Women in Informal Cross-border Trading along Nigeria and Benin Republic Border: Challenges and Coping Strategies

The involvement of women in informal cross-border trading has become increasingly popular in recent time. Historically, women are acknowledged as active participants in the social, economic and political development of their respective societies. Earnings accruable from informal cross-border trading of women contributes to gross domestic purse through tax on importation of goods, custom excise duties and other charges that are sources of revenue to the government. As major players in the informal sector, women contribute maximally to total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Although, men and women are engaged in cross-border trading, the benefits and the challenges involved are based on gender (GENTA, 2001). Pathetically, there is dearth of data on women in cross-border trade (WICBT) as there in no known women migration databank for sub-Saharan Africa. It is against this premise that this study investigated the specific challenges confronting women in informal cross-border trading in Nigeria; the involvement of government officials and relevant agencies in the challenges; and the coping strategies devised by women to overcome the challenges. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were adopted in data collection. The quantitative data involved the use of a self-designed structured questionnaire to elicit data from 60 women involved in Cross Border Trading (CBT). The snowball method of data collection was adopted in selecting the women. Qualitative data were collected with the use of in-depth interviews and focus group discussion. Data analysis consisted of the use of bi-viriate and bivariate statistical methods for quantitative data, while content analysis was adopted in the analysis of qualitative data. Findings showed that the main challenge faced by the women was seizure of goods by custom officers. It was discovered that the main coping strategies adopted by the women was to quit the trade. Among others, it was recommended that women should be encouraged in CBT through public enlightenment programmes that will enable them know about contraband goods and therefore be able avoid trading in them

Knowledge and Attitudes about Breast Cancer among Women: A Wake-up Call in Nigeria

Preventable deaths resulting from the scourge of breast cancer has become alarming and worrisome in many societies in developing countries including Nigeria. Of much concern is the fact that breast cancer has continued to claim the precious lives of young, middle aged, old, educated and non-educated women irrespective of their religion, socio-economic background and socio-demographic characteristics. This study attempts to ascertain the knowledge and attitudes of women to breast cancer in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study adopts both primary and secondary data and relevant sociological theories to examine the level of knowledge and attitude of women towards breast cancer with the view of suggesting probable solutions and recommendations for policy

Knowledge and Attitudes about Breast Cancer among Women: A Wake-Up Call in Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Preventable deaths resulting from the scourge of breast cancer has become alarming and worrisome in many societies in developing countries, including Nigeria. Of much concern is the fact that breast cancer has continued to claim the precious lives of young, middle-aged, old, educated and non-educated women irrespective of their religion, socio-economic background and socio-demographic characteristics. AIM: This study attempts to ascertain the knowledge and attitudes of women to breast cancer in Ogun State, Nigeria. METHODS: The study adopts both primary and secondary data sources to examine the level of knowledge and attitude of women towards breast cancer with the view of suggesting probable solutions and recommendations for policy. RESULTS: The result indicates that the awareness about breast cancer is overwhelming but only few women know about mammography; women in older age are 0.193 times less likely to attend breast cancer screening (p=0.000). Older women with secondary education that are either self-employed outside the home or full-time housewives are unfavourably disposed to breast cancer screening. CONCLUSION: The authors recommend that concerned stakeholders in the health sector and policy decision makers should intensify action on cancer programmes and campaigns that could target older women especially housewives and women in middle level educatio

Understanding Coping Strategies Adults Adopted to Survive During COVID-19 and Post-COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: Understanding the coping strategies adopted during the COVID-19 and post Covid-19 pandemic is one way to understand the critical impact that COVID-19 poses on adults. AIM: Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand the coping strategies adults adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic and post Covid era in the Alimosho Local Government area of Lagos State. METHODS: The study used a quantitative method. A total of 250 copies of the questionnaire were distributed, out of which 218 copies were retrieved. RESULTS: The result shows (53.3%) respondents tried to avoid thinking and problem solving during COVID-19. About 51% of respondents were able to connect with family and friends through social media during COVID-19. In the same manner, 47.3% of respondents were able to control their exposure to news during and after COVID-19. About 66.5% of respondents tried to adapt to the new normal during and after the COVID-19 pandemic; 59.7% of respondents tried to avoid over-crowded places during and after the pandemic; 62.4% of respondents also tried doing new things during COVID-19; and 62.4% of respondents followed still safety guidelines during and even after COVID-19. However, doing what I love and living a positive lifestyle during COVID-19 were all considered as predominant coping strategies used. The result shows the relationship between reality of COVID-19 and nothing to look forward to was examined using the Chi-square and cross-tabulation. There is a significant positive relationship between the variables. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that coping strategies are very important strategies to adopt in in some similar situation. There is a need to understand the relationship between social and psychological skills that people use to manage and endure trauma. The coping mechanisms were used by adults that kept them alive and safe from COVID-19 trauma. Emotionally oriented and seeking to solve a problem or modify the status quo, adults seek to alleviate emotional pain caused by stressful events by sharing feelings through activities. The study recommends that there is a need to keep the mind at rest and stress free from any anxiety and trouble. People should do more of their hobbies, learn a new skill or take an online professional course

Prevalence of asymptomatic malaria infections in selected military camps in Tanzania

Background: Despite a decrease in malaria burden reported between 2000 and 2015, an increasing trend of malaria transmission has been recently reported in some endemic countries including Tanzania. Periodic monitoring to identify pocket areas for asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum infection   is vital for malaria elimination efforts. The objective of this study was to determine prevalence of asymptomatic malaria infections among military recruits in selected camps in Tanzania. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015 at four military camps (Bulombora, Mgambo, Ruvu, and Rwamkoma) of National Service located in regions with varying malaria endemicity in Tanzania.  Finger prick blood samples collected from asymptomatic military recruits who had been at the camps for over two months were simultaneously tested using microscopy and malaria rapid diagnostic tests (mRDTs) to detect malaria parasite infections. Results: Malaria parasite prevalence among asymptomatic recruits was 20.3% and 19.4% by microscopy and mRDT respectively. There was moderate agreement (Kappa=0.724) between microscopy and mRDT test results. A significant difference (p<0.001) of malaria parasite prevalence among the four study camps was observed; ranging from 1.9% in Bulombora to 39.4% in Rwamkoma. The geometric mean parasite density was 11,053 asexual parasites/µl and most recruits (56.8%) had 200 to 1999 asexual parasites/µl. P. falciparum was the predominant (99.2%) malaria parasite species. Conclusion: Our study found high prevalence of asymptomatic malaria infections among military recruits in the selected camps, and this varied from one camp to another. The study has highlighted that public residence institutions such as military camps can be potential hotspots for malaria infection and therefore should not be skipped in routine national malaria surveillance system for monitoring trends of infection

Epidemiology of neurodegenerative diseases in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review

BACKGROUND:Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries are experiencing rapid transitions with increased life expectancy. As a result the burden of age-related conditions such as neurodegenerative diseases might be increasing. We conducted a systematic review of published studies on common neurodegenerative diseases, and HIV-related neurocognitive impairment in SSA, in order to identify research gaps and inform prevention and control solutions. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE via PubMed, 'Banque de Donnees de Sante Publique' and the database of the 'Institut d'Epidemiologie Neurologique et de Neurologie Tropicale' from inception to February 2013 for published original studies from SSA on neurodegenerative diseases and HIV-related neurocognitive impairment. Screening and data extraction were conducted by two investigators. Bibliographies and citations of eligible studies were investigated. RESULTS: In all 144 publications reporting on dementia (n=49 publications, mainly Alzheimer disease), Parkinsonism (PD, n=20), HIV-related neurocognitive impairment (n=47), Huntington disease (HD, n=19), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, n=15), cerebellar degeneration (n=4) and Lewy body dementia (n=1). Of these studies, largely based on prevalent cases from retrospective data on urban populations, half originated from Nigeria and South Africa. The prevalence of dementia (Alzheimer disease) varied between <1% and 10.1% (0.7% and 5.6%) in population-based studies and from <1% to 47.8% in hospital-based studies. Incidence of dementia (Alzheimer disease) ranged from 8.7 to 21.8/1000/year (9.5 to 11.1), and major risk factors were advanced age and female sex. HIV-related neurocognitive impairment's prevalence (all from hospital-based studies) ranged from <1% to 80%. Population-based prevalence of PD and ALS varied from 10 to 235/100,000, and from 5 to 15/100,000 respectively while that for Huntington disease was 3.5/100,000. Equivalent figures for hospital based studies were the following: PD (0.41 to 7.2%), ALS (0.2 to 8.0/1000), and HD (0.2/100,000 to 46.0/100,000). CONCLUSIONS: The body of literature on neurodegenerative disorders in SSA is large with regard to dementia and HIV-related neurocognitive disorders but limited for other neurodegenerative disorders. Shortcomings include few population-based studies, heterogeneous diagnostic criteria and uneven representation of countries on the continent. There are important knowledge gaps that need urgent action, in order to prepare the sub-continent for the anticipated local surge in neurodegenerative diseases

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Knowledge and attitudes of students in Centria University of Applied Sciences towards effective hand hygiene : Reduction and Prevention of Infection in the University Campus.

The purpose of the thesis was to study the possible problems with proper hand hygiene in reducing and preventing the spread of infections in Centria University of Applied Sciences. The goal was to know how well the knowledge of hand hygiene is known to the students and their attitudes towards maintaining good hand hygiene and to find possible ways for better adherence. The quantitative research method was used. Questionnaire was divided in 3 sections and sent to students through the webropol online survey tool. Results from the findings indicated that majority of the students main-tained good hygiene prior and after eating. The students also maintain good hand hygiene after using the restroom. The results revealed that although majority of the students wash hands during these cases most of them do not fully know or understand the right procedures and techniques of proper and effective hand hygiene and the right use of alcohol hand rub in the prevention of illness. In the conclusion it came to attention that there is the need for further education for the students on the various procedures of proper hand and personal hygiene to effectively prevent the spread of infection. It was recommended to hold hand hygiene educational events interesting enough to attract students from all the various fields of study to participate