Perceptions of child death in Jigawa State, Nigeria: a mixed-methods study on how sociocultural nuances shape paediatric mortality reporting

BACKGROUND: Vital statistics are critical for effective public health and monitoring progress towards child survival. Nigeria has the highest global under-five mortality rate; however, deaths are often under- or misreported. OBJECTIVE: We explored perceptions of child deaths and socio-cultural factors influencing the reporting of child deaths in Jigawa State, Nigeria. METHODS: We conducted a triangulation mixed-methods study in Kiyawa local government area, Jigawa, including: four focus group discussions (FGDs) with 8-12 women, six key informant interviews (KII) with Imams, and process data from 42 verbal autopsies (VAs) conducted with caregivers of deceased children. Data was collected between November 2019-April 2021. Purposive sampling was used to recruit FDG and KII participants and two-stage systematic and simple random sampling was employed to recruit VA participants. Qualitative data was analysed using content analysis; VA data was described with proportions. RESULTS: Five categories emerged from FGDs: culturally grounded perceptions of child death, etiquette in mourning and offering condolence, formal procedures surrounding child death, the improving relationship between hospital and community, and reporting practices. Women expressed that talking or crying about a death was not culturally accepted, and that prayer is the most acceptable form of coping and offering condolence. Many women expressed that death was God's will. These findings correlated with VAs, in which visible signs of emotional distress were recorded in 31% of the interviews. Three categories emerged from KIIs: religion as part of formal procedures surrounding child death, communities support the bereaved, and multilayered reasons for unreported deaths. Imams serve a key role as community leaders, involved in both the logistical and religious aspects of their community, though they are not involved in mortality reporting. CONCLUSION: Religion plays a central role in burial practices, community mourning rituals, and expression of grief, but does not extend to reporting of child deaths. Imams could provide an opportunity for improving vital registration

Maternal mental well-being and recent child illnesses–A cross-sectional survey analysis from Jigawa State, Nigeria

Child health indicators in Northern Nigeria remain low. The bidirectional association between child health and maternal well-being is also poorly understood. We aim to describe the association between recent child illness, socio-demographic factors and maternal mental well-being in Jigawa State, Nigeria. We analysed a cross-sectional household survey conducted in Kiyawa local government area, Jigawa State, from January 2020 to March 2020 amongst women aged 16–49 with at least one child under-5 years. We used two-stage random sampling. First, we used systematic random sampling of compounds, with the number of compounds based on the size of the community. The second stage used simple random sampling to select one eligible woman per compound. Mental well-being was assessed using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Score (SWEMWBS). We used linear regression to estimate associations between recent child illness, care-seeking and socio-demographic factors, and mental well-being. Overall 1,661 eligible women were surveyed, and 8.5% had high mental well-being (metric score of 25.0–35.0) and 29.5% had low mental well-being (metric score of 7.0–17.9). Increasing wealth quintile (adj coeff: 1.53; 95% CI: 0.91–2.15) not being a subsistence farmer (highest adj coeff: 3.23; 95% CI: 2.31–4.15) and having a sick child in the last 2-weeks (adj coeff: 1.25; 95% CI: 0.73–1.77) were significantly associated with higher mental well-being. Higher levels of education and increasing woman’s age were significantly associated with lower mental well-being. Findings contradicted our working hypothesis that a recently sick child would be associated with lower mental well-being. We were surprised that education and late marriage, which are commonly attributed to women’s empowerment and autonomy, were not linked to better well-being here. Future work could focus on locally defined tools to measure well-being reflecting the norms and values of communities, ensuring solutions that are culturally acceptable and desirable to women with low mental well-being are initiated

Community perceptions matter: a mixed-methods study using local knowledge to define features of success for a community intervention to improve quality of care for children under-5 in Jigawa, Nigeria

Objectives In this study, we used the information generated by community members during an intervention design process to understand the features needed for a successful community participatory intervention to improve child health. Design We conducted a concurrent mixed-methods study (November 2019–March 2020) to inform the design and evaluation of a community–facility linkage participatory intervention. Setting Kiyawa Local Government Area (Jigawa State, Nigeria)—population of 230 000 (n=425 villages). Participants Qualitative data included 12 community conversations with caregivers of children under-5 (men, older and younger women; n=9 per group), 3 focus group discussions (n=10) with ward development committee members and interviews with facility heads (n=3). Quantitative data comprised household surveys (n=3464) with compound heads (n=1803) and women (n=1661). Results We analysed qualitative data with thematic network analysis and the surveys with linear regression—results were triangulated in the interpretation phase. Participants identified the following areas of focus: community health education; facility infrastructure, equipment and staff improvements; raising funds to make these changes. Community involvement, cooperation and empowerment were recognised as a strategy to improve child health, and the presence of intermediate bodies (development committees) was deemed important to improve communication and solve problems between community and facility members. The survey showed functional community relations’ dynamics, with high levels of internal cohesion (78%), efficacy in solving problems together (79%) and fairness of the local leaders (82%). Conclusions Combining the results from this study and critical theories on successful participation identified community-informed features for a contextually tailored community–facility link intervention. The need to promote a more inclusive approach to future child health interventions was highlighted. In addition to health education campaigns, the relationship between community and healthcare providers needs strengthening, and development committees were identified as an essential feature for successfully linking communities and facilities for child health. Trial registration number ISRCTN39213655

Prevalence of pneumonia and malnutrition among children in Jigawa state, Nigeria: a community-based clinical screening study

Objective: To estimate the point prevalence of pneumonia and malnutrition and explore associations with household socioeconomic factors. / Design: Community-based cross-sectional study conducted in January–June 2021 among a random sample of households across all villages in the study area. / Setting: Kiyawa Local Government Area, Jigawa state, Nigeria. / Participants: Children aged 0–59 months who were permanent residents in Kiyawa and present at home at the time of the survey. / Main outcome measures: Pneumonia (non-severe and severe) defined using WHO criteria (2014 revision) in children aged 0–59 months. Malnutrition (moderate and severe) defined using mid-upper arm circumference in children aged 6–59 months. / Results: 9171 children were assessed, with a mean age of 24.8 months (SD=15.8); 48.7% were girls. Overall pneumonia (severe or non-severe) point prevalence was 1.3% (n=121/9171); 0.6% (n=55/9171) had severe pneumonia. Using an alternate definition that did not rely on caregiver-reported cough/difficult breathing revealed higher pneumonia prevalence (n=258, 2.8%, 0.6% severe, 2.2% non-severe). Access to any toilet facility was associated with lower odds of pneumonia (aOR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.31 to 1.01). The prevalence of malnutrition (moderate or severe) was 15.6% (n=1239/7954) with 4.1% (n=329/7954) were severely malnourished. Being older (aOR: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.17 to 0.27), male (aOR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.66 to 0.91) and having head of compound a business owner or professional (vs subsistence farmer, aOR 0.71; 95% CI: 0.56 to 0.90) were associated with lower odds of malnutrition. / Conclusions: In this large, representative community-based survey, there was a considerable pneumonia and malnutrition morbidity burden. We noted challenges in the diagnosis of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness-defined pneumonia in this context

Integrated Sustainable childhood Pneumonia and Infectious disease Reduction in Nigeria (INSPIRING) through whole system strengthening in Jigawa, Nigeria: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Child mortality remains unacceptably high, with Northern Nigeria reporting some of the highest rates globally (e.g. 192/1000 live births in Jigawa State). Coverage of key protect and prevent interventions, such as vaccination and clean cooking fuel use, is low. Additionally, knowledge, care-seeking and health system factors are poor. Therefore, a whole systems approach is needed for sustainable reductions in child mortality. METHODS: This is a cluster randomised controlled trial, with integrated process and economic evaluations, conducted from January 2021 to September 2022. The trial will be conducted in Kiyawa Local Government Area, Jigawa State, Nigeria, with an estimated population of 230,000. Clusters are defined as primary government health facility catchment areas (n = 33). The 33 clusters will be randomly allocated (1:1) in a public ceremony, and 32 clusters included in the impact evaluation. The trial will evaluate a locally adapted 'whole systems strengthening' package of three evidence-based methods: community men's and women's groups, Partnership Defined Quality Scorecard and healthcare worker training, mentorship and provision of basic essential equipment and commodities. The primary outcome is mortality of children aged 7 days to 59 months. Mortality will be recorded prospectively using a cohort design, and secondary outcomes measured through baseline and endline cross-sectional surveys. Assuming the following, we will have a minimum detectable effect size of 30%: (a) baseline mortality of 100 per 1000 livebirths, (b) 4480 compounds with 3 eligible children per compound, (c) 80% power, (d) 5% significance, (e) intra-cluster correlation of 0.007 and (f) coefficient of variance of cluster size of 0.74. Analysis will be by intention-to-treat, comparing intervention and control clusters, adjusting for compound and trial clustering. DISCUSSION: This study will provide robust evidence of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of community-based participatory learning and action, with integrated health system strengthening and accountability mechanisms, to reduce child mortality. The ethnographic process evaluation will allow for a rich understanding of how the intervention works in this context. However, we encountered a key challenge in calculating the sample size, given the lack of timely and reliable mortality data and the uncertain impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN 39213655 . Registered on 11 December 2019

Pneumonia knowledge and care seeking behavior for children under-five years in Jigawa, Northwest Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Between 2013 and 2022, Nigeria did not meet globally defined targets for pneumonia control, despite some scale-up of vaccinations, oxygen and antibiotics. A deliberate focus on community-based programs is needed to improve coverage of protective, preventive and treatment interventions. We therefore aimed to describe caregiver knowledge and care seeking behaviour for childhood pneumonia, in a high child mortality setting in Nigeria, to inform the development of effective community-based interventions for pneumonia control. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional household survey in Kiyawa Local Government Area, Jigawa State, Nigeria between December 2019 and March 2020. We asked caregivers about their knowledge of pneumonia symptoms, prevention, risks, and treatment. A score of 1 was assigned for each correct response. We showed them videos of pneumonia specific symptoms and asked (1) if their child had any respiratory symptoms in the 2-weeks prior; (2) their subsequent care-seeking behaviour. Multivariate regressions explored socio-demographic and clinical factors associated with care seeking. RESULTS: We surveyed 1,661 eligible women, with 2,828 children under-five. Only 4.9% of women could name both cough and difficulty/fast breathing as pneumonia symptoms, and the composite knowledge scores for pneumonia prevention, risks and treatment were low. Overall, 19.0% (536/2828) of children had a report of pneumonia specific symptoms in the prior two-weeks, and of these 32.3% (176/536) were taken for care. The odds of care seeking was higher among children: with fever (AOR:2:45 [95% CI: 1.38-4.34]); from wealthiest homes (AOR: 2:13 [95% CI: 1.03-4.38]) and whose mother first married at 20-26 years compared to 15-19 years (AOR: 5.15 [95% CI: 1.38-19.26]). Notably, the caregiver's knowledge of pneumonia was not associated with care seeking. CONCLUSION: While some socio-demographic factors were associated with care seeking for children with symptoms of Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), caregiver's knowledge of the disease was not. Therefore, when designing public health interventions to address child mortality, information-giving alone is likely to be insufficient

Care seeking for under-five children and vaccine perceptions during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Lagos State, Nigeria: a qualitative exploratory study

Objective To explore healthcare seeking practices for children and the context-specific direct and indirect effects of public health interventions during the first two waves of COVID-19 in Lagos State, Nigeria. We also explored decision-making around vaccine acceptance at the start of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in Nigeria.Design, setting and participants A qualitative explorative study involving 19 semistructured interviews with healthcare providers from public and private primary health facilities and 32 interviews with caregivers of under-five children in Lagos from December 2020 to March 2021. Participants were purposively selected from healthcare facilities to include community health workers, nurses and doctors, and interviews were conducted in quiet locations at facilities. A data-driven reflexive thematic analysis according to Braun and Clark was conducted.Findings Two themes were developed: appropriating COVID-19 in belief systems, and ambiguity about COVID-19 preventive measures. The interpretation of COVID-19 ranged from fearful to considering it as a ‘scam’ or ‘falsification from the government’. Underlying distrust in government fuelled COVID-19 misperceptions. Care seeking for children under five was affected, as facilities were seen as contagious places for COVID-19. Caregivers resorted to alternative care and self-management of childhood illnesses. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was a major concern among healthcare providers compared with community members at the time of vaccine roll-out in Lagos, Nigeria. Indirect impacts of COVID-19 lockdown included diminished household income, worsening food insecurity, mental health challenges for caregivers and reduced clinic visits for immunisation.Conclusion The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Lagos was associated with reductions in care seeking for children, clinic attendance for childhood immunisations and household income. Strengthening health and social support systems with context-specific interventions and correcting misinformation is crucial to building adaptive capacity for response to future pandemics.Trial registration number ACTRN12621001071819

Table_1_Pneumonia knowledge and care seeking behavior for children under-five years in Jigawa, Northwest Nigeria: a cross-sectional study.DOCX

BackgroundBetween 2013 and 2022, Nigeria did not meet globally defined targets for pneumonia control, despite some scale-up of vaccinations, oxygen and antibiotics. A deliberate focus on community-based programs is needed to improve coverage of protective, preventive and treatment interventions. We therefore aimed to describe caregiver knowledge and care seeking behaviour for childhood pneumonia, in a high child mortality setting in Nigeria, to inform the development of effective community-based interventions for pneumonia control.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional household survey in Kiyawa Local Government Area, Jigawa State, Nigeria between December 2019 and March 2020. We asked caregivers about their knowledge of pneumonia symptoms, prevention, risks, and treatment. A score of 1 was assigned for each correct response. We showed them videos of pneumonia specific symptoms and asked (1) if their child had any respiratory symptoms in the 2-weeks prior; (2) their subsequent care-seeking behaviour. Multivariate regressions explored socio-demographic and clinical factors associated with care seeking.ResultsWe surveyed 1,661 eligible women, with 2,828 children under-five. Only 4.9% of women could name both cough and difficulty/fast breathing as pneumonia symptoms, and the composite knowledge scores for pneumonia prevention, risks and treatment were low. Overall, 19.0% (536/2828) of children had a report of pneumonia specific symptoms in the prior two-weeks, and of these 32.3% (176/536) were taken for care. The odds of care seeking was higher among children: with fever (AOR:2:45 [95% CI: 1.38–4.34]); from wealthiest homes (AOR: 2:13 [95% CI: 1.03–4.38]) and whose mother first married at 20–26 years compared to 15–19 years (AOR: 5.15 [95% CI: 1.38–19.26]). Notably, the caregiver’s knowledge of pneumonia was not associated with care seeking.ConclusionWhile some socio-demographic factors were associated with care seeking for children with symptoms of Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), caregiver’s knowledge of the disease was not. Therefore, when designing public health interventions to address child mortality, information-giving alone is likely to be insufficient.</p