Patients' satisfaction with services obtained from aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Northern Nigeria

No Abstract

Magnitude and leading causes of in-hospital mortality at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, northern Nigeria: A 4-year prospective analysis

Background: Population based mortality data are scarce especially in developing countries including Nigeria. Despite its limitations, hospital mortality analysis assesses the quality of health-care delivery and provides a proximate measure of mortality. We reviewed the magnitude and causes of death among in-patients in a tertiary hospital in northern Nigeria. Methods: Analysis of mortality rate and causes of death for the period 20052008 (inclusive) in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. Causes of death were prospectively entered on a database and classified according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10).Results: Out of 51,975 patients admitted to the hospital, 4,029 of them died. This gives a mortality rate of 7.8% (95% Confidence Interval of 7.5% to 8.0%). Specifically, of the 15,484 males admitted, 2,361 died giving a mortality rate of 15.2% while of the 36,491 females admitted, 1,668 died giving a mortality rate of 4.6%. The median age for all patients that died was 32.4 years (range: less than 1 day to 101 years), but 36.1 years (range: less than 1 day to 101 years) for the male and 29.3 (range: less than 1 day to 87 years) for the female subsets. The ten most common causes of mortality were HIV/AIDS (8.3%), Septicaemia (6.8%), cerebrovascular disease (6.3%), chronic renal failure (3.9%) chronic liver disease (3.3%), diabetes mellitus (3.2), neonatal jaundice (2.9%), severe birth asphyxia (2.6%), prematurity (2.5%) and bronchopneumonia (2.4%). Conclusion: The mortality rate and causes of death are comparable to similar centres. Regular mortality audits could identify management errors and prevent recurrence of avoidable deaths.Key words: Mortality, causes, Teaching hospital, Kano, Nigeri

Using Life Cycle Assessment in Investigating Electricity Generation Potential: (By Harnessing Garbage)

Solid waste is a waste that is predominantly domestic garbage. These wastes can be solid or semisolid form, but does not include industrial or hazardous wastes. Energy Recovery from garbage is not a new idea globally but the method of determining the energy content of the waste stream has developed over the period. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool used to determine the environmental impact, of any product from its raw material (cradle) stage to finally being discarded (grave) as a waste deposit. LCA can also be useful in identification of effective waste management system and in determining the energy content of a waste stream. For a complete LCA, scenarios have to be created which will aid the studies by comparing results of activities with the base case scenario. For this study, two scenarios were created, the base case scenario and energy recovery scenario. In the Base Case Scenario all the waste generated is taken to landfill. While in the Energy Recovery Scenario energy and material recovery is involved. From the result of the LCA, about 12MW of electricity can be recovered by harnessing the Garbage in UTM. With associated high decrease in environmental emissions from 5 tons of CO2 and 390Kg of deposited goods at the landfills to -0.97 tons of Co2 and no deposited goods because materials can be recovered from the waste that can be recycled. Gabi Software was used for the LCA assessment. Keywords: Scenario, LCA, Landfill, Gabi Software, University Technology Malaysia, energy recover

Birth Preparedness, Complication Readiness and Fathers’ Participation in Maternity Care in a Northern Nigerian Community

The role of men in maternity care in Africa is understudied, despite their economic dominance and decision making power. In a patriarchal society like northern Nigeria, pregnancy and childbirth are often regarded as exclusively women’s affairs. Using data from interviewer administered questionnaires and in-depth interviews; we assessedbirth preparedness, complication readiness and male participation in maternity care in Ungogo, a northern Nigerian community. Majority of pregnancies were unplanned (96%). Only 32.1% of men ever accompanied their spouses for maternity care. There was very little preparation for skilled assistance during delivery (6.2%), savings foremergencies (19.5%) or transportation during labour (24.2%). Young paternal age (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.2-2.6), formal education (AOR=1.9, 95%CI=1.1-3.4) and non-Hausa Fulani ethnicity (AOR=2.3, 95%CI=1.4-3.3) were independent predictors of male participation in maternity care. There isa need to increase involvement of men in their partner’s maternity care through peer-led, culturally-sensitive community education and appropriate health system reforms.(Afr J Reprod Health 2010; 14[1]:21-32)

Comparative Analysis of Some Efficient Data Security Methods among Cryptographic Techniques for Cloud Data Security

The concept of cloud computing model is to grant users access to outsource data from the cloud server without them having to worry about aspects of the hardware and software management. The owner of the data encrypts it before outsourcing to a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) server for effective deployment of sensitive data. Data confidentiality is a demanding task of cloud data protection. Thus, to solve this problem, lots of techniques are needed to defend the shared data. We focus on cryptography to secure the data while transmitting in the network. We deployed Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) used as encryption method for cloud data security, to encrypt the sensitive data which is to be transmitted from sender to receiver in the network and to decrypt so that the receiver can view the original data. Arrays of encryption systems are being deployed in the world of Information Systems by various organizations. In this paper, comparative analysis of some various encryption algorithms in cryptography have been implemented by comparing their performance in terms of stimulated time during Encryption and decryption in the network. Keywords: AES, Data Control, Data Privacy, Data Storage, Encryption Algorithms, Verification

Compliance to medication among hypertensive patients in Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Kano, Nigeria

Background: Non-compliance to blood pressure-lowering medication is a major reason for poor control of hypertension worldwide. We assessed the level of compliance to anti-hypertensive therapy and identified factors contributing to poor compliance among hypertensives in Kano. Methodology: Three hundred and sixty outpatients were interviewed using a pre-tested, structured, mostly closed ended questionnaire in Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital in Kano, Nigeria. Results: Good compliance with drug treatment was observed in 54.2% of the respondents and poor compliance among the remainder. Poor compliance was found to be mainly due to ignorance on need for regular treatment (32.7%), lack of funds to purchase drugs (32.7%) and side effects of drugs (12.1%). Patients with formal education, and higher monthly income were more compliant to treatment. In addition, those on single drugs were more compliant compared to those on two or more drugs. Poor compliance was found to be mainly due to ignorance and lack of funds to purchase drugs. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, there is a need for launching a comprehensive approach involving health care providers, patients and the general public to educating patients on the need to take their drugs regularly and in the manner prescribed. Doctors should consider the financial status of their patients in prescribing antihypertensive drugs to enable affordability. Prices of anti-hypertensive drugs should be subsidized where possible. Prescribing an effective, inexpensive, single dose daily medication with minimal side effects will improve patient compliance considerably. Key Words: Hypertension; Medication; Compliance; Kano Journal of Community Medicine & Primary Health Care Vol.16(1) 2004: 16-2

Mechanical Properties of Self-Compacting Concrete Subjected to Elevated Temperature

Self-compacting concrete flows and fills reinforcement gaps and corners of formworks without the need for vibration during the pouring process. The problem associated with the production of self-compacting concreteis the use of a high dosage of cement which necessitates the addition of supplementary cementitious materials to curtail this effect. As a result, the impact of a ternary blended pozzolanic materials on the mechanical properties of SCC exposed to extreme temperatures was investigated. A quantitative research approach was employed and an experimental design method was adopted. The materials used were cement, rice husk ash, metakaolin, and pulverized burnt bricks. Laboratory tests conducted at the hardened stage were compressive strength, weight loss, and ultrasonic pulse velocity of self-compacting concretesubjected to 200°C, 400°C, 600°C, and 800°C elevated temperatures. At 800°C elevated temperature, the result of residual compressive strength shows that SCC produced withaddition of the ternary blend at 10% had a higher value of residual compressive strength of 27.3% over the control specimens. Control specimens were found to have the least values of weight loss in comparisonto the self-compacting concreteproduced with the addition of the ternary blend. The result of residual UPV shows that self-compacting concrete produced withaddition of the ternary blend at 10% had a higher value of 8.6%over the control specimens. When self-compacting concreteis to be produced with a ternary blend of rice husk ash, metakaolin, and pulverized burnt bricksand subjected to an elevated temperature of up to 800°C, 10wt.% is the optimum cement replacementleve

The Influence of Primary Air Pollutants on Human Health Related Risk

Air pollutant is one of the major health related risk today. The presence of air pollutants as atmospheric substances or energy in uncontrollable quantities and of unimaginable duration is liable to cause harm to life, damage to man-made materials and structures, or changes in the weather and climate.  This paper attempts to explain air pollution upon human health from the primary source point of view. It also looked at the historical background of air pollution, the source,  Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), Carbon monoxide (CO), Sulphur oxide (SOx), Particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5), Hydrocarbons (HCs) to the Health effects of primary air pollutants such as Cardiovascular disease (CVD), Cancer, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Asthma, Indoor air pollution, Control of primary Air pollutants. Based on these, evaluations are made and Conclusions were drawn with some recommendations. Keywords: Pollution, Health, Air index, industry, Primary, Control, Countries