Re-Engineering Entrepreneurial Education For Employment and Poverty Alleviation In The Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

The paper examined the relationship between entrepreneurial educational programmes of universities in the Niger Delta and employment/poverty alleviation in the region. The correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population consisted of all final year students of the Department of Economics/ Entrepreneurial studies from Universities of Uyo, Calabar and Port Harcourt, totaling 238. The purposive sampling technique was used as all the 238 final year students were involved in the study. Data collection was carried out with a researcher-developed instrument tagged “Entrepreneurial Education and Poverty Alleviation Questionnaire” (EEPAQ). The instrument, which had 15 items, was duly validated and tested for reliability using the Cronbach alpha formula, with a reliability estimate of 0.71. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis was used in analyzing the data collected for the study. The result revealed no significant relationship between entrepreneurial education programmes of Universities in the Niger Delta and employment/poverty alleviation in the region. Based on the findings, it was concluded that entrepreneurial education programmes of universities in the Niger Delta do no facilitate self productivity among the graduates; and that the programmes have no significant bearing with poverty alleviation in the region. Based on this, it was recommended, among others, that there is need to restructure the course contents of entrepreneurial education programmes in Nigerian universities to make it more relevant to the environment and needs of the individuals. Keywords: Re-engineering, Entrepreneurial Education, Poverty Alleviation,  Niger Delta Region, Unemployment

Over-Schooling and Secondary School Teachers’ Job Performance in Nigeria.

The study was carried out to determine the impact of over-schooling on teachers’ job performance at the secondary school level in Uyo Senatorial District. To guide the study, two specific objectives and two null hypotheses were formulated. The population for the study consisted of Public Secondary School Principals and Teachers in Uyo Senatorial District of Akwa Ibom State, totaling 2520. The sample of the study was 252 respondents (84 principals and 168 teachers). While all the 84 public secondary school principals in the Senatorial District were involved in the study, the simple random sampling technique was used in drawing two teachers (1 male, 1 female) from each of the schools. Data collection was carried out with a structured questionnaire, “Over-schooling and Teachers’ Job Performance” (OTJP). The data collected were analysed using the independent t-test. The first hypothesis was upheld while hypothesis two was rejected signifying no significant difference in the mean responses of principals and teachers on the participation of teachers with higher degrees in school activities at the secondary school level. Based on the findings, it was concluded that over-schooled teachers at the secondary school level in Akwa Ibom State were committed to teaching despite the low returns to their education; and that they were less interested in school activities other than teaching. It was recommended, among others, that teachers with higher degrees at the secondary school level should be motivated to put in their best in the system. Keywords: over-schooling, teachers’ job performance, higher degrees, low returns, secondary school,     Nigeria

Scaling up a decentralized offline patient ID generation and matching algorithm to accelerate universal health coverage : insights from a literature review and health facility survey in Nigeria

Background: Quality of health service delivery data remains sub-optimal in many Low and middle-income countries (LMICs) despite over a decade of progress in digitization and Health Management Information Systems (HMIS) improvements. Identifying everyone residing in a country utilizing universal civil registration and/or national unique identification number systems especially for vulnerable patients seeking care within the care continuum is an essential part of pursuing universal health coverage (UHC). Many different strategies or candidate digital technologies exist for uniquely identifying and tracking patients within a health system, and the different strategies also have their advantages and trade-offs. The recent approval of Decentralized identifier (DID) core specification by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) heralds the search for consensus on standard interoperable DID methods.Objective: This paper aims to: (1) assess how candidate Patient Identification Systems fit the digital Patient ID desirable attributes framework in literature; and (2) use insights from Nigeria to propose the scale-up of an offline, interoperable decentralized Patient ID generation and a matching model for addressing network reliability challenges of centralized electronic registries in LMICs.Methods: We combined: (i) systematic review of the literature to identify the characteristics of leading candidates for Patient ID systems, with (ii) review of policies and (iii) quantitative survey of 14 general hospitals in Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory to understand the model(s) of patient ID strategies currently implemented by public hospitals.Results: Evidence from the literature review and quantitative survey showed that no current Patient ID strategy in Nigeria simultaneously meets the six attributes of uniqueness, unchanging, uncontroversial, inexpensive, ubiquitous, and uncomplicated required for ensuring the reliability of unique patient identification systems and of the HMIS more generally.Conclusions: The findings are used to propose a model of algorithms for universal-offline Patient ID generation and matching models that is cost effective and can be easily scaled-up throughout Nigeria. The prototype has promise for generating and validating a universally unique Patient ID given a set of patient characteristics without a central rigid authority. The model can also help to fast-track the implementation of a Master Patient Index (MPI) and interoperability of existing digital health platforms in LMICs.peer-reviewe

Prevalence of non-communicable diseases and risk factors of pre-eclampsia/eclampsia in four local government areas in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

Objectives To assess the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and risk factors associated with pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (PE/E) in women of reproductive age (WRA) in Nigeria.Design A cross-sectional survey was administered to the entire study population. In the point-of-care testing, physical and biochemical measurements were taken in a subset of the participants.Setting The study was conducted in the Ikorodu and Alimosho local government areas (LGAs) in Lagos and the Abuja Municipal Area Council and Bwari LGAs in the Federal Capital Territory.Participants Systematic random sampling was used to randomly select and recruit 639 WRA (aged 18–49 years) between May 2019 and June 2019.Outcome measures Prevalence of select NCDs (hypertension or raised blood pressure, diabetes or raised blood sugar levels, anaemia, truncal obesity and overweight/obesity) and risk factors associated with PE/E (physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, alcohol consumption and smoking).Results The prevalence of raised blood pressure measured among the WRA was 36.0% (95% CI 31.3% to 40.9%). Approximately 10% (95% CI 7.2% to 13.4%) of participants had raised blood sugar levels. About 19.0% (95% CI 15.3% to 23.2%) of the women had moderate or severe anaemia. Excluding WRA who were pregnant, 51.9% (95% CI 45.7% to 58.0%) of the women were either overweight or obese based on their body mass index. Approximately 58.8% (95% CI 53.8% to 63.6%) of WRA surveyed reported three to five risk factors for developing NCDs and PE/E in future pregnancies.Conclusions The study identified a high prevalence of NCDs and associated PE/E risk factors in surveyed women, signifying the importance of early detection and intervention for modifiable NCD and associated PE/E risk factors in WRA. Further research is necessary to assess the national prevalence of NCDs

Metadata record for: HIT-COVID, a global database tracking public health interventions to COVID-19

This dataset contains key characteristics about the data described in the Data Descriptor HIT-COVID, a global database tracking public health interventions to COVID-19. Contents: 1. human readable metadata summary table in CSV format 2. machine readable metadata file in JSON forma