Assessment of a treatment guideline to improve home management of malaria in children in rural south-west Nigeria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many Nigerian children with malaria are treated at home. Treatments are mostly incorrect, due to caregivers' poor knowledge of appropriate and correct dose of drugs. A comparative study was carried out in two rural health districts in southwest Nigeria to determine the effectiveness of a guideline targeted at caregivers, in the treatment of febrile children using chloroquine.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Baseline and post intervention knowledge, attitude and practice household surveys were conducted. The intervention strategy consisted of training a core group of mothers ("mother trainers") in selected communities on the correct treatment of malaria and distributing a newly developed treatment guideline to each household. "Mother trainers" disseminated the educational messages about malaria and the use of the guideline to their communities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Knowledge of cause, prevention and treatment of malaria increased with the one-year intervention. Many, (70.4%) of the respondents stated that they used the guideline each time a child was treated for malaria. There was a significant increase in the correct use of chloroquine from 2.6% at baseline to 52.3% after intervention among those who treated children at home in the intervention arm compared with 4.2% to 12.7% in the control arm. The correctness of use was significantly associated with use of the guideline. The timeliness of commencing treatment was significantly earlier in those who treated febrile children at home using chloroquine than those who took their children to the chemist or health facility (p < 0.005). Mothers considered the guideline to be explicit and useful. Mother trainers were also considered to be effective and acceptable.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The use of the guideline with adequate training significantly improved correctness of malaria treatment with chloroquine at home. Adoption of this mode of intervention is recommended to improve compliance with drug use at home. The applicability for deploying artemisinin-based combination therapy at the community level needs to be investigated.</p

Sports sponsorship in Nigeria - a preliminary study

No Abstract. African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance Vol. 12 (3) 2006: 335-33

Comparative disease resistance to Newcastle disease in Nigerian local ecotype chickens: Probable genetic influence

A study was conducted to determine the genetic resistance of two Nigerian ecotypes chicken and exotic breed cockerel (black Nera) to Newcastle disease by evaluating their clinical, haematological and humoralresponses to experimental Newcastle disease virus infection.. The chicks from the three genotypes were infected with 1ml of 105 ELD50 of Hertz 33 Newcastle disease virus inoculums orally. Their responses to infection weremonitored through clinical signs and mortality, haematological parameters and antibody titres values on days 0, 3, 7, 14 and 21 post infection. There was no adverse clinical manifestation and mortality in all the chicks throughout the experimental period. There was also no significant difference (p&gt;0.05) between the mean packed cell volume of all the three genotypes from day 0 up to day 21 post infection though Fulani ecotypes had the highest value at day 21. Lymphocyte counts did not show any significant difference (p&gt;0.05) on day 0 and 3 but there was significant difference (p&lt;0.05) in the count from day 7 to 21 with Yoruba ecotypes having the highest count. The antibody titres of exotic breed was significantly higher (p&lt;0.05) than that of the local ecotypes on day 0)but on day 3, 7, 14 and 21 Yoruba ecotype antibody titres was significantly higher (p&lt;0.05) than the other two genotypes. Decrease was observed in the antibody titres level of all the genotypes on day 21 with exotic breedhaving the least value. From this study, it was shown that Yoruba ecotype chicken had higher immune response to Newcastle disease virus than Fulani ecotype and exotic breed and that the mean antibody titre of log21.5 and log22 provided protection to the chicks against Newcastle disease as none of the infected chicks show clinical signs and died. Furthermore, it was safely assumed based on the results that Yoruba ecotype chickens are early responder to Newcastle disease and hence are more resistant to Newcastle disease than the other two genotypes

Commercial advertisement and cigarette smoking: A qualitative analysis of perceptions of students in selected Nigerian University

No Abstract

Commercial advertisement and cigarette smoking: A qualitative analysis of perceptions of students in selected Nigerian University

No Abstract

Potential Environmental and Human Health Impacts of Rechargeable Lithium Batteries in Electronic Waste

Rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) and lithium-polymer (Li-poly) batteries have recently become dominant in consumer electronic products because of advantages associated with energy density and product longevity. However, the small size of these batteries, the high rate of disposal of consumer products in which they are used, and the lack of uniform regulatory policy on their disposal means that lithium batteries may contribute substantially to environmental pollution and adverse human health impacts due to potentially toxic materials. In this research, we used standardized leaching tests, life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA), and hazard assessment models to evaluate hazardous waste classification, resource depletion potential, and toxicity potentials of lithium batteries used in cellphones. Our results demonstrate that according to U.S. federal regulations, defunct Li-ion batteries are classified hazardous due to their lead (Pb) content (average 6.29 mg/L; σ = 11.1; limit 5). However, according to California regulations, all lithium batteries tested are classified hazardous due to excessive levels of cobalt (average 163 544 mg/kg; σ = 62 897; limit 8000), copper (average 98 694 mg/kg; σ = 28 734; limit 2500), and nickel (average 9525 mg/kg; σ = 11 438; limit 2000). In some of the Li-ion batteries, the leached concentrations of chromium, lead, and thallium exceeded the California regulation limits. The environmental impact associated with resource depletion and human toxicity is mainly associated with cobalt, copper, nickel, thallium, and silver, whereas the ecotoxicity potential is primarily associated with cobalt, copper, nickel, thallium, and silver. However, the relative contribution of aluminum and lithium to human toxicity and ecotoxicity could not be estimated due to insufficient toxicity data in the models. These findings support the need for stronger government policy at the local, national, and international levels to encourage recovery, recycling, and reuse of lithium battery materials