clinical trials by providing unique perspectives that pull from personal and professional experiences related to the trial's healthcare topic. The Emergency Medicine Palliative Care Access (EMPallA) study had the privilege of convening a 16-person SAC from the project's inception to completion. The study team wanted to understand the impact this project had on the SAC members. In this narrative, we use reflective dialogue to share SAC members’ lived experiences and the impact the EMPallA study has had on members both personally and professionally. We detail the (1) benefits SAC members, specifically patients, and caregivers, have had through working on this project. (2) The importance of recruiting diverse SAC members with different lived experiences and leveraging their feedback in clinical research. (3) Value of community capacity building to ensure the common vision of the clinical trial is promoted.
The increasing number of refugees in Uganda is putting a significant strain on the country’s already limited resources, particularly those for healthcare. The government has implemented policies in response to the crisis. However, numerous obstacles have hampered these efforts. The aim of this article is to review previously published research by synthesising global evidence on factors that impede refugees’ access to healthcare services across the country. Articles published between 2016 and 2022 were searched in the Google Scholar and PubMed central databases. Google Scholar yielded 21,300, PubMed Central 637, and 5 articles from cross-references, however. The PRISMA framework was used to structure the selection, and 21 studies from different fields and settings met the inclusion criteria. The most frequently cited factors that impede access to and utilisation of needed healthcare services were sociocultural considerations such as stigma and discrimination, health system anomalies that led to mistrust of healthcare services and workers by refugee populations, and financial difficulties. In order to overcome these obstacles, the government and humanitarian organisations ought to carry out a comprehensive screening with leaders of refugee communities and local refugee organisations in order to comprehend the conditions of refugees. They ought to pay particular attention to the differences between the various cultures and settings, as well as the flow of the healthcare system, in order to sensitise people and raise awareness about the healthcare system. To make it easier for refugees to access and use the necessary healthcare services, specific health policies should be implemented. When looking for healthcare, equal rights and freedom of movement should be top priorities
With the spread of HIV, the world is currently confronting an unprecedented problem. The application of artificial intelligence (AI) to the management of HIV is a hotly debated subject. Over 6,000 people are newly diagnosed with HIV each year in the United States, where an estimated 1.2 million people have the disease (CDC, 2020). HIV-positive individuals need ongoing medical care as their condition worsens in order to track the virus' development and ensure that the right therapy is being given. Recent studies have demonstrated that AI can increase the speed and accuracy of HIV detection.
