Prescription Pattern at a Secondary Health Care Facility in Ilorin, Nigeria

Background/Objectives: Expenditures due to irrational use of drugs have been a strain on the meagre health budgets of several developing countries and inappropriate prescribing has been identified in many health facilities in developing countries. This study examines the prescription pattern in a secondary health facility. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was used in this study. Three hundred and three randomly selected prescriptions issued to patients attending out-patients' clinics in the facility over a period of three months were examined. Data obtained was analyzed using EPI-INFO 2000 computer software. Results: Mean number of drugs per prescription in the health facility is 3.99\ub11.55. At least 4 drugs were prescribed in 61.6% of the prescriptions. Generic prescribing was generally low. Out of a total of 1219 drugs prescribed 511 (41.9%) were prescribed in generic names. Analgesics, antimalarials, antibiotics and antihypertensives accounted for 19.7%, 10.2%, 13.0% and 4.9% of the drugs prescribed respectively. Only 124 (40.9%) of the prescriptions had all drugs prescribed available in the health facility. Conclusion: This study found practice of polypharmacy prevalent as found in other studies in developing countries among prescribers and prescription in generic names is low. Regular orientation and re-orientation of prescribers on rational drug prescription and prescription in generic names in conformity with national drug policies is necessary.Introduction/Objectifs: Les d\ue9penses dues \ue0 l'utilisation irrationnelles des m\ue9dicaments ont \ue9t\ue9 une rude \ue9preuve sur des maigres budgets de la sant\ue9 de plusieurs pays en voie de d\ue9veloppement et de prescription inappropri\ue9e a \ue9t\ue9 identifi\ue9 dans de nombreux \ue9tablissements de sant\ue9 dans les pays en voie de d\ue9veloppement. Cette \ue9tude fait un examen de la tendance de la prescription dans un centre des soins secondaire. M\ue9thodes: Une \ue9tude descriptive d'un groupe repr\ue9sentant a \ue9t\ue9 utilis\ue9 dans cette \ue9tude. Trois cents trois ordonnances d\ue9livr\ue9es aux patients choisis au hasard, aux patients fr\ue9quentant le clinique des patients externes du centre hospitalier pendant une p\ue9riode de trois mois sont \ue9t\ue9 \ue9tudi\ue9s. Des donn\ue9es obtenues ont \ue9t\ue9 analys\ue9es \ue0 l'aide de EPI INFO 200 logiciels informatiques. R\ue9sultats: Nombre moyen de m\ue9dicaments par prescription dans le centre de la sant\ue9 est 3,99 +- 1,55. Au moins, 4 m\ue9dicaments sont prescrits dans 61,6% des ordonnances. Prescrivant des g\ue9n\ue9riques a \ue9t\ue9 g\ue9n\ue9ralement faible sur un total de 1219 m\ue9dicaments prescrits 511 soit 41,9% ont \ue9t\ue9 prescrits dans noms g\ue9n\ue9riques. Analg\ue9siques, le antipaludiques, les antibiotiques et les antihypertensions sont repr\ue9sent\ue9s 19,7% 10,2% et 4,9% des m\ue9dicaments prescrits respectivement. Seulement 124 (40,9%) des prescriptions de m\ue9dicaments prescrits sont tous disponibles dans les \ue9tablissement de la sant\ue9. Conclusion: A travers cette \ue9tude, nous remarquons que la pratique de la fr\ue9quence de la poly pharmacie comme trouv\ue9es dans d'autres \ue9tudes dans les pays en voie de d\ue9veloppement entre les prescripteurs et la prescription des noms g\ue9n\ue9riques est faible. Orientation r\ue9guli\ue8res et de r\ue9orientation des prescripteurs sur la rationnelle de la prescription des m\ue9dicaments et de prescription de noms g\ue9n\ue9riques en conformit\ue9 avec les politiques en mati\ue8re de drogue est n\ue9cessaire

Medicine use among HIV/Aids patients in public hospitals, Kwara State

Background: The prognosis of HIV/AIDS and HIV-related comorbidities has been revolutionized by the use of medicines. However, World Health Organization reported that 50% of patients do not use their medicines as prescribed.Objective: To assess HIV/AIDS patients’ knowledge of the use of medicines dispensed to them.Method: This study was conducted in seven public hospitals in six local government areas, Kwara State. Exit interviews of 780 eligible HIV/AIDS patients were conducted through use of structured questionnaire. Additionally, there were exit observational checks of medicines dispensed to these patients. Descriptive statistics and Fisher Exact test were used for data analyses.Results: Of the 780 study participants, 36.1% had no formal education, 99.9% knew the ‘quantity’ of medicines to be administered, while 99.2% knew the frequency of administration. All the patients knew the route of administration, 96.7% and 94.3% knew the general precautions to avoid concomitant use of dispensed medicines with alcohol or herbal products respectively, while 93.7% of those who received co-trimoxazole knew of the precaution to use “plenty of water” as the vehicle for its administration. There were no significant associations between the patients’ knowledge of these precautions and duration of antiretroviral therapy (P>0.05). However, the patients lacked knowledge of specific precautions of some dispensed medicines.Conclusion: Most of the patients knew of the administration and the general precautions of dispensed medicines. However, lack of knowledge of specific precautions of some dispensed medicines calls for intervention.Keywords: HIV/AIDS patients, Medicine use, Duration of antiretroviral therapy, Public hospitals, Kwara Stat

DEVELOPMENT OF MICROCONTROLLER - BASED STORAGE CHAMBER FOR WATERMELON FRUITS (CITRULLUS LANATUS) GROWN IN NIGERIA

Watermelon fruits rapidly deteriorate after harvest because of its short shelf life of about 10 days, after which it loses its nutritional value. Hence, the development of a microcontroller based storage chamber for watermelon fruits. The chamber is a combination of the cooling, power supply, microcontroller circuit, and sensors units for controlling the atmospheric parameters. The storage chamber was designed to keep the atmospheric conditions at temperature of 10-15, relative humidity at 90%, oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations at 2% and 3% respectively. The chamber with an area of 1456cm2 and a height of 41cm was designed to store 20kg of water melon. The cooling unit incorporated a compressor of 0.1hp. An ATmega328P microcontroller programmed in C++ was developed with the Isis Proteus software for the design and simulation. The microcontroller was interfaced with the DHT11 sensor, valves, power supply and a liquid crystal display. Cooling test was carried out on the system and a temperature of 1oC and humidity of 90% was recorded at a time of 55 minutes. An average voltage of 4.07V was measured at the microcontroller interface with the sensor when temperature and humidity level were 12 and 90% respectively. Tests were carried out on the system and the result was a controlled environment characterized by temperature of range 10oC -150C and 90% relative humidity. The relationship between temperature and humidity with time and output voltage respectively were determined using Matlab software. The results showed that the chamber will increase the shelf life of watermelon fruit

Beyond Prejudice as Simple Antipathy: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism Across Cultures

The authors argue that complementary hostile and benevolent componen:s of sexism exist ac ro.ss cultures. Male dominance creates hostile sexism (HS). but men's dependence on women fosters benevolent sexism (BS)-subjectively positive attitudes that put women on a pedestal but reinforce their subordination. Research with 15,000 men and women in 19 nations showed that (a) HS and BS are coherenl constructs th at correlate positively across nations, but (b) HS predicts the ascription of negative and BS the ascription of positive traits to women, (c) relative to men, women are more likely to reject HS than BS. especially when overall levels of sexism in a culture are high, and (d) national averages on BS and HS predict gender inequal ity across nations. These results challenge prevailing notions of prejudice as an antipathy in that BS (an affectionate, patronizing ideology) reflects inequality and is a cross-culturally pervasive complement to HS

FAMILY COMMUNICATION ON HIV / AIDS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN A NORTHERN STATE OF NIGERIA

Most Adolescents in Nigeria, like many others in Africa, are potentially at risk for contracting HIV through unprotected sexual intercourse. Yet the issue of how to help youth avoid risky sexual behaviour through family communication / education on HIV/AIDS is still of serious arguments within the society. This study examines the practice of family communication on HIV / AIDS among secondary school students. A descriptive study using 420 secondary school students selected by multi-stage random sampling was done. Self administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect relevant data. Only 48 (12.1%) reported family as the first source of information. However, most of the students 315 (79.7%) had family communication on HIV/AIDS with their family members. There is a gender difference in practice of family communication. Significantly higher proportion of the female students had family communication more than their male counterparts. The educational status of the parents significantly determined whether or not a student had family communication on HIV/AIDS. There is considerable level of family communication in the study population which should be encouraged further to cut across all members of the family

Adsorption Effect of Arachis hypogaea and Cocos nucifera Surfactant Inhibitors on 316L Steel in HCL Acid Solution

Arachis hypogaea (AH) and Cocos nucifera (CN) surfactant were examined as corrosion inhibitor for 316L steel in 9 M HCl solution by weight loss (WL) method. Observation from the results showed that the presence of the active components and functional groups were actually the reasons for strong adsorption performance of AH and CN inhibitors as the corrosion rate was drastically retarded with increment in percentage inhibitor concentrations. Though AH inhibitor showed better efficiency than CN inhibitor due to more active components as revealed by the phytochemical analysis test. ATF-FITR test demonstrated all the potential functional groups accountable for the excellent inhibitions of AH and CN inhibitors. Keywords: Organic compound; Corrosion rate; Active components; Functional groups. ATF-FTIR spectroscopy

Data on the corrosion Inhibition Property of Rosemary on High Carbon Steel in dilute sulphuric acid, citric acid and sodium chloride solution

The data of electrochemical analysis of Rosmarinus officinalis (RO) essential oil effect on high carbon steel (HCS) in three different corrosive environment of sodium chloride, sul- phuric acid and citric acid solution was achieved via weight loss method. Results revealed that Rosmarinus officinalis (RO) organic compound performed excellent well on high carbon steel samples with the optimum inhibition value occurring in NaCl solution with 97.87% after 504 h. The corrosion rate values were significantly high at 0 ml RO organic com- pound for all the three (3) corrosive environments as the time of immersion moves down to 504 h. It was clearly observed that time of immersion and concentrations of RO are the main determinant factor for the excellent adsorption performance of RO organic compound within the range of 504 h. Also, Rosmarinus officinalis (RO) organic compound retarded the severe corrosion rate of high carbon steel samples in other corrosive solutions with aver- age range inhibition values between 40 and 78% after 504 h

Development and evaluation of a patient centered cardiovascular health education program for insured patients in rural Nigeria (QUICK - II)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Sub Saharan Africa, the incidence of hypertension and other modifiable cardiovascular risk factors is growing rapidly. Poor adherence to prescribed prevention and treatment regimens by patients can compromise treatment outcomes. Patient-centered cardiovascular health education is likely to improve shortcomings in adherence. This paper describes a study that aims to develop a cardiovascular health education program for patients participating in a subsidized insurance plan in Nigeria and to evaluate the applicability and effectiveness in patients at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p><it>Design: </it>The study has two parts. Part <it>1 </it>will develop a cardiovascular health education program, using qualitative interviews with stakeholders. Part <it>2 </it>will evaluate the effectiveness of the program in patients, using a prospective (pre-post) observational design.</p> <p><it>Setting: </it>A rural primary health center in Kwara State, Nigeria.</p> <p><it>Population: </it>For part 1: 40 patients, 10 healthcare professionals, and 5 insurance managers. For part 2: 150 patients with uncontrolled hypertension or other cardiovascular risk factors after one year of treatment.</p> <p><it>Intervention: </it>Part <it>2</it>: patient-centered cardiovascular health education program.</p> <p><it>Measurements: </it>Part 1: Semi-structured interviews to identify stakeholder perspectives. Part 2: Pre- and post-intervention assessments including patients' demographic and socioeconomic data, blood pressure, body mass index and self-reporting measures on medication adherence and perception of care. Feasibility of the intervention will be measured using process data.</p> <p><it>Outcomes: </it>For program development (part 1): overview of healthcare professionals' perceptions on barriers and facilitators to care, protocol for patient education, and protocol implementation plan.</p> <p>For program evaluation (part 2): changes in patients' scores on adherence to medication and life style changes, blood pressure, and other physiological and self-reporting measures at six months past baseline.</p> <p><it>Analysis: </it>Part 1: content analytic technique utilizing MAXQDA software. Part 2: univariate and multilevel analysis to assess outcomes of intervention.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Diligent implementation of patient-centered education should enhance adherence to cardiovascular disease prevention and management programs in low income countries.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p><a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN47894401">ISRCTN47894401</a></p

Equity and justice in climate change adaptation : Policy and practical implication in Nigeria

Over the past decade, justice and equity have become a quasi-universal answer to problems of environmental governance. The principles of justice and equity emerged as a useful entry point in global governance to explore the responsibilities, distribution, and procedures required for just climate change adaptation. These principles are designed primarily through the establishment of funding mechanisms, top-down guides, and frameworks for adaptation, and other adaptation instruments from the UNFCCC process, to ensure effective adaptation for vulnerable countries like Nigeria that have contributed least to the issue of climate change but lack adaptive capacity. Global adaptation instruments have been acknowledged for adaptation in Nigeria. Climate change has a detrimental impact on Nigeria as a nation, with the burden falling disproportionately on the local government areas. As Nigeria develop national plans and policies to adapt to the consequences of climate change, these plans will have significant consequences for local government areas where adaptation practices occur. Although the local government’s adaptation burden raises the prospects for justice and equity, its policy and practical implication remains less explored. This chapter explores the principles of justice and equity in national adaptation policy and adaptation practices in eight local government areas in southeast Nigeria. The chapter argues that some factors make it challenging to achieve equity and justice in local adaptation practices. With the use of a qualitative approach (interview (n = 52), observation, and document analysis), this chapter identified some of the factors that constraints equity and justice in local government adaptation in southeast Nigeria.publishedVersio