Modelling the survivorship of Nigeria children in their first 10 years of life

Introduction: Several studies have attributed social demographic and environmental characteristics to differentials in children mortality rates worldwide but there is paucity of information on modelling of children survival in Nigeria. In this study we modelled children survival in Nigeria and predicted their chances of survival in their first ten years of life.Methods: We used the data from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey to carry out a retrospective analysis of children survival. We computed the probability of survival and mortality rates for the first five years and predicted survivals for 6th to 10th years of life using life table techniques and compared our estimates with Brass indirect techniques.Results: The probability of a child surviving up to exact age 1 and 5 were 0.9212 (95% CI: 0.919-0.923) and 0.8583 (95% CI: 0.855-0.861) respectively. About 142 of every 1000 children would not make their tenth birthday in Nigeria. We found higher survivorship trend among female children than the males with higher rates in Southern Nigeria than in the Northern parts. The estimates of probabilities of survival from age 1 to 5 from the fitted curves agreed very closely with those obtained from Brass indirect techniques as the variability was less than 2%.Conclusion: Child mortality is high in Nigeria with fewer children deaths among females. Probability of not attaining age 10 in South West is lower than chances of not marking first birthday in North West zone. Efforts must be concentrated in reversing the worrisome survival trend in Nigeria especially in the Northern parts of the country.Keywords: Survivorship, Nigeria, children mortality, Kaplan Meier, Brass Indirect method, Predictio

Compliance with epidemic-prone diseases surveillance and response guidelines among health officers at surveillance units in South-West Nigeria

Introduction: Although compliance with surveillance guidelines is crucial to epidemic diseases control, determinants of use of these guidelines in Nigeria are poorly documented. We assess health workers compliance and factors associated with the surveillance and response guidelines for epidemic-prone diseases in South-West Nigeria.Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 199 disease surveillance and notification officers in Oyo state were interviewed using a questionnaire on knowledge of disease surveillance and performance of surveillance activities. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square and multiple logistic regression at P= 0.05.Results: Most surveillance units submitted disease outbreaks reports (81.48% at the health facility and 100% at the local government level). Timeliness and completeness of weekly reporting were 94% and 95% respectively. a quarter (25.9%) adhered to national case definitions guidelines. About 85.7% did laboratory case confirmation while 2.6% did facility level data analysis. Predictors for six months reporting activity include attending a training on surveillance and reporting (OR=7.92; CI=1.65–37.92), fund adequacy (OR=27.81; CI=7.68–100.60) and knowledge of surveillance dataflow (OR=4.80; CI=1.64–14.10).Conclusion: In addition to provision of adequate financial and laboratory resources, surveillance activities would benefit from continuous training on surveillance data flow.Keywords: Epidemic-prone diseases, case definitions guidelines, surveillance and response

Compliance with epidemic-prone diseases surveillance and response guidelines among health officers at surveillance units in South-West Nigeria

Introduction: Although compliance with surveillance guidelines is crucial to epidemic diseases control, determinants of use of these guidelines in Nigeria are poorly documented. We assess health workers compliance and factors associated with the surveillance and response guidelines for epidemic-prone diseases in South-West Nigeria. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 199 disease surveillance and notification officers in Oyo state were interviewed using a questionnaire on knowledge of disease surveillance and performance of surveillance activities. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square and multiple logistic regression at P= 0.05. Results: Most surveillance units submitted disease outbreaks reports (81.48% at the health facility and 100% at the local government level). Timeliness and completeness of weekly reporting were 94% and 95% respectively. a quarter (25.9%) adhered to national case definitions guidelines. About 85.7% did laboratory case confirmation while 2.6% did facility level data analysis. Predictors for six months reporting activity include attending a training on surveillance and reporting (OR=7.92; CI=1.65\u201337.92), fund adequacy (OR=27.81; CI=7.68\u2013100.60) and knowledge of surveillance dataflow (OR=4.80; CI=1.64\u201314.10). Conclusion: In addition to provision of adequate financial and laboratory resources, surveillance activities would benefit from continuous training on surveillance data flow

Determinants of Uptake of Periodic Medical Examination among Students of College of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, South-West Nigeria

Background: This research was conducted to assess the factors that determine the uptake of periodic medical examination (PME) amongundergraduate students in Ile‑Ife, Nigeria. Methods: Asample size of 328 was calculated using the sample size formula for a single proportion. Hence, a total of 328 undergraduate students of the College of Health Sciences at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile‑Ife, were included in this descriptive, cross‑sectional  study. A multistage sampling technique was adopted and the sampling was proportional to the size of the four undergraduate academic programs in the college. Data were collected using a self‑administered questionnaire. Chi‑square and t-tests were used to assess significant factors associated with its uptake. The determinants of PME uptake were identified using binary logistic regression. Results: The majority of the respondents, 299 (91.2%), were aware of PME. The uptake was however poor, 93 (28.4%). The most commonbarrier to the uptake was “inadequate time” due to the students’ perceived busy schedule. Others were religion, years spent in school, perceived susceptibility to diseases, cost of service, fear of the results, and lack of interest. The odd of uptake of PME was 18.3 times higher among people that express willingness relative to the participants without intention to uptake PME, P < 0.001. Conclusion: The uptake of PME was poor despite the high level of awareness probably due to the perceived low disease susceptibility among the students and poor access to PME services. There is, therefore, a need for creating an enabling environment through policy formulation by the university’s management to address the barriers against the uptake of PME. Sensitization on the risk factors of chronic non-communicable diseases is also necessary to address the poor perception of susceptibility. Keywords: Determinants, Ile‑Ife, periodic medical examination, Southwest Nigeria, undergraduate

Putting Children First: New Frontiers in the Fight Against Child Poverty in Africa

Despite important strides in the fight against poverty in the past two decades, child poverty remains widespread and persistent, particularly in Africa. Poverty in all its dimensions is detrimental for early childhood development and often results in unreversed damage to the lives of girls and boys, locking children and families into intergenerational poverty. This edited volume contributes to the policy initiatives aiming to reduce child poverty and academic understanding of child poverty and its solutions by bringing together applied research from across the continent. With the Sustainable Development Goals having opened up an important space for the fight against child poverty, not least by broadening its conceptualization to be multidimensional, this collection aims to push the frontiers by challenging existing narratives and exploring alternative understandings of the complexities and dynamics underpinning child poverty. Furthermore, it examines policy options that work to address this critical challenge.Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP) at the University of Bergen.publishedVersio

Anemia in pregnancy at two levels of health care in Ibadan, south west Nigeria

Background: In Africa, anemia in pregnancy contributes to non-attainment of the MDG goals 4 and 5. This study examined the prevalence and some risk factors for anemia at two levels of health care in the Ibadan metropolis. Methods: This was a retrospective study of the booking records of pregnant women at the University College Hospital (UCH, a profit-making tertiary institution) and Adeoyo Maternity Hospital (AMH, a secondary level institution offering free services) in Ibadan, September 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. Eligible women had singleton pregnancies and no known chronic illnesses. Anemia was defined as packed cell volume (PCV) <30%, and degrees of anemia as mild (PCV 27-29%), moderate (PCV 19-26%), and severe (PCV below 19%). Statistical analysis was done by the Chi-square test, Fisher exact test, and t-test. A P value of <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Data from 2702 women (384 and 2318 from UCH and AMH, respectively) were available for analysis. About 30% of the women were anemic. The patients in UCH had higher mean PCV (33.03± 4.32 vs. 31. 04 ± 4.09, P = 0.00). A higher proportion of anemia was seen in patients presenting in Adeoyo (32.4% vs. 16.7%, P = 0.00). Factors associated with anemia included young age (P = 0.00), low parity (P = 0.00), and hospital type (P = 0.00). Parity and hospital type remained significant on logistic regression. Conclusion: Lower prevalence of anemia at the tertiary hospital maybe attributed to the higher socioeconomic status of the clientele. Short-term early antenatal management of anemia and long-term economic/educational empowerment is advocated

Household environment and symptoms of childhood acute respiratory tract infections in Nigeria, 2003–2013: a decade of progress and stagnation

Abstract Background Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) remains a disease of public health importance in Nigeria. Though, previous studies have identified factors associated with childhood ARI symptoms, the progress made in reducing the burden of this major childhood morbidity in the past decade in Nigeria has not been quantified. Therefore, this study describes the trends in the prevalence and factors associated with ARI symptoms among under-five (U5) children in Nigeria between years 2003 and 2013. Methods A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS) for years 2003, 2008 and 2013 was done. The study sample included women of reproductive age who had U5 children presenting with a cough accompanied with short rapid breaths in the last 2 weeks prior data collection. Data were analysed using complementary log regression model. Results Prevalence of ARI symptoms were 10.3, 4.6 and 3.8% for years 2003, 2008 and 2013 respectively. The use of unclean cooking fuel was not associated with ARI symptom in 2003 and 2008, but in 2013 (OR = 2.50, CI: 1.16–5.42). Living in houses built with poor quality materials was associated with higher risk of ARI symptoms in 2008 (OR = 1.34, CI: 1.11–1.61) and 2013 (OR = 1.59, CI: 1.32–1.93). Higher risk of ARI symptoms was also associated with younger child’s age, Northern regions and household wealth quintile between 2003 and 2013. Conclusions Though there has been a significant progress in the reduction of the prevalence of ARI symptoms between 2003 and 2013, the same could not be said of household environmental risk factors. Interventions to reduce the contributory effects of these factors to the occurrence of ARI symptoms should be instituted by government and other relevant stakeholders

Anemia in pregnancy at two levels of health care in Ibadan, south west Nigeria

Background: In Africa, anemia in pregnancy contributes to non-attainment of the MDG goals 4 and 5. This study examined the prevalence and some risk factors for anemia at two levels of health care in the Ibadan metropolis. Methods: This was a retrospective study of the booking records of pregnant women at the University College Hospital (UCH, a profit-making tertiary institution) and Adeoyo Maternity Hospital (AMH, a secondary level institution offering free services) in Ibadan, September 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. Eligible women had singleton pregnancies and no known chronic illnesses. Anemia was defined as packed cell volume (PCV) &lt;30%, and degrees of anemia as mild (PCV 27-29%), moderate (PCV 19-26%), and severe (PCV below 19%). Statistical analysis was done by the Chi-square test, Fisher exact test, and t-test. A P value of &lt;0.05 was considered significant. Results: Data from 2702 women (384 and 2318 from UCH and AMH, respectively) were available for analysis. About 30% of the women were anemic. The patients in UCH had higher mean PCV (33.03\ub1 4.32 vs. 31. 04 \ub1 4.09, P = 0.00). A higher proportion of anemia was seen in patients presenting in Adeoyo (32.4% vs. 16.7%, P = 0.00). Factors associated with anemia included young age (P = 0.00), low parity (P = 0.00), and hospital type (P = 0.00). Parity and hospital type remained significant on logistic regression. Conclusion: Lower prevalence of anemia at the tertiary hospital maybe attributed to the higher socioeconomic status of the clientele. Short-term early antenatal management of anemia and long-term economic/educational empowerment is advocated

Determinants of maternal utilization of health services and nutritional status in a rural community in South-West Nigeria

Poor Maternal Health (MH) remains an issue of public health concern in Nigeria. This study identified the determinants of maternal utilization of health services and nutritional status in a rural community in south-west Nigeria. It was a cross-sectional house-hold survey of women aged 15-49 years. Data were analysed using Chi-square, logistic regression and generalized linear models (α=.05). Respondents’ mean age was 29.9±7.8 years and about 9.0% were underweight, 76.7% attended ≥4 ANC visits and 65.7% were provided with ANC by skilled health workers. Sixty-two percent delivered in modern health facility, 67.5% were assisted by skilled health worker and 29.1% sought post-natal care within the first 3 days after delivery. The likelihood of delivery in health facility was 1.48(C.I=1.10-1.99, p&lt;0.05) higher among women in monogamous than those in polygamy family. The estimated maternal mortality ratio was 448 deaths/100,000 live-births. The findings emphasize the need to scale-up MH improvement strategies in the study area. (Afr J Reprod Health 2016; 20[2]: 72-85).Keywords: Maternal health care; Rural community, Maternal nutritional statu