A Comparative Assessment of the Epidemiology of Malnutrition among Pupils in Public and Private Primary School in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State

Background: Majority of school children lack adequate amount of food, thereby inducing malnutrition, which now poses a serious threat to education, particularly in developing countries, including Nigeria. The importance of good nutrition in the proper and optimal development in childhood is indispensible because children are at a stage in life when all the tissues and cells are rapidly growing and organs are developed for specific functions in the child's life.Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among pupils of selected Public and Private schools in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau state, Nigeria. A multistage sampling method was used to recruit the calculated sample size of 500 pupils; an interviewer administered questionnaires, weighing scale, measuring tape meter were the instrument used for data collection.Results: The socio demographic data of 290 and 210 pupils of the public and private schools respectively were compared. The pupils' ranged between 5-17years with majority between 6-10 years in all the schools. Pupils in the private school were more nourished and had an appropriate weight-for-age more than 90% of the normal range with an ideal height-for-age of 48.0% more than those in the public school.Conclusion: Nutritional imbalance can affect the educational outcome of the children amongst many other things. Measures such as school feeding should be introduced on a national scale in order to alleviate any deficiency state of the pupils

Domestic Refuse Handling Practices Among Adult Females in a Nigerian Metropolitan City: Are there Challenges

Domestic refuse are solid household wastes that are predominantly  handled by adult females. This study determines the domestic refuse-handling practices/associated factors in a Nigerian metropolitan city. It was an interventional/community-based study involving a total of 436 adult females selected by the multi-stage sampling method. They were  subdivided into two groups: control group (n=218) and intervention group (n=218). Using a semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire, a baseline assessment was made in both groups. Health education was given on domestic refuse handling and reinforcement by trained  community-based health educators. Three months later, the same respondents were re-assessed using the same questionnaire. Data was analysed using EPI info software. Post-intervention results showed that 137 (62.8%) of the females in the intervention group had good domestic refuse-handling practices compared to 55 (25.2%) of the females in the control group, while 163 (74.8%) had bad practices. Majority of females suggested collective efforts as a solution to the various challenges faced by them particularly the absence of community sanitation members. Also, community-based health education was found to be effective in enhancing good domestic refuse-handling practices, though there is a need for morecommunity effort as regards the proper handling for enhanced  sustainability.Key words: Solid waste, practices, female adults, obstacles

Utilization of Institutional Delivery Services among Women Bringing their Children for BCG in Jos, Nigeria

Background: Home delivery, with or without the presence of a birth attendant is usually the cheapest option, but is associated with some risks. This study was done to determine the rate of home delivery and the presence of a skilled attendant at delivery among women in Jos. Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional study of all mothers of new born babies bringing in their babies for immunization for the first time in the child welfare clinic. A semi structured interviewer administered questionnaire was administered to the women noting their socio- demographic data, antenatal care, place of delivery, method of delivery and attendances at delivery. Results: A total of 359 women were recruited for the study with a response rate of 83%. The mean age of the respondents was 28 ± 5.6 years. Majority of the women (52.2%) were Hausa- Fulani; 135 (45.3%) had at least secondary school education. A significant number of the women; 288 (97.3%) attended at least one antenatal care clinic (ANC) while pregnant. The average number of ANC attended was two. 180(36.6%) delivered at home. Two hundred and eight (69.8%) were attended to by a trained health care worker. Ninety women (30.2%) were attended to by unskilled birth attendants. Of those that delivered at home, only 18.6% were attended to by skilled birth attendants while 82.4% were attended to by unskilled birth attendants (p<0.0001). Lower educational status and grand multiparity had a statistical significant association with home delivery all with a p<0.0001. Conclusion: Despite the attendance of women at ANC, the utilization of health services for delivery is still poor with a high percentage of home delivery in the absence of a skilled attendant at birth; even in a population that had apparently good health behaviour. Key Words Utilization; institutional delivery; home delivery; skilled attendant

Medical Emergencies in Primary Schools and School Ownership of First Aid Boxes

Introduction: The school system aims at developing pupils academically and socially. In the process of achieving this, pupils are prone to accidents and medical emergencies due to their vulnerabilities. The ability of the school system to respond to these challenges may depend on the availability of well equipped First Aid Boxes (FABs) and the promptness of initiation of first Aid treatment.Objectives: The study determined the prevalence and types of medical emergencies in primary schools and the level of ownership of FABs.Methods: Using a multi-stage sampling technique, twenty-two primary schools were studied and a cross sectional study design was employed. Interviewer administered questionnaire and check-list were the instruments of data collection. SPSS statistical software version 16.0 was used for the analysis.Results: The 22 primary schools had a total population of 6,933 pupils; (4.9%) of the 139,494 population of the district. Twenty seven percent of the respondents experienced bruises, falls, and cuts; (22.7%) fever, cuts and episodes of convulsion; (13.6%) fever, bruises, stomach pains, falls and fractures. About (59.1%) of the primary schools had FABs with only (45.5%) of these schools with FABs containing the basic items.Conclusion: This study has brought to light the level of ownership of FABs in primary schools as well as prevalence and types of medical emergencies in primary schools. In view of this, actions need to be taken to address the identified gaps.Key words: Schools, First Aid Boxes, Medical Emergencie

Clients satisfaction towards health care workers attitude in a tertiary hospital antenatal clinic in north central Nigeria

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Prevalence of malnutrition and its related factors among the aged in Lamingo community of Jos North LGA, Plateau state

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The Quality of Drinking Well Waters in Jos Metropolis, North Central Nigeria

Background: Water quality is a term used to describe the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water, usually in respect to its suitability for a particular purpose. Water is said to be polluted if there is an excess, whatsoever, in the values (concentration levels) of the physical, chemical, biological or radioactive properties that have a negative effect on human health.Methodology: Twenty different Areas within Jos Metropolis were selected by simple random sampling for the research, Samples of water were drawn from wells in these areas in duplicate through simple random sampling selection of the wells giving a total of forty different sampled waters and the physical, chemical and biological analysis of the water was done using standard methods.Result: All the wells had turbidity greater than the acceptable value of not more than 5.0 NTU with 19(47.5%) wells having values as high as 20-29 NTU and 2(5%) wells with values of 40-49 NTU. The PH level for all the wells were within the normal range but the nitrite above the normal range in most (82.5%) of the wells except in 7(17.5%) wells that had values between 0.01-0.02mg/L. The coliform count was found to be high in all the sampled water with 33(82.5%) wells having values as high as 5-9 coliform count per 100mls of water.Conclusion: Water-related diseases continue to be one of the major health problems globally. Drinking water quality must be within tolerable use-limits for human consumption. In the study conducted, it was obvious that all the wells did not meet the standard requirement for quality drinking water since all the wells had coliform count above the recommended value for Standard Organization of Nigeria(SON), National agency for food drug administration and control(NAFDAC) and World Health Organization(WHO).&#160