Patient-centred care (PCC) is associated with better experiences for chronic care encounters and better outcomes. However, its assessment and resultant management outcomes have not been well documented in Malawi. As Malawi strives to institutionalise PCC in its quality-of-care initiatives, documenting its correlates and outcomes is a good starting point in the implementation and advocacy of PCC among chronic care patients, particularly those living with diabetes mellitus (DM).

We sought to assess the level of diabetic patients’ perception of PCC and its relationship to self-efficacy, adherence and glycaemic control among patients with DM.

This study was done in DM clinics of two district and two central hospitals in southern Malawi.

This was a cross-sectional analytical study. We studied 607 subsequent consenting adult patients with DM. We assessed the level of perception of using a locally generated and validated tool and its correlation with self-efficacy, adherence and long-term glycaemic control after a medical encounter. We used K-means clustering, linear and logistic regression, and path analysis in the analysis.

The study’s outcome measures included adherence, self-efficacy, long-term glycaemic control. Adherence included aspects related to medication, diet, lifestyle and appointment keeping and was assessed using the Hill-Bone tool. Self-efficacy was assessed using a Stanford self-efficacy tool while long-term glycaemic control was determined through haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) point-of-care testing.

Overall, the mean score for PCC was 62.86 (SD 14.78). The study highlighted two groups of patients with statistically distinct mean scores of 51.6 (7.8) vs 77.1 (7.2) out of a possible 92 (p

Although this study did not find a direct correlation between PCC and glycaemic control, it has demonstrated that PCC medical encounters could potentially improve glycaemic control by enhancing patients’ adherence to their diabetes management plans. Even though PCC is not an end in itself, medical encounters that prioritise good relational ambience, patient involvement and capacitation are promising interventions in DM care, especially for patients with or at risk of DM complications. The general lack of patient individualisation and involvement elements found in the medical encounters in our study could explain why PCC hardly has an impact on self-efficacy. The study highlights the importance of PCC in DM patient management and outlines important innovative adaptations towards transforming medical education to equip and appraise interpersonal skills that have an impact on patient-reported experiences and outcomes.

In Zimbabwe, pregnancy termination is generally prohibited unless and only if the circumstances are in sync with the conditions stipulated in the Termination of Pregnancy (ToP) Act of 1977. This raises questions about the modern-day rights of bodily autonomy and integrity (BAI). Funded by the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, this study, therefore, seeks to review and analyse sexual and reproductive health and rights policies and how they relate to the ToP Act (1977) and BAI.

This study will use a concurrent multimethod approach. First, policies related to the ToP and bodily autonomy and integration will be reviewed and analysed using the policy analysis triangle. Concurrently, a qualitative and quantitative survey will be conducted on purposively selected key informants and focus group discussions with purposively selected women and men, as well as 200 stratified selected women. Qualitative findings will be recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed using MAXQDA V.20 Pro. Simultaneously, the quantitative output will be collected using KoboCollect, exported into Excel and analysed using both Excel and STATA. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) framework and the Basic Logic Model will guide the triangulation of the findings and development of a policy brief.

Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the National University of Science and Technology Institutional Review Board at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (Ethics Number: NUST/IRB/2023/23). Written consent would also be sought from the participants. A policy brief would be developed and shared with key stakeholders. At least three manuscripts would emanate from this study and will be submitted for publication in reputable peer-reviewed journals.