Postnatal care services use by mothers: A comparative study of defaulters versus attendees of postnatal clinics in Enugu.

Introduction: Despite much emphasis on the reproductive health of women, maternal mortality is still high, especially in postnatal period.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of postnatal care use and reasons for defaults among mothers attending the child immunization clinics in Enugu, Nigeria.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional comparative study of 400 consecutive nursing mothers who presented at the Institute of Child Health of UNTH and ESUTH, Enugu for Second dose of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV2) for their babies at 10 weeks postpartum.

Asymptomatic malaria parasitemia does not induce additional oxidative stress in pregnant women of South East Nigeria.

Objective: To determine the relationship between asymptomatic malaria parasitemia and some oxidative stress parameters in pregnant Nigerian women.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving 130 normal pregnant women at various trimesters, who were attending antenatal clinic at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) and Kenechukwu Specialist Hospital in Enugu. A comparable group (control), made of 30 non pregnant women was also recruited.