Utilisation of malaria preventive measures during pregnancy and birth outcomes in Ibadan, Nigeria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malaria remains a major public health problem in sub Saharan Africa and the extent of utilisation of malaria preventive measures may impact on the burden of malaria in pregnancy. This study sought to determine the association between malaria preventive measures utilized during pregnancy and the birth outcomes of birth weight and preterm delivery.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This cross sectional survey involved 800 mothers who delivered at the University College Hospital, and Adeoyo Maternity Hospital, Ibadan. Data obtained included obstetric information, gestational age, birth weight and self reported use of malaria prevention strategies in index pregnancy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Most (95.6%) mothers used one or more malaria control measures. The most commonly used vector control measures were window net (84.0%), insecticide spray (71.5%) and insecticide treated bed nets (20.1%), while chemoprophylactic agents were pyrimethamine (23.5%), Intermittent Preventive Treatments with Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (IPTsp) (18.5%) and intermittent chloroquine (9.5%) and 21.7% used herbal medications. The mean ± SD birthweight and gestational age of the babies were 3.02 kg ± 0.56 and 37.9 weeks ± 2.5 respectively. Preterm delivery rate was 19.4% and 9% had low birth weight.</p> <p>Comparing babies whose mothers had IPTsp with those who did not, mean birth weight was 3.13 kg ± 0.52 versus 3.0 kg ± 0.56 (p = 0.016) and mean gestational age was 38.5 weeks ± 2.1 versus 37.8 weeks ± 2.5 (p = 0.002).</p> <p>The non-use of IPTsp was associated with increased risk of having low birth weight babies (AOR: 2.27, 95% CI: 0.98; 5.28) and preterm birth (AOR: 1.93, 95% CI: 1.08, 3.44). The non use of herbal preparations (AOR: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.36, 0.85) was associated with reduced risk of preterm birth. The mean ± SD birth weight and gestational ages of babies born to mothers who slept under ITNs were not significantly different from those who did not (p = 0.07 and 0.09 respectively).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There is a need for improved utilisation of IPTsp as well as discouraging the use of herbal medications in pregnancy in order to reduce pregnancy outcome measures of low birth weight and preterm deliveries in this environment.</p

Conference summary report of the 10th Annual General and Scientific Meeting of the Nigerian Society of Neonatal medicine (NISONM) held in Ibadan, Nigeria on 4th -7th July, 2017

The 10th Annual General and Scientific Meeting (AGSM) of the Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine (NISONM) took place in Ibadan, South -West Nigeria. The theme of the conference was: Imperatives in neonatal survival initiatives in Nigeria: The current state. The conference addressed a variety of topics relevant to newborn health from eminent speakers from across the globe. The four-day conference included preconference workshops and community mobilization/ health outreach in Lagelu local government area

Time to full enteral feeds in hospitalised preterm and very low birth weight infants in Nigeria and Kenya

\ua9 2024 Imam et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background Preterm (born &lt; 37 weeks’ gestation) and very low birthweight (VLBW; &lt;1.5kg) infants are at the greatest risk of morbidity and mortality within the first 28 days of life. Establishing full enteral feeds is a vital aspect of their clinical care. Evidence predominantly from high income countries shows that early and rapid advancement of feeds is safe and reduces length of hospital stay and adverse health outcomes. However, there are limited data on feeding practices and factors that influence the attainment of full enteral feeds among these vulnerable infants in sub-Saharan Africa. Aim To identify factors that influence the time to full enteral feeds, defined as tolerance of 120ml/ kg/day, in hospitalised preterm and VLBW infants in neonatal units in two sub-Saharan African countries. Methods Demographic and clinical variables were collected for newborns admitted to 7 neonatal units in Nigeria and Kenya over 6-months. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to identify factors independently associated with time to full enteral feeds. Results Of the 2280 newborn infants admitted, 484 were preterm and VLBW. Overall, 222/484 (45.8%) infants died with over half of the deaths (136/222; 61.7%) occurring before the first feed. The median (inter-quartile range) time to first feed was 46 (27, 72) hours of life and time to full enteral feeds (tFEF) was 8 (4.5,12) days with marked variation between neonatal units. Independent predictors of tFEF were time to first feed (unstandardised coefficient B 1.69; 95% CI 1.11 to 2.26; p value &lt;0.001), gestational age (1.77; 0.72 to 2.81; &lt;0.001), the occurrence of respiratory distress (-1.89; -3.50 to -0.79; &lt;0.002) and necrotising enterocolitis (4.31; 1.00 to 7.62; &lt;0.011). Conclusion The use of standardised feeding guidelines may decrease variations in clinical practice, shorten tFEF and thereby improve preterm and VLBW outcomes

Costs Associated with Low Birth Weight in a Rural Area of Southern Mozambique

BACKGROUND: Low Birth Weight (LBW) is prevalent in low-income countries. Even though the economic evaluation of interventions to reduce this burden is essential to guide health policies, data on costs associated with LBW are scarce. This study aims to estimate the costs to the health system and to the household and the Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) arising from infant deaths associated with LBW in Southern Mozambique. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Costs incurred by the households were collected through exit surveys. Health system costs were gathered from data obtained onsite and from published information. DALYs due to death of LBW babies were based on local estimates of prevalence of LBW (12%), very low birth weight (VLBW) (1%) and of case fatality rates compared to non-LBW weight babies [for LBW (12%) and VLBW (80%)]. Costs associated with LBW excess morbidity were calculated on the incremental number of hospital admissions in LBW babies compared to non-LBW weight babies. Direct and indirect household costs for routine health care were 24.12 US$(CI 95$ (CI 95% 6.33; 10.72). Of the 3,322 live births that occurred in one year in the study area, health system costs associated to LBW (routine health care and excess morbidity) and DALYs were 169,957.61 US$ (CI 95% 144,900.00; 195,500.00) and 2,746.06, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This first cost evaluation of LBW in a low-income country shows that reducing the prevalence of LBW would translate into important cost savings to the health system and the household. These results are of relevance for similar settings and should serve to promote interventions aimed at improving maternal care

Neonatal hypernatremia: A report of two cases in Ibadan, Nigeria

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