Comparison of heated water-filled mattress and space-heated room with infant incubator in providing warmth to low birthweight newborns.

Background: Prevention of excessive heat loss is fundamental to survival of low birthweight (LBW) newborns. The use of infant incubators (INC) is beyond the resources of developing countries, and the space-heated room (SHR) has been the only feasible means of providing thermal protection to LBW newborns. Recently a thermostatically controlled, heated, water-filled mattress (HWM) has been developed as a potentially simpler and affordable alternative.

"Killer" canine removal and its sequelae in Addis Ababa.

Children and adolescents, aged 2 to 18 years, from 300 poor families in Addis Ababa were examined to determine the prevalence of the traditional practice of primary canine tooth removal. Fifteen percent of the primary canine teeth were found to have been affected, and 7% of the permanent canines had been damaged by this practice. A questionnaire to a subset of 40 families revealed some of the reasons that this procedure is still carried out, in spite of the considerable associated morbidity.

Dental health of children in an integrated urban development programme for destitute mothers with twins in Addis Ababa.

The Ethiopian Gemini Trust in Addis Ababa is a charitable organisation which cares for mothers who have delivered twins or triplets. A dental preventive programme for the disadvantaged children in the Trust was begun and this paper describes the first objective of the programme, the determination of the levels of dental disease. Caries, periodontal disease, malocclusion and enamel opacities were recorded.

Paralytic poliomyelitis in Addis Ababa: follow-up survey of registered children.

A survey was carried out of children resident in Addis Ababa with paralytic poliomyelitis who had been registered at a weekly-held multidisciplinary "polio clinic" at the Ethio-Swedish Children's Hospital. The children were physically examined and traced to their homes, where a questionnaire was completed yielding demographic data, initial disease presentation and subsequent treatment. A total of 557 (90%) children were traced, of whom 80% were between the ages of 5 and 16 years.