Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Towards Sexually Transmitted Diseases among Undergraduate Students in Ahmadu Bello University, Main Campus, Samaru, Zaria.

Background: Worldwide, over a million people acquire a sexually transmitted infection (STI) daily. Young individuals of 16-24years age group are more prone to STIs because they lack adequate knowledge about STIs and tend to have wrong perceptions towards sex. Aim: This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards sexually transmitted diseases among undergraduate students of ABU main campus, Samaru, Zaria. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used, in which 440 questionnaires were administered for the study among which 411(93%) were retrieved and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 23. Results: Results obtained showed that 77% of the respondents had good knowledge, attitudes of the respondents were found to be positive with an aggregate mean of 4.12 and 67% uses a condom for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Conclusion: From the findings of the study, it was concluded that undergraduate students in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria had good knowledge, positive attitudes, and good preventive practices towards sexually transmitted diseases

Implications of Land Use Changes on the Yields in Dry Matter, Energy and Protein of Range and Crop Fields in Zamfara Reserve, Northwestern Nigeria

The Zamfara reserve is a 235,500 ha grazing land within the Sudan savannah zone (12º 10\u27 - 13º 05 N; 6º 30\u27 - 7º15\u27 E) of north western Nigeria. Rainfall varies from 500mm in the north to 800mm in the south of the reserve, and is restricted within the months of May - September. The reserve is an important grazing site for the herds of sedentary, transhumant and agro pastoralists. Population growth within the farming communities in the reserve has led to the conversion of more grazing land to croplands. This work was carried out to evaluate the quantity and quality of herbage on the natural range and the croplands, in order to have an insight on the effect of increased cropping activity on biomass availability in the reserve

Time Budget on Major Activities of Livestock Grazing Heterogeneous Natural Range and Crop Fields in Semi-Arid Nigeria

Semi-arid rangelands of West Africa provide herbs, trees and shrubs, which together with crop residues form the main sources of feed for the livestock population. Feed supply in this region is characterised by a progressive decline in quantity and quality with advancing dry season. It was reported that walking ability as well as watering frequencies affect the productivity of grazing livestock (Dicko and Sangare, 1984). This study tests the hypothesis that advancing season increases both time spent walking as well as feeding, with a switch from grazing to browsing

A review of community-based health insurance in Nigeria

Background: The primary goal of many countries is to establish a healthcare financing system that guarantees universal health coverage (UHC) through equity in access to healthcare services as well as financial risk protection to the people. Community based health insurance (CBHI) has emerged as an alternative to reduce out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures and improved financial risk protections in developing countries like Nigeria. The aim of this study is to review the CBHI in Nigeria and highlight the issues, weaknesses and strengths of the system. Materials and Methods: A systematic literature review on the CBHI was conducted using relevant studies searched from electronic databases: MEDLINE, Pubmed, scienceDirect.com, PLOS and public search engine (Google). It was done on 16th January, 2017. The phrases used are ‘health financing’, ‘community health insurance’ in ‘Nigeria’ which were put together by Boolean operator “and” articles or reports. Relevant materials for the past 7 years were included. A total of 5 articles fulfilled the criteria for review. SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threat) tool was used for the analysis. Result: The strengths of CBHI scheme in Nigeria are it reduces OOP health expenditure and improves utilization rate on healthcare. However, the weaknesses are that the scheme tends to cover a comparatively small proportion of the social class, namely the lower social class. Also, involvement of the community sometimes is ineffective due to inadequate funding. The opportunities are that the CBHI scheme increases efforts towards improving healthcare system in the country and enables equity in access to healthcare. The threats are weak policy, lack of political commitment to health, poor funding especially in primary healthcare and poverty. Conclusion: Nigeria must start to make more commitment to health care, if they want to achieve UHC. The rate of out of pockets health expenditure is still very high and catastrophic on Nigerian healthcare system. Recommended strategies needs to be addressed urgently in order to improve equity in access to health care service as well as effective financial risk protection. CBHI may not be suitable in all situations but can play an important role in to health care programs in Nigeria

Predictors of extra care among magnesium sulphate treated eclamptic patients at Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania

\ud The inclusion of Magnesium Sulphate (MgSO4) as a gold standard in the treatment of eclampsia has substantially reduced incidences of repeated fits, eclamptic morbidity and deaths. However, despite treatment with MgSO4, a proportion of patients need extra medical/nursing attention and prolonged stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). The literature on the underlying factors for the need of extra care in the MgSO4 era is lacking. This study sought to establish predictors of extra care in ICU among eclamptic patients after treatment with MgSO4 at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH). Data were obtained from hospital records of eclamptic patients who were admitted at MNH and treated with MgSO4 from January 1st to December 31st, 2008. Based on set criteria, patients who needed extra care were identified. Analysis was performed using PASW statistics 18 whereby frequencies, cross-tabulations, bivariate and multiple logistic regressions were performed. A total of 366 eclamptic patients were admitted and treated with MgSO4 at MNH during a 12 month study period in 2008. Most of these (76%) were referred from district hospitals and 132 (36%) met the criteria for extra care in ICU. After adjusting for other variables, the risk of extra care in ICU for patients who were admitted with altered consciousness was double (OR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.3-4.0) that of the ones admitted in alert state. The risk or need of extra care increased by increasing time to delivery and was doubled (OR = 2.0; 95% CI:1.1-3.7) if it was between 12 and 24 hours and tenfold elevated (OR = 10.0; 95% CI:4.3-23.6) if beyond 24 hours as compared to when time to delivery was less than 12 hours.Abdominal delivery was also independently associated with increased risk compared to vaginal delivery (OR = 2.5; 95%CI: 1.4-4.5). The type of referral and number of fits were associated with extra care in ICU but this association was wholly explained by the clinical status of the patient on admission to MNH and prolonged time lag to delivery. We concluded that even with MgSO4 used as the gold standard in the treatment of eclampsia, effective pre-referral care and expedited delivery were crucial in minimizing the need for extra care in ICU.\u