How much do school teachers know about childhood asthma in Ilesa, Nigeria?

Background: Childhood asthma is affected by events and conditions of the school environment. Teachers as de-facto caregivers of children with asthma have a major role to play in ensuring good asthma control in school. This study set out to determine the level of knowledge of school teacher about childhood asthma and factors influencing this knowledge.Methods: Four secondary schools (two private and two public) in Ilesa, South West Nigeria were selected by multistage sampling method. All the teachers in these schools were required to fill a self -administered questionnaire incorporating a validated 40-item asthma knowledge questions. Factors associated with the level of knowledge were determined appropriately.Results: A total of 132 teacher (M: F = 1:2) participated in the study with 85 (64.4%) from private school. The mean (SD) age of the teachers was 38.0 (9.1) years and median (IQR) years in teaching service was 7.0 (5.0 to 15.0) years. Majority (56.1%) of the teachers had university education while only 7 (5.3%) had a post graduate degree. The mean (SD) score of the 40 item questions was 21.5 (7.2) and majority (51.5%) had poor asthma knowledge (score < 22). Poorer knowledge was observed in questions related to the nature and management of childhood asthma than triggers and manifestations. No significant correlation was found between knowledge and age, teaching experience and qualifications (p > 0.05). However, teachers with previous training about childhood asthma had relatively good knowledge about the condition. (p <0.05)Conclusion: The level of knowledge about childhood asthma among school teachers in Ilesa is poor particularly as regards to nature and management of the disease. We advocate for training of school teachers about common childhood conditions including asthma to ensure optimal symptoms control in school.Keywords: Childhood asthma, Knowledge, School teacher

Development and preliminary testing of a culturally-friendly pain assessment tool for children (crying faces pain scale)

Background and aims: Having a universal tool for assessing pain in children is hamstrung by cultural sensitivity. This study aimed to develop and validate a culturally-friendly pain assessment tool (i.e. Crying Faces Pain Scale (CFPS)) among Nigerian Children. Material and methods: This study employed criterion-standard design. The study was in three phases, namely: (1) development of CFPS, (2) cross-validity and (3) validation of the CFPS. 70 children (39 (55.7%) males and 31 (44.3%) females) within the age range of 4-13 years who had post-surgical pain, orthopaedic pain, stomach pain or headache were involved in the validation phase. Psychometric properties and preferences for the CFPS compared with the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale (FACES) were examined. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Alpha level was set at p<0.05. Results: The median score of the CFPS was 4.60 compared to FACES median score of 4.49. There was weak correlation between FACES and CFPS (r=0.325; p=0.006). Preference score as a culturally friendly tool for CFPS and FACES was 6.07±1.23 and 3.67 ±1.09 respectively, based on a modified 0-10 numerical pain scale. Conclusions: The crying faces pain scale has fair psychometric properties for assessing pain in children. However, CFPS was preferred to FACES as a culturally friendly tool for assessing pain among Nigerian children. Implications: The CFPS is more culturally friendly and so might be better suited as a pain scale in Africa. However, due to its fair psychometric properties, further studies may be needed to improve upon this scale

Effects of socio-demographic and nutritional status on Peak Expiratory Flow Rates of rural school children in Ilesa, Nigeria

Background: The Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) measured using portable peak flow metres (PFM) is a simple, cheap, readily available and reproducible measure of lung functions, particularly in resource-poor settings. Objective: To determine the effects of socio-demographic and nutritional factors on the PEFR of school children in rural areas of Ilesa, Nigeria. Methods: Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select children from middle schools in rural Ilesa. Their socio-demographics, housing conditions and household cooking fuel used were obtained. Anthropometric parameters and nutritional statuses of the children were determined using the WHO reference growth chart. PEFR was measured using the mini Wright PFM. The factors influencing their PEFR were determined. Results: A total of 250 school children aged 8 to 16 years with male-to-female ratio of 0.9:1 were studied. The mean (SD) age was 12.5 (1.5) years. Over 80.0% used unclean fuel for household cooking and one-half lived in overcrowded homes. The prevalence of stunting, underweight and overweight was 22.8%, 30.8% and 3.2% respectively. The mean ± SD PEFR was 248 ± 58.6 L/min which correlated positively with the weight, height, Body Mass Index and Body Surface Area. The mean PEFR was significantly lower among children exposed to unclean fuels (245.4 ± 59.7L/min vs. 292.0 ± 59.4L/min; p = 0.02), stunted males (220.6 ± 44.9L/min vs. 264.1 ± 62.9L/min; p = 0.009) and underweight females (213.2 ± 37.8L/min vs. 247.5 ± 62.6L/min; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Undernutrition and exposure to noxious substances from unclean household cooking fuels adversely affected the PEFR of rural school children. Early detection and prompt treatment of undernutrition and avoidance of noxious substances from unclean fuels may ensure better lung health among the children in rural areas

Maternal death and obstetric care audits in Nigeria: A systematic review of barriers and enabling factors in the provision of emergency care.

Acknowledgements We would like to thank Yutaka Osakabe for co-ordinating the retrieval of full text articles. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supported this study, grant number 12-100074-000-INPPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Utilization of noodle waste as replacement for maize in the diets of growing snails

Maize is a major source of energy. It is expensive because of competition between man, animal and a strong demand for it by the manufacturing/industrial sector. Noodle waste (NW) (a by-product from the wheat noodle processing industry) which attracts little/ almost zero cost was used to replace the maize fraction of the diet of snails with the intent of reducing feed cost. A total of 120 growing snails (Archachatina marginata) of mean weight 73.42 ± 2.5g of about 3 months of age were used for the feeding trial. Four diets were formulated to contain NW at 0% (N1) as the Control, 50% (N2), 75% (N3) and 100% (N4) as replacement for maize in the diet of growing snails. Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was used for the trial and each treatment was replicated thrice with 10 snails per replicate. The diets were formulated to contain about 24% crude protein and energy of 2400 kcal/kgME. Feed intake and weight gain were calculated. Shell length, thickness and width were measured. Feed conversion ratio was calculated as the ratio of feed intake to weight gain. Feed cost and cost per weight gain were also calculated. Carcass analysis was carried out at the end of the feeding trial. Significant differences were observed in the mean total feed intake of the snails fed diets containing varied levels of NW (P&lt;0.05). The feed conversion ratio was not significantly different (P&gt;0.05) across the treatments. The dressing percent of the snails was relatively the same in all the treatments (P&gt;0.05). The results of cost analysis showed that cost /kg feed and total feed cost reduced as the level of NW in the diet increased. The lowest cost/weight gain was recorded in the diet containing 75% NW as replacement for maize while the highest cost/weight gain was recorded in the diet containing 100%NW. It was concluded that NW could replace maize fraction of the diet up to 75% without any adverse effect on performance. This replacement reduced cost markedlyKey words: Dressing Cost/weight gain, dressing percentage, feed efficiency, rice noodle waste, snails