The impact of advocacy and community mobilization on the utilization of health services at the Comprehensive Health Centre, Gindiri.

Primary Health Care facilities provide promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services to a community. They may be well built and equipped with adequate resources but grossly underutilized due to several factors. Health records at the Comprehensive Health Centre Gindiri for 2005 were compared with those of 2007 after a wellcoordinated advocacy and mobilization programme in that community. The results show that the total out patient attendance in 2007 increased by 220.6% when compared to that of 2005. 293 patients were admitted into the wards in 2005 compared to 813 in 2007(277%). There was no surgery carried out in the whole of 2005, whereas in 2007 there were 98 surgeries. Advocacy and community mobilization could be important factors in the utilization of primary health service

Intestinal Parasites in Children Attending Day Care Centers in Jos, Central Nigeria

It is estimated that 3 billion people world wide are infected with intestinal parasites. Morbidity is highest amongst children; infestation causes a threat to the growth and development of the child. The study aims to determine the prevalence of intestinal helminthes in children attending day care centers in Jos metropolis. Ten day care centers were randomlyselected from the total number of day care centers. From each centre children were randomly selected for study. Parents of selected children completed a structured questionnaire and stool specimens of the children were analyzed using iodine and saline preparation. : Two hundred and twenty-one children (57.8%) of the 384 children studied had intestinal parasites. Ascaris lumbricoides, Ancylostoma duodenale and Trichuris trichura were the commonest parasites found. The relationship between intestinal parasite infestation and diarrhea in past 2 months (X =19.5, df = 1, p< 0.001 OR=3.87), de-worming in the past six months(X = 11.13,df =1,