Land use/landcover change detection mapping of Apa local government area, Benue state, Nigeria

The study was carried out to detect the changes in land use/landcover of Apa Local Government Area of Benue State. Many researches have been carried out on land use/land cover mapping in urban areas in Nigeria, however only few have been carried out in rural areas. This study therefore, was geared towards identifying the land use/land cover changes over the years in Apa Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria using satellite remotely sensed data, and determining the magnitude and rate of change over the years. For the study, Landsat satellite images were acquired for 1986 and 2001 while Nigeriasat-x was used for 2012. Images were subjected to various image processing techniques and a supervised classification was carried out on the various images using ILWIS (Integrated land and water information system) software. The classification resulted in six classes which include bare surfaces, cultivated area, urban area, forest, grassland and Water body. The result showed that during the 26 years period, the magnitude of change of forest area was -144.985km2, percentage of change was -70.75% and annual frequency of change was -5.58km2; cultivated area had a magnitude of 208.041km2, percentage of change was 97.04% and annual frequency of change was 8.00km2; the magnitude of change of urban area was 14.177km2, percentage of change was 15.43% and annual frequency of change was 0.55km2; grassland in the study area also has a magnitude of change 54.63km2, percentage of change was 18.61% and annual frequency of change was 2.10km2. The study further revealed that loss of naturally vegetated area was mainly as a result of urban growth and expansion, farming activities and commercial activities. Land cover of the study area during the period between 1986 and 2012 changed from a forested area to other land uses as a result of increase in population, demand for land for agricultural purposes and increase in the demand for firewood. In order to curb the increasing rate of deforestation in the study areas, the study therefore recommends that, government at all levels should enforce existing laws/sanctions policies against activities that lead to deforestation like indiscriminate felling of tress, bush burning and illegal logging of trees.Keywords: Land use/land cover changes, remotely sensed data, Nigeriasat-X, ILWIS, image processing, supervised classification and deforestation

Biodiversity Conservation: Why Local Inhabitants Destroy Habitat In Protected Areas

This review identifies some intrinsic and extrinsic factors that tend to drive the destruction of habitat, game poaching and unsustainable utilization of plants products by communities surrounding many protected areas around the world, leading to wildlife and plant species decline. Intrinsic factors are basic needs of the locals; those needs are intricately tied to land and poverty. Other factors also exist such as increased population, trade in endangered species and deforestation that are extrinsic and not the immediate needs of the local communities in protected areas but nevertheless contribute in forcing the communities to abandon the path to sustainable utilization of natural resources in protected areas leading to habitat fragmentation, depletion and loss of wildlife and plants species. Key words: Protected areas, wildlife, habitat, biodiversity, conservatio

Drug Prescribing Pattern in Two Hospitals in Mwanza, Northwest Tanzania

A retrospective cross-sectional study to evaluate compliance with Tanzanian guidelines, World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, and various other aspects of drug prescription at Sekou Toure Regional Hospital and Magu Hospital both in Mwanza Region of Tanzania was carried out. In particular, the study was designed to find out whether Tanzania treatment guidelines for malaria, upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and diarrhoea were followed. It was aimed at assessing whether prescriptions of antibiotics and injections complied with WHO guidelines. The study analysed 296 prescriptions (108 from Sekou Toure and 188 from Magu Hospitals, respectively) using a structured questionnaire. Results showed generic prescribing was 96.3% at Magu Hospital and 85.2% at Sekou Toure Hospital. Antibiotics prescriptions were 48.4% and 54.6% in Magu and Sekou Toure Hospitals, respectively. In both hospitals, 52.0% of patients treated for malaria were also given antibiotics. For patients treated for URTIs, 39.1% were given antibiotics in addition to other cough remedies. In both hospitals, 72.7% and 15.2% prescriptions for malaria and diarrhoea, respectively, were injections. Fifty percent of prescriptions in both hospitals included injectables and the number of drugs per prescription was four.Key words: Prescribing pattern, generic and brand drugs, antibiotics, injection

Assessment of land use and land cover changes and urban expansion using remote sensing and GIS in Gboko, Benue State, Nigeria

There has been a rapid growth of urban areas across the globe since 1950s with the majority of world population living in urban areas rather than rural areas, in search of better job opportunities and higher quality of services. This trend of transition from rural to urban is expected to continue to rise and government in developing countries are likely going to face more challenges in different sectors, necessitating the need of understanding the spatial pattern of the growth for effective urban planning. The objectives of this study were to map and determine the nature, extent and rate of land use and land cover changes, to analyze the spatio-temporal land use and land cover change patterns and assess urban expansion in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. The emphasis was on determining the extent and rate of urban expansion in the area. The study focused on a period of 30 years; from 1987 to 2017. Satellite imageries used included Landsat TM (1987); Landsat ETM+ (2007); and Operational Land Imager (OLI) (2017). The Landsat imagery dataset was sourced from the Earthexplorer platform from United States Geological Surveys (USGS), Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF) and GloVis. The three images of 1987, 2007 and 2017 were classified using maximum likelihood classifier in Idrisi Selva to detect the land cover changes. The study resulted in an overall classification accuracy of 80.77% ,85.84% and 86.24% for 1987, 2007 and 2017 respectively. The result of the classification revealed that between 1987 and 2017, urban area increased from 3232ha (1.68%) in 1987 to 8542ha (4.45%) in 2007 and rose up to 16614ha (8.65%) in 2017. Forest land on the other hand declined from 52108ha (27.13%) to 46523ha (24.23%) down to 16723ha (8.71%) in the same period. Grassland was the dominant land cover occupying 69074ha (35.97%) in 1987 increasing to 79874ha (41.59%) and 129715ha (67.54%) in 2007 and 2017 respectively. The overall trend (1987-2017) revealed that urban area has increased up to 13382ha (9.01%) at an annual rate as high as 2.7% higher than the rate in the first period. Forest declined throughout the period with a loss of 5585ha(12.57%) in the first period at the annual rate of -2.51% and 29800ha (25.7%) in the second period at the annual rate of -2.57%. The overall trend shows that forest lost 35385ha (23.82%) at the rate of -7.15%. Farmland also decreased during the period losing 16006ha (36.03%) in the first period at an annual rate of -7.21% and 22317ha (19.25%) in the second with an annual rate of change of -1.93%. This high rate is an indication that in no distant future the area may be completely devoid of forest vegetation. From the result, it is evident that the rate of urban growth will continue and would certainly threaten forest areas in Gboko LGA. Finally, this study provides a guide to planners for successive urban planning in exploring the rate and pattern of urban growth in Gboko LGA.Keywords: Urban growth; LULC change; Landsat TM; Landsat ETM+; and Operational Land Imager (OLI), spatio-temporal, maximum likelihood classifier, Idrisi Selva , Gbok

Tuberculosis awareness in inmates within Dar es Salaam prisons

An increase in the incidence of tuberculosis has been observed in prison populations. A descriptive cross sectional study was designed to assess the knowledge of tuberculosis among sick prisoners. Patients were interviewed using a questionnaire. Sixty per cent of those interviewed had been in prison for periods ranging from 1 to 5 years. About half of the patients interviewed were not aware that they could be having tuberculosis before they were diagnosed. Ninety percent of those who were aware that they could be having tuberculosis got the knowledge from other inmates and the media (radio and television). Most of the prisoners suffering from tuberculosis did not know the causative agent although about one third said tuberculosis was transmitted by air contaminated with germs. Some patients associated fever, cough, night sweats, weight loss and chest pain with tuberculosis. Successful therapy of tuberculosis in prisoners can be achieved if adequate health education is given to all prisoners and this should be coupled with improvement in prison health services.Keywords: Tuberculosis, prisons, Dar es SalaamEast and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol.14 (2011) 16-2

Availability of prescribed medicines for elders at Sekou-Toure Regional Referral Hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania

Many older people are unable to afford even basic treatment, let alone, the medications needed to control chronic diseases that become more prevalent in older age. This study was conducted to assess the implementation of the Tanzania national exemption policy on availability of prescribed medicines in elderly people. This cross-sectional study was conducted at Sekou-Toure Regional Referral Hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania, from April to June 2016. Randomly selected outpatients aged above 60 years who attended the hospital were involved in the study. Data were collected by using interview guided questionnaire. Each patient was privately interviewed to obtain information on availability of medicines prescribed and whether or not the medicines were provided free-of-charge according to the exemption policy. A total of 100 outpatients were involved in the study. The mean age was 66.25 years (range= 60 to 87 years). About one-third (31%) were members of social security fund receiving monthly retirement pension. Only 27% (p-value=0.44) of elders received all medicines as per prescription. Majority of elder patients (39.7%) received 50% of prescribed medicines per prescription while 4.1% did not receive any medicine prescribed and only 1.4% received 80% of medicines prescribed. Results show that almost 50% of elders with diabetes received all anti-diabetics prescribed while 37% of elders received all antihypertensive prescribed. There is poor availability of medicines used by elderly people at Sekou-Toure Regional Mwanza thus elders do not get free medicines as per national cost sharing policy

Design and Performance Analysis of Composite Airfoil Wind Turbine Blade

Abstract Small horizontal axis wind turbine rotors with composite airfoil rotor blades were designed and investigated in the present study in order to improve its performance in low wind speed and low Reynolds number (Re) conditions for standalone system. The geometrical and aerodynamic nature of a single airfoil small horizontal axis wind turbine blade curtails efficient energy harnessing of the rotor blade. The use of composite airfoil rotor blade improves energy production but imposes uncertainty in determining an optimal design angle of attack and the off design aerodynamic behaviour of the rotor. This research investigated the effects of two airfoils used at different sections in a composite blade and determined the blade’s optimal design angle of attack for maximum power generation. The wind turbine rotor blades were designed using blade element momentum (BEM) method and modelled by SolidWorks software. The SG6042 and SG6043 airfoils were used for the composite airfoil blades. Five wind turbines were designed with rotor blades of design angles of attack from 3° to 7°. The five wind turbine blades were simulated in computational fluid dynamics to determine the optimal design angle of attack. The composite airfoil wind turbine blade showed improved performance, whereas, the wind power generated ranged from 4966 W to 5258 W and rotor power coefficients ranged from 0.443 to 0.457. The blade with design angle of attack of 6° showed highest performance. Keywords: composite airfoil, lift-to-drag ratio, pressure coefficient, Reynolds number, design angle of attack

Prediction of Land Use Change in Katsina-Ala through a Geospatial Approach

The objective of this study was to quantify land use and land cover (LULC) changes and predict future urban growth in Katsina-Ala. Three Landsat satellite images TM, ETM+ and OLI for 1987, 2007 and 2017 respectively were classified using maximum likelihood classifier in Idrisi Selva to detect the land cover changes and a classification accuracy of 87.18%, 89.32%  and 91.6  for 1987, 2007 and 2017 maps was achieved . The result of the classification revealed that between 1987 and 2017, urban area increased by 80.38ha (102.17%) at the rate of 3.41%, farmland increased by 88453ha (133.56%) at the rate of 4.45% per year, forest declined by -4219ha (-5.92%) at the rate of -0.2% and grassland declined by 53656ha (-44.54%) at the rate of -1.48%. The study found that  evidence likelihood and the distance from rivers. urban areas and elevation were the most important factors shaping urban growth in Katsina-Ala. Thereafter, a Multilayer Perceptron Markov (MLP-Markov) model was used to model transition potentials of various LULC types to predict future changes in 2030. The model had a reliability of 85.8% after validation. The results of the prediction show that urban area will increase from 5.92% to 6.35% with forest declining from 10.8% to 9.46%. It reveals that Katsina-Ala will grow at the rate of 0.46%. Analysis of the prediction revealed that the rate of urban growth will continue and would certainly threaten forest areas in the area. Katsina-Ala stands the risk of extreme deforestation if appropriate measures are not taken

Home Management of Febrile Children Under-Five Years in Kahama District, North-Western Tanzania

An assessment of the prevalence and the factors associated with home treatment of children less than five years with febrile illnesses was carried out at Mmuhungura Ward in Kahama District, Shinyanga, Tanzania. Out of the 400 under-fives who participated in the study, 79% had fallen sick during the previous six months. Majority of the children had diarrhoea (64%) and 34% had cough. Thirty nine percent of the parents provided home treatment to their under-five children. The self-administered drugs were antimalarials 45%, antipyretics 34%, antidiarrhoeals 26%, cough syrups 23% and analgesics 17%. The drugs used were obtained from drug stores (68%) while left-overs from previous supplies accounted for 15%. Univariate analysis revealed that diarrhoeal diseases, shortness of breath, being a single parent and frequency of illnesses in the children were significantly associated with home treatment. Multivariate analysis showed that walking time to the health facilities of more than one hour, frequency of morbidity, being a single parent and unemployment of the parent were significantly associated with home treatment. Illiteracy of the parents had low association with home treatment. Home treatment of children less than five years was prevalent in the studied area.Key words: Home treatment, fever, under-five children, Kahama, Tanzani

Assessment of Patient Satisfaction with Pharmaceutical Services in Hospital Pharmacies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Exit survey was conducted at four hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where 401 outpatients (51% males and 49% females) were randomly recruited in the survey. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain the required information from the patients and the data was analyzed using Epi-Info version 6 software. The presence of a polite pharmacist at a particular pharmacy attracted many patients (85.8%). Availability of a reputable medical practitioner at the hospital was another reason for many patients (55.6%) going to the hospital pharmacy. A number of patients (46.3%) went to particular hospital pharmacies to obtain their medicines because of good services in those facilities. Dissatisfied respondents (23.7%) rated the waiting time to obtain the medicines as too long. This was followed by unavailability of prescribed medicines (18.2%) and poor facilities in the waiting room. Quality of services at the hospital pharmacies were rated at 46%. Patients felt that the waiting time and the availability of medicines could be improved.Key words: Pharmaceutical services, patient satisfaction, Dar es Salaa