Market Concentration and Its Relevance in Pharmaceutical Health Care Access in Rural Communities in Nigeria

Background: Universal Health Coverage (UHC) of populations is now a key objective of global health systems. UHC seeks to provide equitable access to essential health care for all who need health care without financial hardship. Unfortunately, the 21st century has rolled off with the majority of Nigerians still unable to have adequate access to affordable essential medicines for preventing, mitigating or curing diseases from formal sources, particularly in rural communities. In these settings, informal pharmaceutical entrepreneurs (called patent medicine vendors) are often the sole sources of modern medicines and sometimes double as prescribers as well. There are a number of studies about these entrepreneurs, but none that examines the market structure. The study seeks to gain insight into the structure and conduct of this market in order to improve its performance. Method: A cross-sectional, mixed method design based on the structure-conduct-performance (S-C-P) paradigm was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from patent medicine vendor operators and clients in Kastina-Ala local government council of Benue State, Nigeria. Quantitative data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.0, while qualitative data was manually analyzed guided by aproiri themes.Findings: Sellers in the market were small sized, selling branded and generic drugs, with none capable of price leadership. There were low entry barriers, with an overall inverse HHI of 0.01 and a shop per capita of 1:2,669 populations, signifying inadequate access to essential medicines,Conclusion: We conclude that focusing on market concentration as a marker of market efficiency may not always result in the socially desirable health system goal of adequate access to care. Greater emphasis should be placed on developing new health care market policy frameworks that embed both competition and access dimensions in guiding health care market operations. Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Market concentration; Health care access; Rural communities; Nigeria DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-14-10 Publication date:July 31st 202

Availability And Accessibility of Information Resources by Students in Tertiary Institutions. A Case Study of Gboko Polytechnic Gboko- Benue State, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT: The study was designed to investigate the availability and accessibility of information resources by students in tertiary institution: A case study of Gboko Polytechnic Gboko, Benue State, Nigeria. The study employed a survey research design. Population of the study comprised of 562 students of the polytechnic under study. 120 respondents were draw from the population using simple random sampling technique to form the sample size. Questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The collected data was analyzed using simple percentages. The study revealed that information resources in the library under study are grossly inadequate. The library has few books, newspapers/magazines which are not even current and dictionaries. The study also revealed that the available information resources in the library understudy are not accessible. The study identified the problem to availability and accessibility of information resources to include lack of awareness of the information materials available in the library, lack of internet facilities, and no library catalogue in the library, lack of money to acquire library resources, lack of knowledge on how to use information materials and lack of qualified library staff. The study finally identified strategies that will be employed to overcome the identified problems to include money should be made available for the procurement of library materials, provision of computers and internet facilities in the library, proper awareness should be created by the library on the information resources they have, employment of more qualified library staff, information retrieval tools such as catalogue, abstracts, etc. should be prepared to ease accessibility and organization of intensive user education programme to teach students how to use library materials. The study concluded that, information resources should be made available and access should be created to enable students utilize the resources effectively

Morphological characterization and abundance of Melanoides tuberculata from major markets in Makurdi, Benue state, Nigeria

Freshwater snail (Melanoides tuberculata) samples were purchased from five major markets (Modern, Wadata, Rail way, Wurukum and North bank markets) in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria for four months. The morphometric measurements of the shell were taken with the help of a venial caliper in millimeters (mm). The weight of the snail flesh and its shell were measured in grams using an electronic weighing balance. Total length of the snail shell, large diameter, spire height, shell height and opening width were measured using a pair of compass and placed on a meter rule and readings were taken in consideration. The number of whorls on each snail was counted with the help of naked eyes and recorded. Statistically no significant difference (p < 0.05) existed among the body parameters of the snail (Melanoides tuberculata). The highest percentage M. tuberculata (36.89%) was recorded in the month of October, 2016 while the lowest (14.29%) was recorded in the month of November, 2016. The highest percentage M. tuberculata (31.90%) was recorded in Wadata market, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria while the lowest (12.89%) was recorded in North bank market Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.KEYS: Morphological characterization, Melanoides tuberculata, Markets, Benue, Nigeria

Enhanced word length and model elimination algorithms for language identification

Language identification is the process of determining the natural language of text documents using computational methods. The quality and size of the text available for generating the necessary models has significant impact on the performance of the algorithms used to determine the language of a text. The ability to correctly identify the language of a document is required to ensure the effectiveness of information retrieval systems in a multilingual setting. Unfortunately, existing methods that are used to model natural language have been affected by several limitations. Such limitations include inability to produce reliable models given a small size of training text. Other limitations are: inability to consistently handle multilingual documents, long training times and inability to distinguish closely related languages. The spelling checker technique has been shown to be successful in distinguishing closely related languages but is often hampered by two important constraints: inefficient run time performance and non-availability of spelling checkers for many languages. The aim of this study is to address the problems of language identification by developing improved algorithms that enhance run time performance and accuracy irrespective of the size of corpus available. Therefore, this thesis proposed three algorithms. Firstly, the word length algorithm implements the bag-of-words model using word length information. Secondly, the model elimination algorithm is designed to further improve run time performance by taking advantage of word frequency in training and testing documents. By monitoring the performance of models in the course of processing, this algorithm dynamically selects non-performing models for elimination without compromising accuracy. Thirdly, the linear combination algorithm merges the strengths of the word length and model elimination algorithms by feeding word length features into the model elimination algorithm. Empirical results from the proposed algorithms using test collection from the standard corpora are superior to existing methods in terms of distinguishing closely related languages and multilingual identification. In addition, the word length, model elimination and the linear combination algorithms have better run time performance than the spelling checker method that uses a similar scoring technique, yielding average time gains of 57%, 83% and 98.4% respectively in identification of 140-byte long text

Intestinal parasitism, potable water availability and methods of sewage disposal in three communities in benue state, Nigeria: A survey

Serbat Louis. Station romaine de Saint-Vence. In: Bulletin Monumental, tome 76, année 1912. p. 332

Intestinal Parasitism, Potable Water Availability and Methods of Sewage Disposal in Three Communities in Benue State, Nigeria: A Survey

Background: To assess the level of parasite burden in a village community and the predisposing factors. Methods: Two hundred subjects each were recruited from three communities- Tyogbenda, Jato-Aka and Adikpo during an episode of free medical outreach. A simple random sampling method was adopted and a questionnaire was interviewer administered on relevant aspects of basic hygiene such as- sources of water supply, methods of domestic sewage disposal and frequency of hand washing. Stool samples were collected and tested and findings analysed using appropriate statistical methods, p values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: The prevalence of intestinal parasites in Tyogbenda, Jato-Aka and Adikpo communities was found to be 71.5%, 65.5% and 40.5% respectively. Ascaris lumbricoides was the commonest parasite in the three centres (34.5%, 28.5% and 19.0% respectively for Tyogbenda, Jato-Aka and Adikpo communities). Other parasites identified were- Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba coli, Hookworm, Enterobius vermicularis, Strongyloides stercoralis, Schistosoma mansoni and Trichuris trichura. Multiple parasitic infestation was common in the communities where quality of water supply and methods of sewage disposal facilities were below standard. Conclusion: The prevalence of intestinal parasitism is still high in Nigerian rural communities. The present resolve by the federal ministry of water resources to supply potable water to all Nigerian rural communities should be sustained. Furthermore, a health education program should be properly constituted and integrated into the present primary health care policy for the country.Introduction: Evaluer le niveau du fardeau du parasite dans une communaut\ue9 villageoise et des facteurs pr\ue9disposants. M\ue9thodes: Deux cents sujets, individuellement r\ue9cruit\ue9s venant de trois communaut\ue9s : Tyogbenda, Jato-Aka et Adikpo pendant l'\ue9pisode d'une activit\ue9 gratuite et m\ue9dicale visant \ue0 encourager les gens \ue0 profiter des avantages sociaux. Une m\ue9thode simple d'\ue9chantillon au hasard \ue9tait adopt\ue9e et un questinnaire \ue9tait administr\ue9 sur des aspects pertinents d'hygi\ue8ne du base tels que des sources d'alimentation en eau, m\ue9thodes domestique du traitement des ordures, et la fr\ue9quence de se laver les mains. On a fait un pr\ue9levement des f\ue8ces et \ue9tudies et des r\ue9sultats analys\ue9s \ue0 travers l'utilisation des m\ue9thodes statistique ad\ue9quates. P. Valeurs < O, 05 \ue9tait consid\ue9re important. R\ue9sultats: La fr\ue9quence des parasites intestinaux dans les communaut\ue9s Tyogbenda, Jato-Aka et Adokpo \ue9tait not\ue9e d'\ueatre 71,5%, 65,5% et 40,5% respectivement. Ascaris lumbricoides \ue9tait le parasite le plus ordinaire dans les trois centres (34,5%, 28,5% et 19,0% respectivement pour des communaut\ue9s Tyogbenda, Jato-Aka et Adkpo. Des autres parasites identifi\ue9s sont : Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba cole, Hookworm, Enterobius vermicularis, strongyloides stercoralis schistosome mansoni et trichuris trichura. Infestation parasitique multiple \ue9tait ordinaire dans des communat\ue9s o\uf9 la qualit\ue9 des am\ue9nagements d'alimentation en eau et m\ue9thodes de traitement des ordures sont inf\ue9rieur. Conclusion: La fr\ue9quence du parasitisme intestinal est encore \ue9lev\ue9 dans des communaut\ue9s rurales nig\ue9rianes. La d\ue9cision actuelle du Minist\ue8re F\ue9d\ue9ral des ressources de l'eau de fournir de l'eau buvable dans toutes les communaut\ue9s rurales nig\ue9rianes devrait \ueatre soutenue. Par ailleurs, un programme sur le renseignement m\ue9dical devrait \ueatre clairement cr\ue9\ue9 et intergr\ue9 dans la politique des soins m\ue9dical primaire actuels pour le pays

Prevalence and predictors of Kaposi’s sarcoma among HIV patients receiving care at a tertiary hospital in Jos, Nigeria

# Background Kaposi’s sarcoma became prevalent with the appearance of human immune deficiency virus (HIV) in the 1980s. However, the widespread use of the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) reduced its prevalence in communities with good access to the antiretroviral drugs. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and predictors of Kaposi’s sarcoma among persons receiving HIV care at a tertiary hospital in Jos, Nigeria. # Methods The study used a cross-sectional study design, based on secondary data related to patients who had received HIV care between January 2004 and December 2017. Logistic regression was then used to determine the variables that were predictors of Kaposi’s sarcoma risk. # Results The prevalence of Kaposi’s sarcoma among the patients was 1.2% (95% confidence interval, CI=1.06-1.34). Patients whose baseline viral loads were higher than 10,000 copies/mm^3^ were three times more likely to develop Kaposi’s sarcoma than those with lesser viral load (OR: 3.13, CI: 2.19-4.47). Gender, duration of HAART and education had modifying effect on the Kaposi’s sarcoma risk. # Conclusions Kaposi’s sarcoma is a substantial public health problem among the HIV population in Jos. Universal access to HAART by the Federal Government of Nigeria and its partners is recommended to reduce its prevalence. In addition, education, skill acquisition and income generating programs should be targeted at girls and women by governments and other stakeholders in order to reduce the inequality that worsens their vulnerability to HIV infection and Kaposi’s sarcoma

Perceptions of working conditions amongst health workers in state-owned facilities in northeastern Nigeria

Background: The health care sector depends to a large extent on human labor. Poor worker motivation can greatly affect health outcomes and patient safety. There is little information on the health workers\u2032 perceptions of working conditions in resource-poor settings. Method: Three state-owned facilities in each state were selected by simple random sampling technique. The selected facilities were visited on weekdays between 9 and 10 a.m. A self-administered structured questionnaire was given to all health care workers on duty in the facility at the time of visit. Results: A total of 299 questionnaires were returned. The response rate was 85.43%. Two hundred four (68.2%) workers experienced general satisfaction with their current jobs. The relationships between general job satisfaction and presence of conflict at work ( P = 0.001), freedom of expression ( P > 0.001), managerial support for staff welfare ( P > 0.001), managerial support for staff career development ( P > 0.001), availability of tools and consumables in the workplace ( P > 0.001) and progress towards personal professional goals ( P = 0.001) were statistically significant. Conclusion: The level of general job satisfaction was high. Though salaries were important, presence of conflict at work, freedom of expression, managerial support for staff welfare, managerial support for staff career development, availability of tools and consumables in the workplace and progress towards personal professional goals appear to play a role in worker motivation