Review Article: Health Care Environment: A War-zone

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The Effect of Computer Literacy on University of Maiduguri Students’ Attitude towards Computerized Record System

Computerized record systems have been viewed as being desirable and have undeniable advantages over the manual system of record keeping.  However, oftentimes these may not be appreciated by students, especially in environments where overall penetration of ICTs is low and as such computer literacy is also low.  This paper aims to investigate how computer literacy affects University of Maiduguri students’ perception of a computerized record system.  It studied the views of sampled students of the university in order to ascertain how their level of computer literacy affects their desire for their record system to be computerized.  Research questions were analyzed with a view to determining the association that exists between level of computer literacy of students and their desire for a computerized record system, and the desirability of such a system among computer literate and non computer literate students.  Simple percentage analysis and Chi Square test were used to investigate the level of desirability of computerization, and the association between computer literacy and desire for computerized record system, respectively.  It was found that among both computer literate and non computer literate students, the computerized record system was highly desired.  It was also found that there is no association between level of computer literacy and desire for computerization among students sampled.  This implies that even in areas where there is low ICT penetration and computer literacy, computerization can still be highly desired by university students. Keywords: computer literacy, computerized record system, computer anxiety, technophobi

ANALYSIS OF WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION IN MANGU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

This study examined women participation in livestock Production in Mangu local government area of Plateau State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling was used to select 90 women livestock farmers. Descriptive statistics and Participation Index were used to analyze the data. The grand participation index (2.0) implies that women rarely participated in livestock production. Women always participated in the watering (2.97) feeding of animals (2.88) and cleaning of pen (2.72). Poultry, Swine and Goat were the major types of Livestock kept by Women. The result also revealed that there was positive and significant relationship between women involvement in livestock production and extension contact and age. Extension contact was significant (p<0.01) and positive which means that the more the women have access to extension contact the more tendency for them to participate in livestock production. The major constraints faced by women in livestock production were high cost of feed and medication, inadequate capital, pest and diseases. The study recommends that the women should be linked with micro finance banks so as to have access to capital which can be used to boost their level of participation in livestock production. Also various capacity building activities in-terms of training need of women in livestock production should be identified and periodically provided. Also subsidy should place on vaccine and drugs so as to reduce the high cost of medication this will encourage women participate in livestock production&nbsp

Isolation and Identification of Phenol-Degrading Bacteria from Oil-Contaminated Sites

This work is aimed at isolating and identifying phenol-degrading bacteria from oil-contaminated sites. Five soil samples from three auto-mechanic workshops within Katsina metropolis were collected. The samples were analyzed by selective enrichment technique, which resulted in the isolation of four bacterial species. The species were further subjected to the Vitek 2 compact microbiological system analysis. Cupriavidus pauculus, Pontoea spp, Proteus mirabilis 1 and Proteus mirabilis 2 were identified. Result from the present study showed that the bacteria could utilize phenol as their carbon source. Proteus mirabilis 1 and Proteus mirabilis 2 showed lower phenol degradation potential, under similar conditions. Cupriavidus pauculus and Pontoea sp. showed significant increases (p<0.05) in their optical densities. The optical density increment is strongly correlated with increase in colony forming units of the bacteria. This study further showed that the isolates could tolerate high phenol concentrations and may serve as strong putative isolates in bioremediation of phenol-contaminated sites

Assessment of Selected Health Determinants among Almajiri Students in Gwadabawa Local Government, Sokoto State, Nigeria

Health determinants are factors that can influence our health either positively or negatively. This paper determined the factors that affect the health of Almajiri in their system of study in Gwadabawa local government of Sokoto state, Nigeria. Interview and visual observation were used to collect data, which was analyzed by thematic networks method. The result of this study was shown. Most (50.0%) of the Almajiri live in buildings own by school,whereas, 33.5% of them in donated buildings .There were three types of houses / classes where Almajiri live.Most (50.0%) were made of cement/modern style ,then (33.3%) the mud houses / classes, and (16.7%) were the ones from zinc .There were toilets for urination only ,no one was slated for defecation . In 75% of the schools there was no water, whereas 33.3% have water source from unprotected wells. In 33.3 % of the schools there was refuse dumps .In 33.3% there were no any source of risk. Whereas, in 16.7% there were gutters, and in 16.7% there were roads nearby. Personal hygiene was observed. 75.0% of Almajiri wore dirty garments.25.0% wore cleaned garments, 12.5% wore torn garments, and 87.5% wore untorn garments. 62.5% wore shoes and 37.5% have no shoes. 62.5% take bath weekly, 37.7% take bath daily. Interms of livelihood, most of them relied on begging for food; 25.0% do domestic work to get food and other needs. 70.0% of them eat twice in a day, 25.0% thrice, whereas, 5.0% once; in most cases. The result revealed many health determinants which can negatively affect the health of Almajiri.Keywords: health determinants, open defecation, overcrowding, begging, child labou

Establishing convergent validity of a medication literacy assessment instrument for use within the Nigerian setting

Purpose: To establish convergent validity of a previously designed medication literacy instrument for use in Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Zaria, Kaduna State from May to August 2021, with structured instruments administered to conveniently sampled members of the public via one-on-one interviews to collect data. These instruments included a previously designed medication literacy assessment instrument and the Newest Vital Sign United Kingdom version (NVS-UK) health literacy assessment questionnaire. Data obtained was reported using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Three hundred respondents were interviewed, majority of whom were females (51 %) and aged between 15 – 25 (76.6 %). The percentage of correct responses to the NVS-UK questions ranged from 22 to 58.3 %, while the total number of NVS-UK questions answered correctly by respondents ranged from 0 to 6 with a mean of 2.2 ± 1.7. Respondents’ NVS-UK scores were associated with their highest level of education completed (p = 0.001). The NVS-UK showed adequate internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.7) and validation of the developed medication literacy instrument against the NVS-UK demonstrated a Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient of 0.42. Conclusion: The designed instrument is valid and can be used to assess medication literacy within the country

An assessment of antimicrobial prescribing at a tertiary hospital in north-western Nigeria

Background: Inappropriate antibiotic use is a public health problem worldwide. Misuse of these agents is one of the drivers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which is believed to be the next pandemic. Consequently, auditing antimicrobial prescription patterns can provide useful information on the scope and extent of this problem. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe outpatient antimicrobial drug prescribing at the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) unit of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria. Methodology: This was a descriptive drug utilization study carried out prospectively during a 2 week period in May 2015. Six objective World Health Organization (WHO) indicators were used to assess the rationality of antimicrobial prescribing at the site. Data collected on antimicrobials included type, route of administration, dose and dosing frequency as well as length of therapy. Average costs (both prescription and antibiotic) were obtained by dividing the total drug costs by the relevant number of drugs. Results: A total of 167 prescriptions were analyzed. The average number of drugs per encounter in the facility was 3.7. Fifty seven percent of antimicrobials were prescribed using their generic names, while the average duration of treatment was 8.9 days. Thirty seven prescriptions (22%) contained more than one prescribed antimicrobial, out of which 7 were potentially pharmacologically antagonistic. Only 21% of the prescriptions had indications in line with the National Standard Treatment Guidelines (STG’s). Average cost of prescribed antimicrobials was about NGN 2,238 (approximately US$11). Conclusion: Several problems associated with rational antimicrobial prescribing were identified. There is a definite need for suitable interventions to help improve antimicrobial drug prescribing at the site. Keywords: Anti-infective agents, Costs, Drug use review, National Health Insurance, Nigeri