Knowledge of Helping Babies Breathe Programme and the Determinants among Trainees in Edo State.

Background: Neonatal deaths contribute up to 32% of early childhood deaths in Nigeria. Most neonatal deaths (75%) occur during the first week of life. Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) programme is an intervention launched in 2010 by The American Academy of Paediatrics and found to be effective in reducing neonatal mortality by 47%.

Distinct pattern and prevalence of dihydropteroate synthase gene mutations in children with sickle cell anaemia and haemoglobin AA in Benin City, Nigeria: the impact of HbAA.

Introduction: specific mutations on the Plasmodium falciparum dihydropteroate synthase (Pfdhps) gene mediate sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP) resistance and thus, pose a threat to the efficacy of SP-Intermittent Preventive Therapy (SP-IPT) in malaria chemoprevention in children, including those with sickle cell anaemia (SCA). This study determined the distinct pattern and prevalence of Pfdhps mutations in children with SCA and in those with homozygous haemoglobin A (HbAA) in Benin City, Nigeria; showing the impact of haemoglobin phenotype.

Methods: this was a cross-sectional study involving children with SCA and HbAA.

Uptake and usage of proguanil as malaria chemoprophylaxis and the socio-economic determinants of proguanil usage in children with sickle cell anemia in Benin City.

Background: Proguanil is currently the recommended drug used for malaria chemoprophylaxis in children with Sickle cell anaemia (SCA).

Aims: This study aims to determine the uptake and usage of proguanil as malaria chemoprophylaxis and the socioeconomic determinants of its usage in children aged 6-59 months. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in two major sickle cell clinics in Benin City, Edo state, Nigeria.

Prevalence of Molecular Markers of Plasmodium Falciparum Resistance to Proguanil and Pyrimethamine in Children with Haemoglobin Phenotypes SS and AA in Benin City, Nigeria.

Background: Chemoprophylaxis against Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) is advocated in children with sickle cell anaemia (SCA). Among them, antifolates: proguanil and pyrimethamine had replaced initial chemoprophylactic drugs because of widespread resistance. In recent past, efficacy of these antifolates has also come under scrutiny due to increasing level of drug resistance.

Molecular determinants of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance in Plasmodium falciparum in Nigeria and the regional emergence of dhps 431V.

There are few published reports of mutations in dihydropteroate synthetase (dhps) and dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr) genes in P. falciparum populations in Nigeria, but one previous study has recorded a novel dhps mutation at codon 431 among infections imported to the United Kingdom from Nigeria. To assess how widespread this mutation is among parasites in different parts of the country and consequently fill the gap in sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) resistance data in Nigeria, we retrospectively analysed 1000 filter paper blood spots collected in surveys of pregnant women and children with uncomplicated falciparum malaria between 2003 and 2015 from four sites in the south and north.