ABSTRACT Preterm birth, the birth of an infant prior to 37 completed weeks of gestation is the leading cause of newborn deaths in their first four weeks of life. In addition to its contribution to mortality, preterm birth has lifelong effects on neuro-developmental functioning such as increased risk of cerebral palsy, impaired learning and visual disorders, and an increased risk of chronic disease in adulthood that often result in huge physical, emotional and economic cost. In Namibia the pre...
ABSTRACT Naturally occurring radionuclides such as 238U, 232Th and 40K are present in the soil where they disintegrate spontaneously releasing ionizing radiation which could pose health hazards to the inhabitants of a given location especially when the concentrations of the radionuclides are high. In Namibia, the Walvis Bay – Henties Bay coastal area is known to have many mineral resources including uranium and therefore the concentrations of the radionuclides in the soils and the associate...
ABSTRACT Marama bean (Tylosema esculentum) is a drought-tolerant legume native to Southern Africa. The potential of its seeds have been compared to soybeans. The studies of the potential of this plant are limited and at the moment there are various ongoing researches on the marama bean plant. The main objectives of this study were to evaluate the quality of the marama bean and determine its health potential. The following studies were carried out: roasting optimization, sensory analysis, text...
ABSTRACT It is estimated by the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2004) that globally, over 50% medicines are prescribed inappropriately. In Namibia, suboptimal prescribing practices have been reported in previous medicine use surveys. Prescribing patterns in the out-patient settings have however not been evaluated in the Khomas Region. The aim of this study was to evaluate the medicine prescribing patterns in out-patient departments of public health facilities in the Khomas Region, Namibia. Th...
ABSTRACT In Namibia almost one out of every three children under the age of five is undernourished while one out of every 20 is obese. Thus, the concerns are nature and quality of Grade 2 scholars’ routine diet; ability for sustained attention within a classroom setting should their routine diet fail to adequately provide sustained glucose and scholastic performance that may result from attention deficits due to presumed poor quality of routine diet. The purpose of this study was to determi...
Abstract This qualitative study explores the experiences of 10 adults with epilepsy (AWE) in the Khomas region of Namibia. The study focuses on the everyday of problems, needs and coping strategies of this population as described during semi-structured interviews. An exploratory qualitative research design was used to investigate the experiences of AWE in the Khomas region of Namibia. Ten people with epilepsy were identified through purposive sampling. All participants were over the age of 18...
ABSTRACT Childhood immunisation is a cost-effective public health strategy. Immunisation is one of the most important preventive health actions in children’s lives as it provides protection against most infectious diseases. In Namibia, the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) has been instituted in 1990 to ensure that the immunisation of children takes place within the prescribed age frame. However, there is still room for improving the EPI, particularly as regards measles immunisation....
ABSTRACT As a new field of study, the impact of Facebook use is not well understood. Consequently, this descriptive quantitative cross-sectional study aims to address identified gaps by collecting Namibian specific data on the intensive Facebook use (IFU) and compulsive Facebook use (CFU) of first year students from the University of Namibia and describing how IFU and CFU relate to each other and to academic performance, life satisfaction and user characteristics. Using random sampling from a...
ABSTRACT Adolescents are sensitive people who can easily get derailed by a number of challenges which can sometimes lead to detrimental results if they are not taken care of appropriately. Despite the existence of the National Standards for Adolescent Friendly Health Services which is supposed to assist in reducing teenage pregnancy, disturbing figures of adolescents getting pregnant continue to rise. This study aimed at assessing the implementation of the Adolescent Active Participation, Ado...
ABSTRACT This study was conducted during the month of May 2006 in the informal settlements of Windhoek, Namibia. The aim of the study was to describe the prevalence of malnutrition among children between the ages of one and five years and to correlate possible causes, and other factors, with nutritional status. A cross-sectional descriptive study design was chosen. The sample was comprised of 350 respondents, mothers or caregivers of children between one and five years, residing in the non-fo...
ABSTRACT Emerging multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/XDR-TB) has become a major public health concern, placing millions at risk. Moreover, nosocomial transmission of MDR/XDR-TB places both patients and healthcare workers at an even higher risk. For these reason health facilities in high-risk settings need to implement effective tuberculosis (TB) infection prevention and control (IPC) policies/guidelines. Several studies elsewhere demonstrated that organizational processes and employee skil...
ABSTRACT This study was exploratory and descriptive in nature in which the researcher aimed to explore and describe how student nurses are guided by clinical nurse instructors in the training hospital of Oshana region. A quantitative as well as a qualitative approach has been utilized for this study. The quantitative part of the study was to get personal and professional information from the clinical nurse instructors. The qualitative approach was used to explore the views and attitudes of th...
Abstract Time perspective is the subjective perception a person holds about his/her past, present and future. Past, present and future are regarded as the dimensions of time perspective. All experiences/events are sorted into the dimensions and are called "contentss" of time perspective. The events/experiences of the different dimensions of time perspective are connected to each other, which provides the person with a perception of continuity over the life span. A perception of continuity ove...
Abstact Malaria, the disease, is a clinical diagnosis that is caused by Plasmodium parasites and is spread through the bites by infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. Malaria is a health concern in temperate tropical areas, but a scale up of control interventions resulted in reduction and elimination of the disease in developed countries. In 2010 Namibia adopted a strategy to eliminate malaria within its borders by the year 2020 as a result of the reduction in malaria cases. However, as malari...
Abstract Action research (AR) can be an effective form of ‘on the job’ training. However, it is critical that AR cycles can be appropriately recorded in order to contribute to reflection and learning. One form of recording is for coresearchers to keep a diary.We found no previous literature describing the use of diaries in AR in sub-Saharan Africa. We therefore use this paper to reflect on how diaries were used by district health management teams in the PERFORM project. We share five less...