Assessing baseline knowledge and practices of injection safety among primary health care workers in Cross River State, Nigeria: a cross-sectional urban-rural comparative study.

Introduction: unsafe injection practices are commonplace in low-income countries, and place health care workers at risk of blood-borne infections. A safe injection strategy requires a synchronized approach to deal with change in behavior of users and service providers towards safer practice. There is general lack of data on injection safety practices in Cross River State.

Factors associated with appropriate home management of uncomplicated malaria in children in Kassena-Nankana district of Ghana and implications for community case management of childhood illness: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Home management of uncomplicated malaria (HMM) is now integrated into the community case management of childhood illness (CCM), an approach that requires parasitological diagnosis before treatment. The success of CCM in resource-constrained settings without access to parasitological testing significantly depends on the caregiver's ability to recognise malaria in children under five years (U5), assess its severity, and initiate early treatment with the use of effective antimalarial drugs in the appropriate regimen at home. Little is known about factors that influence effective presumptive treatment of malaria in U5 by caregivers in resource-constrained malaria endemic areas.

Social determinants of alcohol use among drivers in Calabar.

Objective: Hazardous use of alcohol is a public health problem which accounts for 4.0% of global disease burden. Although the prevalence of alcohol use among drivers of commercial vehicles in Nigeria has been documented, not much is known about its social determinants.

Exposure of petrol station attendants and auto mechanics to premium motor sprit fumes in Calabar, Nigeria.

A population-based-cross-sectional survey was carried out to investigate the potential risk of exposure to premium motor spirit (PMS) fumes in Calabar, Nigeria, among Automobile Mechanics (AM), Petrol Station Attendants (PSA) and the general population. Structured questionnaire was administered on the randomly chosen subjects to elicit information on their exposure to PMS. Duration of exposure was taken as the length of work in their various occupations.

The role of mothers in household health-seeking behavior and decision-making in childhood febrile illness in Okurikang/Ikot Effiong Otop community, Cross River State, Nigeria.

The authors examine mothers and decision making during childhood febrile illness in rural Nigeria in this article. Employing a cross-sectional descriptive community survey, we elicited information from four categories of caregivers with the help of structured questionnaires. Apart from sociostructural economic factors, the authors reveal how interlocking objectives and values as expressed in extended family institutions functioned to influence both behavior and decision making of mothers.

Awareness and acceptability of strategies for preventing mother to child transmission of HIV among antenatal clients in Calabar, Nigeria.

Background: Mother to child transmission is the major route through which children below the age of 15 years acquire HIV infection. The most effective way to reduce childhood HIV infection is to prevent the infection in mothers and for already infected mothers use appropriate strategies to prevent transmission to their children. This study was conducted to determine the level of awareness and acceptability of strategies for preventing mother to child transmission of HIV.

Patients' perception of obstetric practice in Calabar, Nigeria.

Objective: To determine the influence of patients' perception of obstetric practice in Calabar on the low utilization of health facilities for delivery.

Methods: The University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, the general hospital and eight private clinics in Calabar were visited daily for a period of one month to interview postnatal mothers. This was to ascertain the mothers' perception of obstetric care in these facilities and their attitude towards some selected birth practices.

Factors associated with missed opportunities to immunise with tetanus toxoid at a tertiary health institution in Nigeria.

Objective: To determine the magnitude of and the reasons for missed opportunities to immunise with tetanus toxoid at a tertiary health institution in Nigeria. The information obtained would be used in developing an intervention strategy for eliminating missed opportunities in the future.

Design: Missed opportunity was assessed by using the Revised WHO/EPI protocol (WHO/EPI/MLM/91.