Impact of Guinea Worm Disease on the socio-economic well-being of a rural community in Oke-Gun areas of Oyo State, Nigeria

The study investigated the impact of Guinea Worm Disease on the lives of people living in rural areas of Nigeria. It examined the nature of Guinea Worm Disease, its severity and effect on the economic and social well-being of people living in the rural community of the Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, Nigeria. One hundred and forty-eight infected persons in four local government areas completed the Guinea Worm Disease Severity Questionnaire and the Socio-economic Well-being Questionnaire. The study established that there was a significant impact of severity of Guinea Worm infection on both the economic well-being (p < 0.0.05) and the social well-being of infected people (p < 0.05). It is recommended that health care providers (nurses, social workers, environmental officers, etc.) provide support in the form of identification and management of the needs of each infected person; in addition, they have a vital health promotion role to educate the local community of the dangers of drinking unclean water

PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS INFLUENCING MATERNAL NON-COMPLIANCE WITH IMMUNIZATION SCHEDULE

The study examined the physical and psychological variables influencing maternal non-compliance with immunization schedules of children 0-2 years. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. A questionnaire tagged “Maternal Non-compliance with Immunization Schedule Questionnaire (MNCWISQ) was used for data collection. Three hypotheses were tested, using pearson product moment correlation. The study established that there was a significant relationship between physical factors (location of immunization services/access to immunization centres/distance to immunization centres) and non-compliance with immunization schedule (r-.47, df = 298, p&lt;.05). Psychological factor (mothers ’ knowledge about immunization) was also found to be significantly associated with non compliance with immunization schedule (r =.34, df=298, p&lt;.05). The study equally established that psychological factor (mothers ’ attitudes to immunization) had significant relationship with non-compliance with immunization schedule (r =.26, df = 298, p&lt;.05). Based on the above findings, the following recommendations were made that; nurses and medical social workers should provide adequate health information to the child bearing women on types of vaccines, immunization, immunization schedule and consequences of non-compliance with immunization schedule. The government should provide adequate medical personnel and good quality vaccines in the immunization centres and ensure that immunization centres are not too far from the pregnant women and nursing mothers