Curbing Ebola infections among healthcare workers in West Africa: unconventional strategies needed

Letter to editor

Black, Young & Conduct Disordered: Extrapolating Scott Henggeler’s Multisystemic Psychotherapy Paradigm for the Attenuation of At-Risk Behaviors of Black Youth in North America

Problem Statement: More than any other racial category, Black Youths have experienced severe racial disparities in contravention, trial and incarceration rates, the moment they come in contact with law enforcement agencies. There is a growing amount of literature suggesting that implicit racial biases do indeed exist in those who enforce the law, especially when such enforcers have limited time or and lacked cultural competencies to process their actions. These disparities are troubling, especially on account of the fact that although Black Youth comprise 16 percent of all children in America, yet they account for 28 percent of all juvenile arrests (National Council on Crime & Delinquency, 2007). It is not to imply that Black youths do not commit crimes. They do, just like all other ethnically diverse populations. However, there are research findings that Black youth pay a rather heavy premium for engaging in criminal or anti-social behaviors, mostly on account of their race, socioeconomic backgrounds, which are saturated by the stereotypical absence of a father or father figure, matriarchies, poverty and being mired in poor neighborhoods on one hand and on the other, a criminal justice system that disproportionately targets them. Approach: The paper applied an extrapolation of Scott Henggeler’s Multisystemic Psychotherapy paradigm to evaluate how its application can assist in stemming Black Youth lemming-like rush into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. It utilized secondary data analysis and literature on Black youth, juvenile, criminal justice and conduct disorders to evaluate this therapeutic approach in a Large Group Intervention-LGI setting. Result: Research indicate that the Multisystemic Therapy approach had previoulsy been applied at a micro level with satisfactory outcomes. In this case, I propose a treatment paradigm intended to be extrapolated [from Henggeler’s approach] to a Large Group Intervention-LGI and community setting, using all the parameters as Henggeler and team enunciated, but with slight adjustment and modifications to fit a Large Group Intervention target audience. Conclusion: The successful application of Hengeler’s Therapeutic Model within a Large Group Intervention setting significantly attenuated negative Black Youth interaction within the criminal justice systems in the USA, Canada and elsewhere. Additionally, successful application of this paradigm enhanced Black Youth pro-social skills for the development of the self, community and the nation states where Black Youths call home

Reporting and dealing with missing quality of life data in RCTs : has the picture changed in the last decade?

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Environmental Health Effects of Exposure to Air Pollution in Industrialized Areas

Naturally, most people tend to associate air pollution problem with the coming of industrial revolution in the early 60’s. Such problems in one form or another have plagued the human race for centuries. The earliest pollutant noted in the atmosphere was probably of natural origin. Ash, fumes, smoke and forest fires, sand and dust from windstorm in arid region, dews during dry season were part of our environment long before human –induced or anthropogenic problem came on the scene. Although polluted air may not be ideal from the biological point of view, we may treat its behaviour with respect to temperature and pressure as if it were ideal. Therefore, we assume that at the same temperature and pressure, different kinds of gases have densities proportional to their molecular masses. Consequently, the concept of pollution control begins with minimization of the general waste. In Nigeria, Environmental Protection Agency was established under Decree No. 58 of 1988 to investigate and describe the environmental effect of any air pollutant emitted by stationary or mobile source, that may adversely affect human health or the environment. Example is the indiscriminate burning of solid waste at open dumps,which generates air contaminants like dust,smokes,mist and odour causing injurious to human,plant,animal or property

Sequential Low Cost Interventions Double Hand Hygiene Rates Among Medical Teams in a Resource Limited Setting. Results of a Hand Hygiene Quality Improvement Project Conducted At University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (Chuk), Kigali, Rwanda

Objective: To assess the impact of multimodal low-cost interventions on hand hygiene practices among medical teams.Design: A four week prospective observational studySetting: Medical wards of the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK), Kigali, Rwanda.Subjects: Medical teams comprising students, residents and consultant physicians.Interventions: During week one, baseline hand sanitising rate (HSR) – the percentage of hand hygiene opportunities during which hands were sanitised- was recorded. On week two, alcohol based handrubs (ABHRs) were provided and placed strategically on every ward. For week three and four respectively, hand hygiene posters (HHPs) were placed at entry sites of each ward at eye level and subsequently at the head of each patient’s bed.Main Outcome Measures : Post-intervention HSR was recorded weekly during morning ward rounds. The differences between pre-intervention and post-intervention HSRs as well as end-of-study pre- and post-contact HSR were assessed for significance using Pearson chi square test.Result: A total of 780 HHOs were covertly observed throughout the study. Baseline HSR was 24.8%. During week 2, there was a non-significant increase in HSR (26.6% vs. 24.8%, p =0.66). Overall, hand sanitising rates doubled from 24.8% to 50.6% following all study interventions (p <0.001). There was a significant increase in post-patient contact and pre-patient contact HSRs with rates improving from 25.2% to 58% and 24.5% to 43% respectively (P<0.01).Conclusion: Our study showed that low-cost interventions involving ensuringavailability of ABHRs and posting HHPs significantly increased HSRs among medical teams but post-intervention rates were suboptimal

“STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE?“ DECONSTRUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITIES AMONG 1.5 GENERATION AFRICAN IMMIGRANT YOUTH IN NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETIES: DILEMMAS AND CHALLENGES

The migration and resettlement of people into new societies have created a host of problems for immigrants in host societies. The migration and settlement experiences are more complicated and challenging for the immigrant youth who arrive in the new societies in their teenage years. This group, now referred to as the one-and-a-half generation group in the Diaspora, straddle various worlds: those of the old home they migrated from, and those of the new Diasporic settings, but not fully belonging to any. For these teenage youth growing up in Diasporic settings, the issue of identity becomes more paramount. How they come to define themselves, as well as how others define them, have important implications for their successful integration or the lack thereof in new societies. This study, undertaken with a number of youth from Africa, who have migrated, mostly with their families, into North America, unearthed some pertinent issues surrounding identity deconstruction and reconstruction in new societies for migrant youth

“STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE?“ DECONSTRUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITIES AMONG 1.5 GENERATION AFRICAN IMMIGRANT YOUTH IN NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETIES: DILEMMAS AND CHALLENGES

The migration and resettlement of people into new societies have created a host of problems for immigrants in host societies. The migration and settlement experiences are more complicated and challenging for the immigrant youth who arrive in the new societies in their teenage years. This group, now referred to as the one-and-a-half generation group in the Diaspora, straddle various worlds: those of the old home they migrated from, and those of the new Diasporic settings, but not fully belonging to any. For these teenage youth growing up in Diasporic settings, the issue of identity becomes more paramount. How they come to define themselves, as well as how others define them, have important implications for their successful integration or the lack thereof in new societies. This study, undertaken with a number of youth from Africa, who have migrated, mostly with their families, into North America, unearthed some pertinent issues surrounding identity deconstruction and reconstruction in new societies for migrant youth

Survey of sexual networking in Calabar

Calabar is known for its easy-going sexual morality. In such a setting HIV/AIDS could spread extremely rapidly. It was therefore decided to conduct a survey among the inhabitants to determine the nature and extent of sexual networking, and people's awareness of AIDS and STDs as health risks. At least one-quarter of respondents had their first sexual experience before the age of 14 and premarital sexual contact is widespread. Many residents have more than one sexual partner and sexual networking is widespread. While most respondents had heard of AIDS and were aware of condoms, very few used them for AIDS prevention or, indeed, at all. The study demonstrates that the city is a high-risk area for the transmission of HIV and STDs and an effective awareness campaign is urgently needed

Privatization and Economic Performance: Evidence from Nigeria (1990–2010)

Does privatization of state–owned enterprises result in economic performance? This paper seeks to evaluate theoretically and empirically the impact of privatization on economic growth in Nigeria. Using error correlation model (ECM), it was discovered that privatization has not impacted positively on economic growth in Nigeria, and this was blamed on a lot of factors like political instability and inadequacy of the past policies to achieve good result. Therefore, we recommended that it will be highly necessary to create a supportive enabling environment if we must achieve growth