Predictors of anemia in pregnancy among pregnant women accessing antenatal care in a poor resource setting in South Eastern Nigeria

Background: Anemia in pregnancy affects about half of pregnant women and constitutes a serious health problem. Objectives: The aim was to determine the prevalence of anemia in pregnancy, as well as its pattern and determinants. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted at antenatal booking clinic of Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki from February to July 2012. Hemoglobin <11 g/dl was regarded as anemia. Estimation of hemoglobin concentration, HIV infection, blood group, genotype and blood film for malaria parasite and erythrocyte morphology were done. Stool analysis was also done. Results: Prevalence of anemia in pregnancy was 58%. Anemia in pregnancy was a common finding among primigravida 82 (66.1%), social Class II 14 (56.0%), social Class III 98 (53.6%), social Class IV 45 (61.6%), social Class V 117 (65.4%), antenatal booking at 14–27 weeks 211 (70.3%), and antenatal booking at ≥28 weeks 47 (74.6%). The significant predictors of anemia in pregnancy include HIV in pregnancy (odds ratio [OR] =4.88 [1.09–21.84]), P = 0.04, obstetric hemorrhage (OR = 2.97 [1.27–6.97]), P = 0.01, malaria parasitemia (OR = 4.28 [2.28–8.03]), P < 0.001, primigravidity (OR = 0.04 [1.03–2.41]), P = 0.04, and helminthiasis (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Anemia is still a common finding in pregnancy, and important contributing factors include malaria parasitemia, helminthic infestation and HIV in pregnancy

Magnitude and Pattern of Disease Presentation among Students in Federal University of Technology Owerri Nigeria 1*

Abstract: Students&apos; wellbeing is paramount to their effective participation in academic and extracurricular activities. This study described the prevalence and pattern of disease presentation among students attending Federal University of Technology Medical Centre, Owerri, Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional hospital based study of consecutive 552 students who gave their informed consent. Data were extracted through clerking, examination and laboratory investigations and they included socio-demographic information and diagnoses. These data were entered into Microsoft Excel 2016 and transported to Xlstat 2015 for analysis. The age distribution of the students revealed that majority of the students (46.4%) were within the age bracket of 17-23years. The mean age of the students was 24 years. The majority of the students (22.6%) were drawn from the School of Engineering and Engineering Technology. The disease pattern of students showed that typhomalaria fever was most prevalent (33.5%), malaria (28.9%), upper respiratory tract infection (21.3%), hypertension (7.3%), peptic ulcer disease (5.7%) and typhoid (3.6%). Malaria was most prevalent during the rainy season in the months of June and July, 36.5% and 35.1% respectively. Strengthening of the primary health care system, application of the principles of integrated vector management and investing substantially in specialist care model will lessen the burden of diseases in the University community

Petromin: the slow death of statist oil development in Saudi Arabia

The paper recounts the history of Saudi Arabia's first national oil company, Petromin, which was originally supposed to take the place of foreign-owned Aramco. As a result of Petromin's inefficiency and personal rivalries among the Saudi elite, however, Petromin was progressively relegated to the sidelines in favour of a gradually 'Saudiised' Aramco. As a result, the organisation of the Saudi oil sector today is very different from - and more efficient than - that of most other oil exporters in the developing world. The paper concludes with a tentative taxonomy of national oil companies, based on the circumstances of nationalisation