Sociodemographic factors influencing adherence to antenatal iron supplementation recommendations among pregnant women in Malawi: Analysis of data from the 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey

Background and Aim: Maternal morbidity and mortality statistics remain unacceptably high in Malawi. Prominent among the risk factors in the country is anaemia in pregnancy, which generally results from nutritional inadequacy (particularly iron deficiency) and malaria, among other factors. This warrants concerted efforts to increase iron intake among reproductive-age women. This study, among women in Malawi, examined factors determining intake of supplemental iron for at least 90 days during pregnancy.Methods: A weighted sample of 10,750 women (46.7%), from the 23,020 respondents of the 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS), were utilized for the study. Univariate, bivariate, and regression techniques were employed. While univariate analysis revealed the percent distributions of all variables, bivariate analysis was used to examine the relationships between individual independent variables and adherence to iron supplementation. Chi-square tests of independence were conducted for categorical variables, with the significance level set at P < 0.05. Two binary logistic regression models were used to evaluate the net effect of independent variables on iron supplementation adherence.Results: Thirty-seven percent of the women adhered to the iron supplementation recommendations during pregnancy. Multivariate analysis indicated that younger age, urban residence, higher education, higher wealth status, and attending antenatal care during the first trimester were significantly associated with increased odds of taking iron supplementation for 90 days or more during pregnancy (P < 0.01).Conclusions: The results indicate low adherence to the World Health Organization’s iron supplementation recommendations among pregnant women in Malawi, and this contributes to negative health outcomes for both mothers and children. Focusing on education interventions that target populations with low rates of iron supplement intake, including campaigns to increase the number of women who attend antenatal care clinics in the first trimester, are recommended to increase adherence to iron supplementation recommendations

Myositis Ossificans Circumscripta of the Supra-orbital Region: A Case Report

Myositis ossificans circumscripta is a pathological condition characterized by formation of bony tissue within the skeletal muscles following repeated trauma. A case of myositis ossificans circumscripta of thesupra-orbital region in a 25-year-old man is presented and the pertinent literature is reviewed. To the best our knowledge this benign lesion has not been reported previously in the orbital region the world literature. Clinically the patient presented with a swelling and proptosis of the right eye. Radiologically there was a rounded opacity with well defined margin. Lesion was initially misdiagnosed as a fibroosseous lesion; however microscopic examination indicated matured myositis ossificans. Lesion was excised via a bicoronal flap. Careful clinical, radiological and pathologic evaluation is required to make this uncommon diagnosis in an unusual location such as the supra-orbital region to avoid unnecessary surgical mutilation of the patien

Contributors to Reduced Life Expectancy Among Native Americans in the Four Corners States

To assess trends in life expectancy and the contribution of specific causes of death to Native American-White longevity gaps in the Four Corners states, we used death records from the National Center for Health Statistics and population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau from 1999–2017 to generate period life tables and decompose racial gaps in life expectancy. Native American-White life expectancy gaps narrowed between 2001 and 2012 but widened thereafter, reaching 4.92 years among males and 2.06 years among females in 2015. The life expectancy disadvantage among Native American males was primarily attributable to motor vehicle accidents (0.96 years), liver disease (1.22 years), and diabetes (0.78 years). These causes of deaths were also primary contributors to the gap among females, forming three successive waves of mortality that occurred in young adulthood, midlife, and late adulthood, respectively, among Native American males and females. Interventions to reduce motor vehicle accidents in early adulthood, alcohol-related mortality in midlife, and diabetes complications at older ages could reduce Native American-White longevity disparities in the Four Corners states

Preliminary Investigation on Production of Brown Ink from Gmelina arborea (ROXB) Fruit Extract

The study was carried out to assess the potential of producing brown ink from Gmelina arborea fruit extract and to compare the ink produced with commercial ink using ink flotation test. The Gmelina arborea fruit extract was gotten by soaking the fruits in water for two hours, after which they were squeezed manually to extract the juice. Five different concentration levels (100%, 80%, 60%, 40% and 20%) of the ink were produced using ethanol as diluent and coconut vinegar as additive to preserve the ink from biodegradation and to enhance its stability and permanence on paper once it has dried. The prepared ink was compared with the commercial ink (control) to determine the best concentration level for optimal ink penetration on selected paper surfaces. The results showed that 40% concentration level of the prepared ink has the best penetration time of 5.2

Comparing the reasons for contraceptive discontinuation between parenting adolescents and young women in sub-Saharan Africa: a multilevel analysis

Abstract Background Adolescent sexual and reproductive health remains a major public health and development issue of global importance. Given that adolescents and young people are heterogenous groups in terms of many characteristics, this study expands the literature by comparing the reasons for contraceptive discontinuation between parenting adolescents (aged 15–19) and parenting young women (aged 20–24) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Methods Data for the study came from Demographic and Health Surveys of 22 SSA countries. The outcome variable was reasons for discontinuation. We performed multilevel binary logistic regression on analytic samples comprising 1485 parenting adolescents and 10,287 parenting young women across the selected SSA countries. Results Findings show that the proportion of respondents who used modern contraceptives was lower among parenting adolescents (35%) relative to their 20–24-year-old counterparts (43%). Higher percentages of parenting adolescents than young women discontinued contraceptives because of reasons such as pregnancy or method failure (i.e., 9.9% and 8.17% accordingly), husband disapproval, access or availability issues, wanting more effective methods, and inconvenience in using methods. The multilevel analysis further highlighted disparities between parenting adolescents and parenting young women who discontinued contraceptives. For instance, parenting young women had 30% lower odds of discontinuing contraceptives due to pregnancy or method failure than parenting adolescents. Conclusion The study established disparities in the reasons for contraceptive discontinuation between parenting adolescents and parenting young women, with adolescents demonstrating greater vulnerabilities and higher risks. Considerable attention must be given to parenting adolescents in the efforts to achieve equity goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals and universal health coverage in SSA

Influence of Women’s Attitude on the Perpetration of Gender-Based Domestic Violence in Nigeria

This study examines the influence of women’s attitude (tolerance level) towards domestic gender-based violence on the perpetration of domestic gender-based violence in Nigeria. With the aid of 2008 Nigeria  Demographic and Health Survey women dataset, the authors were able to establish the following 1. Correlate between place of residence (urban/rural and geo-political zones) and the occurrence of gender-based violence in Nigeria, 2. Compare the attitude of women towards gender-based violence among the six geopolitical zones in the country and 3. Examine the relationship between women’s attitude towards gender-based violence and the perpetration of gender-based violence in each of the geopolitical zones in the country. In all, 31.22% of Nigeria women have experienced at least one form of domestic violence in Nigeria. A relatively tolerance level (44.13%) was discovered among Nigeria women. Consequentially, the study established a positively significant relationship between women attitude (tolerance level) and the incidence of domestic violence against women in the country. The findings suggest that campaigning for attitudinal change by women to displaying a zero tolerance towards gender-based violence will go a long way in protecting women and vulnerable populations against violence.Keywords: violence, gender-based, perpetration, geopolitical, Nigeri

Trends, patterns and determinants of long-acting reversible methods of contraception among women in sub-Saharan Africa.

BackgroundMethod-specific contraceptive prevalence varies widely globally, as huge variations exist in the use of different types of contraception, with short-term methods being the most common methods in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Evidence is scanty on the trends, patterns and determinants of long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods in SSA. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap.MethodsUsing a pseudo longitudinal research design and descriptive and inferential statistics, we analysed Demographic and Health Survey data of eight countries selected on the basis of contraceptive prevalence rates across SSA. Multinomial logistic regression modelling was used to tease out the predictors of the uptake of LARC methods in the selected countries.ResultsFindings exhibit a steady but slow upward trend in LARC methods across selected countries, as a marginal increase was recorded in LARC uptake over a 10-year period in many of the selected countries. Results established significant predictors of LARC methods uptake, including fertility-related characteristics, age, level of education, work status, wealth index and exposure to mass media. This study underscored the need to address various barriers to the uptake of LARC methods in SSA. It is recommended that governments at different levels undertake to cover the costs of LARC methods in order to increase access and uptake

Modeling Gasoline Demand with Structural Breaks:New Evidence from Nigeria

This paper extends previous studies in modeling and estimating demand for gasoline for Nigeria from 1977 to 2008. The ingenious attempt of this study, contrast to earlier studies on Nigeria and other developing countries, lies in its assumption of structural breaks in the long run relationship among the variables employed. The study tests for the possibility of structural breaks/regime shifts and parameter instability in the gasoline demand function in Nigeria using more recent and robust techniques. While the conventional residual-based cointegration tests employed fail to identify any meaningful long-run relationship in the gasoline function, the Gregory-Hansen structural break cointegration approach confirms the cointegration relationships despite the breakpoints. The elasticity estimates also follow the a priori expectations being inelastic both in the long- and short-run for both price and income. Having identified plausible breaks in the systems, the test does suggest that a structural break in the cointegration vector is important and needs to be taken care of in the specification of gasoline demand functions in Nigeria. It is envisaged, therefore, that substantial policy lessons would be drawn from the findings of this study especially in the current phase of energy industry deregulation in Nigeria.Gasoline demand modeling; Structural breaks; Parameter stability; Cointegration

Maternal mortality ratio in selected rural communities in Kebbi State, Northwest Nigeria

Abstract Background Maternal mortality remains a topical issue in Nigeria. Dearth of data on vital events posed a huge challenge to policy formulation and design of interventions to address the scourge. This study estimated the lifetime risk (LTR) of maternal death and maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in rural areas of Kebbi State, northwest Nigeria, using the sisterhood method. Methods Using the sisterhood method, data was collected from 2917 women aged 15–49 years from randomly selected rural communities in 6 randomly selected local government area of Kebbi State. Retrospective cohort of their female siblings who had reached the childbearing age of 15 years was constructed. Using the most recent total fertility rate for Kebbi State, the lifetime risk and associated MMR were estimated. Result A total of 2917 women reported 8233 female siblings of whom 409 had died and of whom 204 (49.8%) were maternal deaths. This corresponds to an LTR of 6% (referring to 11 years before the study) and an estimated MMR of 890 deaths/100,000 live births (95% CI, 504–1281). Conclusion The findings provide baseline information on the MMR in rural areas of the State. It underscores the need to urgently address the bane of high maternity mortality, if Kebbi State and Nigeria in general, will achieve the health for all by year 2030 as stated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)