Analysis of the effect of health education activities on selected child health determinants in two communities of Ile Ife, Nigeria

Background: Child survival in Nigeria is threatened not just by the direct causes of childhood mortality such as the common childhood diseases but also by the associated child health determinants. Health education activities as part of community integrated management of childhood illness have the potential to improve these child health determinants. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of community level health education activities on selected child health determinants in Ile Ife, Nigeria.Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was carried out among 722 caregivers in two LGAs of Osun State, Nigeria, using a multistage cluster sampling method. Data were collected from mothers of index children aged 0-59 months using an interviewer administered questionnaire.Results: Vitamin A supplementation before the study was received by 89.1% and 79.8% of the children aged 9 months old and above in implementing and non-implementing LGAs (p=0.002). Amongst children age 12-23 months in the implementing LGA, 93.4% received DPT3, (91.8%) received measles compared with non-implementing LGA in which 66.7% received DPT and (64%) measles. Children in the CIMCI implementing LGA were three times more likely to receive DPT Vaccine (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 3.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.55-7.98), and five and half times more likely to receive measles vaccine (AOR 5.56, 95% CI 2.76-12.54).Conclusion: The study concluded that community level health education activities have a positive effect on child health practices and determinants.Keywords: Community, Immunisation, CIMCI Child health, Health education, Mothers, Determinant

Growth response of Heterobranchus longifilis fingerlings fed with varying levels of dietary freshwater mussel (Aspatharia sinuata)

A common bivalve: Freshwater mussel, Aspatharia sinuate was evaluated as a dietary protein supplement in the production diet for Heterobranchus longifilis fingerlings with mean body weight 8.34 plus or minus 10g reared in aquaria tanks. Four diets containing fishmeal protein at a rate of 25%, 50% and 75% along with the freshwater mussel flesh were formulated. The diet without the freshwater mussel served as the control. The fish fingerlings were fed at 5% body weight per day for 56 days. It was revealed at the end of the experiment that freshwater mussel was most suitable as a protein supplement when incorporated at 25% replacement. The body weight gain, specific growth rate and feed conversion ration values of 6.83g, 1.06% day and 0.62 respectively were highest in diet with 25% replacement closely followed by diet with 50% replacement. Beyond 75% inclusion level there was no significant growth (P>0.05). However, complete replacement of fishmeal by freshwater mussel decreases growth rates and should not be used in Heterobranchus longifilis diet

Effect of community level intervention on nutritional status and feeding practices of under five children in Ile Ife, Nigeria

Introduction: Childhood malnutrition remains a widespread problem in developing world like Nigeria. The country ranks second among the ten countries contributing to sixty percent of the world's wasted under-five children. Community Integrated Management of Childhood illness (CIMCI) is a programme that employs the use of community based counsellors to address child health and nutritional challenges of the under-five and has the potential to reduce the morbidity and mortality resulting from poor nutritional and feeding practices. The study assessed the effect of community level intervention on nutritional status and feeding practices of children in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study that employed the use of multi stage cluster sampling techniques in selecting 722 mothers of index under five children. The study was done in two Local  Government Areas of Osun State, Nigeria. Quantitative techniques were used in data collection. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0. Descriptive and bivariate analyses was performed.Results: The two Local Government Area (LGA) did not differ significantly in their wealth index   (p=0.344).  However, more children in the non-implementing LGA (16.1%) had low weight for age   compared with 3.6% in the CIMCI implementing LGA (p=0.000). A statistically significant difference   exist in the MUAC measurement of children 12-23 months between the CIMCI implementing and   non-implementing  communities (p=0.007). A higher percentage of caregivers (19.3%) introduce  complementary feeding earlier than 6 months in the non-implementing area (p<0.001).Conclusion: Using community level nutritional counseling can greatly improve nutritional status and feeding practices of under five children.Key words: Nutritional status, CIMCI, weight for age, MUAC, complementary feedin

Toxicity of linear alkylbenene sulphonate (LAS) detergent, to Clarias gariepinus fingerlings

The acute toxicity of Linear Alkylbenzene Sulphonate (LAS) detergent to Clarias gariepinus fingerlings was investigated using static bioassays and continous aeration over a period of 96h. The 96h LC sub(50) was determined as 24.00mgL super(-1). During the exposure period, the test fish exhibited several behavioural changes before death such as restlessness, rapid swimming, loss of balance, respiratory distress and haemorrhaging of gill filaments amongst others. Opercula ventilation rate as well as visual examination of dead fish indicates lethal effects of the detergent on the fish. Water quality examination showed increase in pH from 6.55 to the alkaline, death point of 10.55. There was also a remarkabel rise of alkalinity from 20.00mgL super(-1) to 52.50mgL super(-1

Factors Influencing Adolescents Stigmatising Attitudes and Perception of Community Reaction towards Mental Illness in Nigeria.

Background: Stigma is one of the major distresses that are experienced by people with mental illness. Stigmatisation results in a reduction in quality of life of those affected.Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the stigmatising attitudes of adolescents towards individuals withmental illness, their perception of community reaction and factors influencing it in Nigeria.Method: In school Adolescents (N = 402) participated in the research. They completed self-administered questionnaires regarding socio-demographic details and questions based on a vignette of a young person witha mental disorder using the Standardized Stigmatisation Questionnaire (SSQ1). The study was cross-sectional in nature and employed a multistage sampling technique.Result: The mean age was 14.44years (SD=1.84).There were 265(65.9%) males and 137(34.1%) females. Approximately seventy percent of the adolescents would not be happy to sit next to a man with mental illness in a bus, 58.2% would not want him to teach their children, and an even higher percentage (72.9%) believe that most people in the community would do same. Seventy percent are aware that he did not develop his problems to avoid difficult situations of life and 78.2% also know that it’s not a punishment for bad deeds. Independent predictors of stigma related attitude include age p<0.002, gender p<0.010 and community perception p<0.001.Conclusion: Stigmatisation of mental illness is highly prevalentamong adolescents. Given that a significant percentage of the participants were well informed, formation of stigmatising attitude towards mental illness might be deeper than lack of knowledge. There may be a need to work on societal structure despite traditional education interventions and also encourage their contactwith mentally ill persons.Key words:  Stigmatisation Adolescents, community, Mental Illness, Perception, Societal structur

Together We Can: A Collaborative Community as a Means to Improve Instructional Practices of Secondary Mathematics Teachers

Working in isolation is an obstacle when teachers are trying to improve and foster student achievement, yet teachers traditionally teach students in isolation from their faculty and colleagues. The pressure of preparing students for high stakes testing and mandated accountability measures can lead to a negative impact on classroom quality. These pressures were the impetus for a team of coordinate algebra teachers to work together as they explored the needs and expectations of their students. This study sought to explore how teachers can use a non-mandated intentional space for collaboration to work together towards the goal of supporting students’ needs. In this space, the researcher-participant recognized that the team’s work was aligned to the tenets of a community of practice, and they were supporting each other while engaging in purposeful collaboration. The following question, “how has mathematics teachers’ voluntary participation in a community of practice in a secondary school shaped their instructional experiences”, guided the research study. To explore this question, a narrative inquiry, grounded in a social constructivist theoretical perspective, was conducted. Narrative inquiry was used to examine how mathematics teachers’ participation in a community of practice in an urban secondary school shaped their instructional experiences. Their narratives, along with supporting documents, were collected and provided insight into their experience about the research question. Systematic manual coding, through qualitative data analysis software, were used to analyze the data. This software, NVIVO, was used to organize data after themes emerge, allowing for the construction of meaning and contextualized knowledge regarding the community. The resulting data analysis was used to create a narrative account of the participants’ experience in a voluntarily organized CoP centered on teaching coordinate algebra. While these narratives may not represent all collaborative settings, the findings highlight the community of practice as a support system, a means for teacher retention, its ability to facilitate professional development, and to improve student achievement

The Impact of Agriculture and Tourism Potentials on Sustainable Rural Development in Ekiti State

The rural areas, which inhabit the greater proportion of the population, mostly in developing nations, are the main sources of primary products (agriculture and minerals) for urban and industrial areas, hence the rural dwellers are regarded as the set of population that provide engine of  in the development process of a nation (Long, 1982). Equally, tourism in rural environment is a potential strategy of developing the rural areas as an alternative to existing strategies. As a result of this, paper, through descriptive techniques, identifies the various agriculture and tourism potentials within the rural areas, identifies the impacts of these potentials on rural dwellers and suggests various processes of preserving these potentials for self-sustainable development. The result of the findings shows that there is a direct linkage between agricultural and tourism potentials and rural development. Though, agriculture and tourism may exacerbate pollution problems, environmental degradation and other social ills but effective and positive linkages provide ample benefits to the people in the such as job opportunities, generate income and other economic benefits to the people in the rural areas.Key Words: Agriculture, Tourism, Potentials, Rural environment,Sustainabilit

Efficiency and Productivity of Farmers in Nigeria: A Study of Rice Farmers in North Central Nigeria

This study contributes to the agricultural productivity literature in developing countries and Nigeria especially by quantifying the level of efficiency for sample of rice farmers from North Central Zone of Nigeria. A stochastic efficiency decomposition frontier analysis was used to derive technical efficiency measures separately for rice under two production systems (upland and lowland systems). Average economic efficiency of 51.9 % and 55.4 % found for up land and lowland rice farmers respectively suggests that there is room for productivity gain for farms in the sample through better use of available resources given the state of technology. Gains in productivity growth have become increasingly important to Nigerians as demand for rice continue to increase due to population increase. Although, all the socio-economic variables tested against efficiency were significant at one level or the other there was no clear strategy of improving the relationship between them. One possible explanation for this finding is the existence of stage of developing threshold below which there is no consistent relationship between socioeconomic variables and productivity. The results suggest that rice farmers can still improve to reach such threshold in Nigeria. Hence, adoption of improved rice varieties, improvements in educational levels would be needed to go beyond this threshold before additional investments in human capital and other related factors.Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, D2,

Knowledge of chronic kidney disease among University students

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Science in Nursing Johannesburg, 2015The world's disease profile is changing and chronic diseases are now considered the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Chronic Kidney Disease is often asymptomatic, making individuals with the disease and also their health care provider unaware of it silent but yet threatening effect. Chronic Kidney Disease affects economically productive young adults between the ages of 20-50 years in sub Saharan Africa and knowledge of the disease has been observed to be the key point to successful prevention. The main aim of this study is to assess knowledge of university students on chronic kidney disease with the intention of understanding knowledge gaps and making recommendation for the formulation and implementation of educational programs. A non-experimental, descriptive, cross sectional survey design will be utilised in this study and simple random sampling method will be employed to select participants. The sample size comprises of 168 (n=168) participants selected from two male and female residences with an average of 42 sample from each of the residences. Data was collected by a means of self administered questionnaires developed by Chow et al. (2012). Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics. A response rate of 85.7% (n=144) was obtained. Out of a total of 144 (n=144), three quarter (75.01%; n=108) scored between 3 and 5 while more than half (60.42%) had good knowledge about kidney disease (≥ 4). The most common source of knowledge reported among respondents was high school (53.4%). There is no statistical significant relationship between demographic data and the overall knowledge of chronic kidney disease (all p >0.05) but Age and year of study was significantly associated with anatomy and symptoms while gender and family history of medical condition has a significant relationship with resource (p< 0.05). The research findings shows that knowledge about some aspect of chronic kidney disease is still lacking and majority indicated high school as there source of knowledge. Therefore, recommendations for nursing practice, policy development, and further research are proposed.MT201