Evaluation of adolescent medicine sub-specialty training in Nigeria: trainees’ perspectives

Objective: To evaluate the extent of coverage of curriculum contents pertinent to Adolescent Medicine, as well as the adequacy of facilities and professionals in Nigeria using residents’ viewpoint.Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study.Setting: The Intensive Course in Paediatrics of the National Post-graduate Medical College of Nigeria at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City Nigeria.Subjects: One hundred and three paediatric residents from training institutions in all zones of the country.Results: Altogether,68.0% and 32.0% of the participants were from Southern and Northern geopolitical zones respectively. Only 14% of them stated that a rotation in an AM unit is a part of training in their centres. None specified its duration. Coverage of AM topics, physical facilities and trainers were rated as inadequate by 77.0%, 82.8% and 70.8% of the respondents respectively. Residents from north were more likely to rate interview/confidentiality in AM as covered (either partly or well) than their colleagues from the South, (p < 0.01, OR = 5.3, 95% CI = 1.5-19.5). We found no difference between federal and state residents’ perceived adequacy of AM training.Conclusion: AM in paediatric residency programme in Nigeria is still an unmet challenge. There is a need for a revision of the training curriculum to specify mandatory duration of clinical rotation in AM units

Perinatal mortality in a rural community

Objective: To determine the peri-natal mortality rate (PMR), still birth rate (SBR) and early neonatal death rate (ENDR) in Igueben Local Government Area (LGA) of Edo State.Design: A descriptive cross-sectional studySetting: Igueben LGA is a rural governmental unit in mid-western Nigeria.Subjects: All women of child-bearing age, resident in three randomly selected political wards in Igueben LGA were identified.Results: Of the 921 women of child-bearing age recruited, 258 deliveries with three perinatal deaths were recorded, giving a PMR, SBR and ENDR of 11.6/1000TB, 11.6/1000TB and 0/1000LB, respectively. Almost all the mothers studied (99.6%) received skilled obstetric care in delivery.Conclusion: The actual PMR, SBR and ENDR were considerably lower than the National estimated averages of 76/1000TB, 43/1000TB and 35/1000LB, respectively. While this may perhaps be related to the quality of obstetric care, it underscores the importance of community-based studies in the determination of vital statistics which are important in health planning including resource allocation

Zooplankton assemblage of a tropical rainforest river in Nigeria

The community structure of zooplankton of Osse River at Ifon in Ondo State (Nigeria) was investigated at four sites between February and July 2009. Among the physical and chemical parameters studied, flow rate was significantly higher (P < 0.001) in station 2 than other stations which were not significantly different (P > 0.05) from each other. The study revealed the occurrence of 26 species of zooplankton, comprising 9 species of Rotifera, 12 species of Cladocera and 5 species of Copepoda. Rotifera accounted for 55.46% of the total number of organisms encountered, while Cladocera and Copepoda contributed 30.25% and 14.29% respectively. Lecanidae was the dominant family of rotifers, while the Sididae and Cyclopidae were the most dominant cladocerans and copepods recorded. The overall abundance of zooplankton was significantly different (P < 0.05) among the study stations. A posteriori Duncan Multiple range (DMR) test showed that the abundance was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in 2 stations. Diversity indices comprising Margalef index, Shannon-Wiener and Evenness indices were highest in station 3. The impact of cultural eutrophication on the abundance and diversity of zooplankton is reported.Keywords: Zooplankton, Community structure, Abundance, Distribution, Freshwater, Tropical Rive

Assessment of groundwater quality of Benin City, Edo state, Nigeria

The quality of groundwater of Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria was investigated between February and July 2008. Water samples were collected from functional bore holes from five locations (stations 1 – 5) and analyzed for physico-chemical parameters including heavy metals. Data obtained were compared with World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Temporally, there was no discernible pattern in the variations of these parameters. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that there was a significant difference (