Participation in the National Health Insurance Scheme Among Nurses in a Tertiary Teaching Hospital, North central Nigeria.

Background: The National Health Insurance Scheme was established under Act 35 of 1999 by the Federal Government of Nigeria and is aimed at providing easy access to health care for all Nigerians at an affordable cost through various prepayment systems. It is totally committed to achieving universal coverage and access to adequate and affordable health care aimed at improving the health status of Nigerians. Assessment of the programme after four years of operation, revealed less than three percent coverage of the Nigerian population. Therefore this study aimed at determining the level of its participation among nurses in a teaching hospital.Methodology: This was a descriptive cross sectional, facility-based study involving four hundred nurses selected using multistage sampling technique. Structured, self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data that was analysed using Epi info version 3.5.1 statistical software.Results: Majority: 268 (67%) of the respondents had good knowledge of the scheme, reflected by all of them acknowledging to having heard of the scheme with 312 (78%) actively participating in the scheme. One hundred and eighty eight (37.8%) of them had been participating for a duration of 0-2 years. A larger proportion; 216 (54%) respondents were not satisfied with the scheme with 80 (37.0%) of them noting that the process was cumbersome. There were statistically significant associations between sex (p<0.0001), cadre (p<0.0001) and participation in the scheme.Conclusion: Though all the nurses had heard about the scheme, with a greater percentage having a good knowledge of what it entails, there were negative findings regarding practice in terms of payments made and the cumbersome nature of the scheme by respondents. There is therefore a need to address these observed gaps so as to improve acceptability and accessibility of the scheme among them.Keywords: Participation, National Health Insurance Scheme, Nurses,Tertiary Teaching Hospital, North central Nigeria

Knowledge And Intake of Fruit And Vegetables Consumption Among Adults In An Urban Community In North Central Nigeria

Background: Fruit and vegetable consumption is an essential source of vital nutrients for the body's micronutrient requirements. However, the knowledge and intake of this essential aspect of nutrition is globally poor.This study therefore aimed at assessing the knowledge and intake of vegetables and fruits among adults in Tudun Wada Community of Jos North LGA, Central Nigeria. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study where 250 respondents were selected using a Multistage Sampling technique. Structured questionnaires were used to gather data, which were analyzed using Epi info version 3.5.1. Qualitative data are presented as frequenciesand percentages while Chi-square is used to evaluate associations between outcome variables and demographic variables.Results: There was an overall fair knowledge of the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables among majority (92.4%) the respondents, with a statistically significant association between level of education attained andknowledge (p<0.05). Females were also noted to have a better practice of fruit and vegetable consumption than their male peers (p < 0.05). The appropriate practice of fruit and vegetable consumption was however not as high as knowledge: with only 69.2% of the respondents having appropriate consumption practices.Conclusion: The low level of appropriate practice of fruit and vegetable consumption by adults in the study area needs to be improved by health workers using the mass media, health talks and one-on-one health education of patients and clients during health facility visits.Key Words: Fruits, Vegetables, Knowledge, Consumption

Effect of peer education on timeliness and completeness of routine immunization: An assessment in rural communities in North-Central Nigeria

Most children in developing countries who start routine immunization do not complete it; this reduces the efficacy of vaccines received. This study set out to assess the effect of Peer Education on timeliness and completeness of routine immunization among children of rural communities in North-Central Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling was used to select Mother-Child pairs. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used for data collection during the pre- and post peer education intervention. Chi-square test was used to determine any statistical association while Logistic  Regression test was done to evaluate predictive factors for a child being fully immunized; with p-value of £0.05 considered significant.  Pre-intervention showed that most respondents had immunized theirchildren in a timely way (study group, 55.4%; control, 50.8%), while post-intervention indicated a statistically significant increase in timeliness of vaccination amongst the study group. However, residing at a location less than 30-minute walking distance from the immunization point was observed to be the most predictive factor for being fully immunized. It was therefore concluded, that Peer Education is an effective way of improving timeliness and completeness of routine immunization and this should be expanded by health workers.Key words: Immunization, Intervention, Completeness, Timeliness, Peer education

Factors Affecting Household Food Security in a Rural Community in North-Central Nigeria

Although the proportion of hungry people in the world is slowly decreasing, there are presently 852 million people worldwide who are chronically  undernourished; mostly rural dwellers in the lower socio-economic strata. This study therefore examines the factors influencing household food security in a rural community in North Central Nigeria. Using Multistage sampling technique, 235 households were sampled. Interviewer  administered structured questionnaires were used to gather data which were collated and analyzed using Epi Info version 3.5.3. The value P<0.05 was considered statistically significant with a confidence level of 95%.The results showed that 66.2% of studied households grew most of their consumed food on their farmlands, while 43.8% of the households spentbetween 25–50% of their monthly income on feeding their members. Although most of the households (72.9%) dry and bag their farm produce after harvest, 77.8% lose 0-24% of the produce to spoilage or pests yearly. In addition, poverty (47.5%) was observed to be the commonest factor limiting access to sufficient food, while poverty and poor storage were notable factors affecting household food security among rural dwellers. Therefore, governments and non-governmental organizations need to employ strategies that will ensure poverty reduction and improve foodstorage and processing facilities.Keywords: Rural Community, Household, Food security, Food storage, Hunger, Povert

Domestic Refuse Handling Practices Among Adult Females in a Nigerian Metropolitan City: Are there Challenges

Domestic refuse are solid household wastes that are predominantly  handled by adult females. This study determines the domestic refuse-handling practices/associated factors in a Nigerian metropolitan city. It was an interventional/community-based study involving a total of 436 adult females selected by the multi-stage sampling method. They were  subdivided into two groups: control group (n=218) and intervention group (n=218). Using a semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire, a baseline assessment was made in both groups. Health education was given on domestic refuse handling and reinforcement by trained  community-based health educators. Three months later, the same respondents were re-assessed using the same questionnaire. Data was analysed using EPI info software. Post-intervention results showed that 137 (62.8%) of the females in the intervention group had good domestic refuse-handling practices compared to 55 (25.2%) of the females in the control group, while 163 (74.8%) had bad practices. Majority of females suggested collective efforts as a solution to the various challenges faced by them particularly the absence of community sanitation members. Also, community-based health education was found to be effective in enhancing good domestic refuse-handling practices, though there is a need for morecommunity effort as regards the proper handling for enhanced  sustainability.Key words: Solid waste, practices, female adults, obstacles

Working Inside for Smoking Elimination (Project W.I.S.E.) study design and rationale to prevent return to smoking after release from a smoke free prison

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Incarcerated individuals suffer disproportionately from the health effects of tobacco smoking due to the high smoking prevalence in this population. In addition there is an over-representation of ethnic and racial minorities, impoverished individuals, and those with mental health and drug addictions in prisons. Increasingly, prisons across the U.S. are becoming smoke free. However, relapse to smoking is common upon release from prison, approaching 90% within a few weeks. No evidence based treatments currently exist to assist individuals to remain abstinent after a period of prolonged, forced abstinence.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This paper describes the design and rationale of a randomized clinical trial to enhance smoking abstinence rates among individuals following release from a tobacco free prison. The intervention is six weekly sessions of motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy initiated approximately six weeks prior to release from prison. The control group views six time matched videos weekly starting about six weeks prior to release. Assessments take place in-person 3 weeks after release and then for non-smokers every 3 months up to 12 months. Smoking status is confirmed by urine cotinine.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Effective interventions are greatly needed to assist these individuals to remain smoke free and reduce health disparities among this socially and economically challenged group.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p><a href="http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=01122589">NCT01122589</a></p

Simple Ways to Measure Behavioral Responses of Drosophila to Stimuli and Use of These Methods to Characterize a Novel Mutant

The behavioral responses of adult Drosophila fruit flies to a variety of sensory stimuli – light, volatile and non-volatile chemicals, temperature, humidity, gravity, and sound - have been measured by others previously. Some of those assays are rather complex; a review of them is presented in the Discussion. Our objective here has been to find out how to measure the behavior of adult Drosophila fruit flies by methods that are inexpensive and easy to carry out. These new assays have now been used here to characterize a novel mutant that fails to be attracted or repelled by a variety of sensory stimuli even though it is motile

Evidence-based Kernels: Fundamental Units of Behavioral Influence

This paper describes evidence-based kernels, fundamental units of behavioral influence that appear to underlie effective prevention and treatment for children, adults, and families. A kernel is a behavior–influence procedure shown through experimental analysis to affect a specific behavior and that is indivisible in the sense that removing any of its components would render it inert. Existing evidence shows that a variety of kernels can influence behavior in context, and some evidence suggests that frequent use or sufficient use of some kernels may produce longer lasting behavioral shifts. The analysis of kernels could contribute to an empirically based theory of behavioral influence, augment existing prevention or treatment efforts, facilitate the dissemination of effective prevention and treatment practices, clarify the active ingredients in existing interventions, and contribute to efficiently developing interventions that are more effective. Kernels involve one or more of the following mechanisms of behavior influence: reinforcement, altering antecedents, changing verbal relational responding, or changing physiological states directly. The paper describes 52 of these kernels, and details practical, theoretical, and research implications, including calling for a national database of kernels that influence human behavior

GW190412: Observation of a Binary-Black-Hole Coalescence with Asymmetric Masses

We report the observation of gravitational waves from a binary-black-hole coalescence during the first two weeks of LIGO’s and Virgo’s third observing run. The signal was recorded on April 12, 2019 at 05∶30∶44 UTC with a network signal-to-noise ratio of 19. The binary is different from observations during the first two observing runs most notably due to its asymmetric masses: a ∼30 M_⊙ black hole merged with a ∼8 M_⊙ black hole companion. The more massive black hole rotated with a dimensionless spin magnitude between 0.22 and 0.60 (90% probability). Asymmetric systems are predicted to emit gravitational waves with stronger contributions from higher multipoles, and indeed we find strong evidence for gravitational radiation beyond the leading quadrupolar order in the observed signal. A suite of tests performed on GW190412 indicates consistency with Einstein’s general theory of relativity. While the mass ratio of this system differs from all previous detections, we show that it is consistent with the population model of stellar binary black holes inferred from the first two observing runs