Use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets for children under five years in an urban area of Lagos State, Nigeria

Background: Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) have proven to be one of the most effective means of reducing malaria morbidity and mortality in children and pregnant women. This study is carried out to determine the practice and determinants of ITN use for children under five years among care givers in an urban area of Lagos State.Materials and Methods: A community-based, cross sectional study was carried out in Lagos State in April 2007 among three hundred and forty (340) care givers primarily responsible for child care at home. They were selected by a multistage sampling method using a pre-tested, interviewer-administered, structured questionnaire.Results: ITN use rate for under-fives was high (61.8%) and this was significantly determined by care giver’s marital status (P < 0.001) and the number of children under five years in the household (P = 0.006). Educational level of care giver and occupation of head of the household were not significant determinants.Conclusion: There is need for health campaigns on ITNs targeted at unmarried care givers of young children. In addition, we also recommend social marketing of modern family planning methods to reduce family size, thereby increasing chances of ITN use among children less than five years to reduce malaria burden

Knowledge, attitude and practice of childhood immunization among mothers of under-fives in Kosofe Local Council Development Area, Lagos State

Background and Objectives: Vaccine preventable diseases cause significant morbidity and mortality among children in developing countries despite the availability of vaccines. This study determined childhood immunization uptake and associated factors among mothers of underfives in Kosofe, Lagos State.Methodology: This was a descriptive cross sectional study among mothers of children less than five years of age who resided in Kosofe LCDA of Lagos State, Nigeria. It was conducted between April and June, 2013. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the 300 mothers who participated in the study. Data was collected with structured, pre-tested, interviewer-administered questionnaire and analyzed with Epi info version 3.5.1. Level of significance set for analysis was a 5% significance level.Results: Only a small proportion of respondents (17%) had good knowledge of childhood immunization; their attitude towards childhood immunization was generally positive (96.6%) and their immunization uptake was good (88.1%). The prevalence of individuals who had missed their immunizations was 14%. The commonest immunizations missed were measles and yellow fever. Higher maternal educational level, Christian religion and better knowledge of immunization had significant, positive influence on the uptake of childhood immunization.Conclusion: Mothers had poor knowledge but high uptake of childhood immunization. A high rate of incomplete immunisations was also observed. We recommend health education as well as female education to improve maternal knowledge and further improve the uptake of immunization. Short message service (SMS) reminders may also be considered to reduce incidence of incomplete immunization.Keywords: childhood immunization, uptake, under-fives, care-givers, Lago

Breastfeeding practices of mothers of young children in Lagos, Nigeria

Objective: To determine the breastfeeding practices (prevalence, initiation and exclusivity) of mothers of young children in Lagos.Methods: This was a communitybased, cross-sectional study carried out in 2010 in two Local Government Areas of Lagos State. Structured, intervieweradministered questionnaires were administered on 600 mothers whom were selected by multistage sampling technique. Data was analyzed with Epi-info 2008.Results: The majority, (91.8%) of respondents breastfed their babies and 59.2% of them initiated breastfeeding within 1 hour of delivery. Eighty-two percent practiced exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) and 52.9% did for 6 months. Formal antenatal care (ANC) (OR 3.27, 95%CI 2.03- 5.29) and institutional delivery (OR 3.63, 95%CI 2.38-5.53) significantly increased early initiation of breastfeeding. These factors also significantly increased practice of EBF for 6 months; ANC- OR 2.54, 95%CI 1.49-4.35 and institutional delivery- OR 1.81, 95%CI 1.15-2.86. EBF for 6 months was significantly associated with lower parity (p=0.020) and higher maternal educational level. Those who had more than secondary education were 8 times more likely to practice EBF for 6 months than those with no formal education (OR 7.65, 95%CI 2.58- 24.28).Conclusion: Breastfeeding initiation and exclusivity for 6 months were inadequate. Promotion of good health-seeking behavior, maternal education and family planning are recommended in order to improve mothers’ breastfeeding practices and infant nutrition.Key words: Breastfeeding, healthseeking behavior, infant nutrition, maternal education, Nigeri

Rural-urban disparities in maternal immunization knowledge and childhood health-seeking behavior in Nigeria: A mixed method study

Background: Immunization and appropriate health-seeking behavior are effective strategies to reduce child deaths.Objectives: To compare maternal knowledge about immunization, use of growth chart and childhood health-seeking behavior in rural and urban areas.Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study done in Lagos, Nigeria. Questionnaire survey and focus group discussions were done. 300 respondents were selected by multi-stage sampling while discussants were purposively selected.Results:Awareness of immunization was high but knowledge of vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) was poor in both areas. Urban women utilized preventive services more; growth monitoring (p<0.001) and immunization (p<0.001) while higher proportions of rural women utilized nutritional counseling (p=0.005) and treatment of illness (p<0.001). Growth chart utilization was better in the urban areas (p<0.001). Increasing maternal education increased use of growth chart in both areas. Both groups of women use multiple treatment sources for children (more in urban), determined by cost, time, perceived severity of illness and type of ailment (urban) and peculiarity of illness (rural). There is a preference for orthodox care in the rural area.Conclusions:Knowledge of VPDs was poor and multiple treatment sources were common among rural and urban women. Education is vital to improve immunization knowledge and health-seeking behavior in both areas.Key Words: Immunization; growth chart; health-seeking behavior; child health; Nigeri

Effectiveness of road safety education in Nigeria using a quasi-experimental trial: Findings from the Road Safety Intervention Project

Road traffic injuries pose a serious public health problem worldwide, especially in low-income countries. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a post-license road safety education intervention programme in terms of increased knowledge and self-reported behaviour among commercial minibus drivers in Lagos, Nigeria. This was a quasi-experimental study conducted in three phases. Participating motor parks (selected by simple random sampling) were assigned to either the intervention or control group. All eligible minibus drivers were included with no matching. Data analysis was done with Epi-info version 3.5.1. Comparison was done in terms of group driver education versus no education, and pre- versus post-intervention. Out of an estimated 500 male drivers, 407 participated in the study. Most had some form of formal education. For both groups, pre-intervention knowledge scores were poor but improved significantly post-intervention in the intervention group. None of the drivers in the intervention group had good scores but this increased to 66,1% post-intervention. Their mean score increased from 34,4 ± 9,1 to 72,3 ± 10,2. Adherence to speed limits did not improve. The control group showed no significant changes. Post-license road safety education significantly improved knowledge but not self-reported adherence to speed limits. Similar, sustainable programmes should be offered to improve commercial drivers’ poor knowledge. Further studies are needed to determine deterrent factors to behaviour change.Keywords: road safety, intervention, commercial drivers, Nigeri

Mothers' human papilloma virus knowledge and willingness to vaccinate their adolescent daughters in Lagos, Nigeria

Beatrice N Ezenwa,1 Mobolanle R Balogun,2 Ifeoma P Okafor2 1Department of Pediatrics, 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Lagos State, Nigeria; 2Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in sexually active adolescents and young women and has been implicated as a cause of the majority of cases of cervical cancer, which is the second most common cancer in women in Nigeria. HPV is preventable with the use of HPV vaccines. Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess mothers&#39; HPV knowledge and their willingness to vaccinate their adolescent daughters in Lagos, Nigeria. Materials and methods: This study was a community-based, descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in July, 2012 in Shomolu Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling method was employed to select the 290 respondents who participated in the study. Structured, pretested, interviewer-administered questionnaires were used for data collection. Data was analyzed with Epi-Info&trade; version 7. Results: The study revealed low awareness of HPV (27.9%) and HPV vaccines (19.7%) among the mothers that participated. There was a high awareness for cervical cancer but little knowledge of its link to HPV. Awareness and utilization of HPV vaccines increased with increasing educational level (P<0.05). There was a high willingness and intention among the mothers to vaccinate their girls (88.9%) and to recommend the vaccine to others (91.0%). Accessibility and affordability of the HPV vaccines were found to be possible barriers to future utilization of the vaccines. Conclusion: Despite low knowledge about HPV and HPV vaccines, mothers were willing to vaccinate their daughters. We recommend improving mothers&#39; knowledge by education and the possible inclusion of the vaccine in the national immunization schedule to eliminate the financial barrier. Keywords: HPV, vaccine, Nigeri

Predictors of maternal health service utilization: a community based, rural-urban comparison in Nigeria

Objectives: Provision of skilled health care during pregnancy, childbirth and the early postpartum period is an effective strategy to reduce maternal mortality. This study was done to determine and compare the utilization of antenatal and delivery services in an urban and rural area of Lagos State.Methods: A community based cross sectional study was done in Surulere and Ibeju Lekki LGAs among mothers of under-fives. Multistage sampling was used to select 600 respondents in both LGAs. Information was collected with a structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed with Epi info 3.5.1 and inferential statistics done were chi square, fisher’s exact and t tests at p&lt;0.05. Multiple logistic regressions were also done to determine predictors of utilization.Results: Eighty four percent of women in both areas had formal ANC; 79.7% (rural) and 75.0% (urban) had institutional delivery for their last confinement. Among both groups of women, increasing maternal age increased ANC use while higher maternal education was associated with delivery in a health facility. Predictors of ANC use were being married (rural), Christianity and lower parity (urban). For both groups of women, religion, maternal and spouse’s education had a positive effect on having skilled delivery. Among the rural women, ANC utilization positively influenced institutional delivery. Predictors of use of skilled delivery were being older, being married or co-habiting and lower parity (rural); being younger and higher educational level (urban).Conclusion: There is high utilization of ANC services in both groups of women with a lower use of institutional delivery services in the urban area. There is need for intervention to further improve use of skilled delivery.Keywords: Health-seeking behavior, ANC, Delivery, Rural, Urban, Nigeri

Knowledge and practice of blood donation among university undergraduates

Background: Blood donation is an essential component of health care which saves millions of lives each year.Students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria constitute a significant percentage of the population who areconsidered to meet the criteria for voluntary blood donation. We sought to assess the knowledge, attitude andpractice of blood donation among undergraduates to provide data for developing effective strategies targeted at the youth. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 419 students of the University of Lagos, Nigeria using self-administered questionnaires. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 22.2± 3.8 years; and 88.5% had heard of blood donation. Only 14.3% of the respondents had good knowledge about blood donation. More of the students in the higher level  had good knowledge of blood donation (X2 = 42.9, p &lt; 0.001). Eighty three percent of the respondents had positive attitude towards blood donation, only 19.6% of the respondents had donated blood before; among this group 72% were willing to donate again. More of the males and students in the higher levels had donated blood (X2 = 7.71, P=0.005,  X2=25.7, p&lt;0.0001 respectively). Conclusion: The students had inadequate knowledge and poor practice of blood donation and these needs to be improved on. Establishment of voluntary blood donor club on the campus and enlightenment campaigns are needed to improve the knowledge and of blood donation  practices of youths.Key Words: Attitude, Blood donation, Knowledge, Nigeria, Practice, Students. High Med Res J 2013;13:26-3

HIV Knowledge and Willingness to Test for the Infection among Commercial Bus Drivers in Lagos, Nigeria

Background: HIV/AIDS has persisted as a serious public health problem and there is an urgent need to drastically reduce the health burden of this disease. This study was carried out among inter-city commercial bus drivers, to determine their knowledge of HIV/AIDS and their willingness to undergo HIV testing.Methodology: The study was cross-sectional in design. It was carried out among consenting commercial bus drivers operating in two inter-city motor parks, in two urban Local Government Areas in Lagos State, Nigeria. Data was collected with a pretested, structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire.Results: A total number of 407 drivers were surveyed. Almost all, 395 (98.5%) of the all-male participants were aware of HIV/AIDS. The commonest method of transmission mentioned was unprotected sexual intercourse, 366 (92.4%). Only 153 (38.7%) knew that HIV could be transmitted by the use of unsterilized sharp instruments. Two hundred and forty (60.8%) mentioned condom use as preventive measures. As much as a quarter of them reported that it could be cured. Overall, only 148 (36.4%) of the drivers had good knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Fifteen percent of them claimed they knew their HIV status by self conviction and 349 (88.4%) were willing to take the HIV test. A significantly higher proportion of better educated drivers knew their HIV status by testing than by self conviction (p=0.005).Conclusions: Adequate knowledge of HIV/AIDS was found in a third of this high-risk group. A majority of the drivers are also willing to undergo HIV test. There is need for education aimed at improving their knowledge and provision of free, mobile testing facilities within motor parks