Acculturation and the mental health of young refugees resettled under the humanitarian Gateway Protection Programme in Greater Manchester

Globally, the extensive exodus of individuals who have been forced to flee their home countries and seek refuge in countries of safety has led to a refugee crisis. The United Kingdom (UK) has engaged with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in playing a significant role in the long-term resettlement of some of those refugees, half of whom are children and young people. One initiative of such humanitarian resettlement in the UK is the Gateway Protection Programme (GPP). To-date, there is a global dearth of studies investigating aspects of acculturation that affect the mental health of young refugees resettled under the UNHCR humanitarian programme. In the UK, while current mental health policy recognises refugee children and young people as a priority group for mental health promotion and prevention; little is known about the impact of acculturation on the mental health of young refugees resettled under GPP.This study aimed to explore aspects of acculturation that could enhance the mental health of GPP young refugees several years after they have resettled in Greater Manchester. Using qualitative narrative research, a purposive sample of 31 GPP young refugees who had a minimum of three years stay in Greater Manchester were recruited from local Refugee Community Organisations. Data was collected through a multi-method design which combined Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with Visual Arts-Based Narrative Research (VABNR) and analysed thematically.Four overarching themes emerged from the data; People and places; Finding self; Its nearly all new to me; With me in mind. Schachner et al.’s (2017) Integrative Framework was used as a conceptual framework to aid discussion of the findings of this study.This novel study contributes important knowledge to the dearth of existent literature regarding the mental wellbeing of young people who have engaged in a resettlement programme and offers valuable information for UK policy makers and professionals working with, and providing care to GPP young refugees

Sexuality issue in the school environment in a capital city of a West African country

Background: Precociousness and abuse of unprotected sexual intercourses among teenagers promote sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies that often result in illegal induced abortions. The goal of this work is to study the knowledge, attitude and practice of students about sexuality.Methods: This is a cross-sectional and analytical study that took place from 1st March to 30th May 2015. All registered secondary students in both secondary schools Behanzin and Toffa 1er from Porto-Novo city are included. We used a multiple choice and open questions.Results: The survey concerns 1304 students. Among them, 57% are female and 43% are male. The students’ average age is 18.71±2.31years with extremes of 13 and 25 years. The majority of students in our sample (66.9%), the ideal age for first sexual intercourse is between 15 and 19 years with 60.4% for boys and 65.0% for girls. In our sample, 6 to 7 students out of 10 have at least one sexual intercourse. Among boys, we estimated 7 to 8 cases out of 10 and among girls 5 to 6 out of 10 cases. On the whole, 44.9% of students agreed to have sexual intercourse before marriage. Out of 1304 students, 50.0% have their first sexual intercourse between 15 and 19 years old and 47.2% of these sexual intercourses were unprotected. Having many sexual partners is more observed among boys. Sexually transmitted diseases are known by students of our sample in the following proportions: HIV/AIDS (93.2%), Gonorrhoea (44.2%), Syphilis (21.2%), Chancroid (6.2%), Genital trichomoniasis (5.4%). Out of 433 sexually active girls who were involved in the present study, 165 (38.1%) had at least one unwished pregnancy and 144 which is 87.3% resulted in induced abortions.Conclusions: Present study showed that the majority of students are sexually active and most of sexual intercourses are unprotected despite the knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases. This attitude is revealed in a certain rate of unwished pregnancies resulting in a significant proportion of induced abortions

Water Bactericidal Properties of Nanosilver- Polyurethane Composites

Abstract A technique for coating polyurethane with silver nanoparticles freshly prepared using a hydroxyethyl cellulose organic polymer is presented. The ensuing silver nanoparticle -polyurethane foam composite is found to possess such antibacterial properties as might be useful in water disinfection. With the help of electron microscopy and FTIR spectrophotometry, it was revealed that the adsorption of metallic silver onto the organic polymeric substrate could be attributed to silver nanoparticulate interaction with the nitrogen in the ─NH─ bond in polyurethane. Contrary to earlier reports that similar preparations had total bactericidal effects on water-borne microorganisms, a number of microbial analyses performed on Basillus Subtulis 15 and E. coli 36 as test bacteria in infected waters exhibited only 9 and 5 live percentages, respectively, after eluation through the composite-packed column

) May (2011) Res

Abstract An identification has been achieved of only 1:1 and 1:2 chelates of hexahydroxystannat

) May (2011) Res

Abstract An identification has been achieved of only 1:1 and 1:2 chelates of hexahydroxystannat

A twostep qualityimprovement intervention to address Pap smear quality at public health facilities in South Africa

Background. The endocervical component of a Pap smear is an important indicator of sample quality – or ‘adequacy’. However, only 6 of 52 districts in South Africa (SA) meet the Department of Health (DoH) performance benchmark: a 70% adequacy rate. We implemented a quality-improvement (QI) intervention to address suboptimal Pap smear quality in Tshwane District, Gauteng Province, SA.Objectives. To determine whether training with the wooden Ayre spatula (step 1) or introduction of the cytobroom (step 2) resulted in greater improvements in Pap smear adequacy rates.Methods. Two Tshwane District health facilities participated in our QI project between May 2016 and February 2017. In step 1, staff received training on the Ayre spatula. In step 2, the spatula was replaced with the cytobroom. Pap smear volumes, adequacy rates and results are reported for the pre-intervention period and after each QI step. We compared adequacy rates using Fisher’s exact test, with a significance level of p=0.05.Results. In the pre-intervention period, 304 of 965 Pap smears were deemed adequate (32%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 29 - 35%). After step 1, the proportion increased to 109 of 191 (57%; 95% CI 50 - 64%; p<0.01). Similarly, after step 2, the proportion increased to 155 of 192 (81%; 95% CI 74 - 86%; p<0.01). The proportion of abnormal smears increased from 13% before the QI intervention to 17% after step 1 and 22% after step 2.Conclusion. Although training in Pap smear collection using the Ayre spatula resulted in modest improvements in quality, facilities only achieved the DoH benchmark of a 70% adequacy rate after the introduction of the cytobroom

The Building Nutritious Food Baskets Project ‘Insights from the Field’

This booklet is a compilation of insights and success stories from the field during the implementation of the Building Nutritious Food Baskets (BNFB) project; a three-year project (November 2015 to October 2018) implemented in Nigeria and Tanzania and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The objective of compiling these insights and success stories is to showcase and highlight BNFB’s experiences and interactions with various stakeholders during implementation, highlight successful partnerships and to provide a ‘human touch’ in narrating the process and how the project was able to deliver results, outcomes and the emerging impact of these efforts