ABSTRACT The impact of HIV infection on progesterone, systemic cytokines, and lymphocyte levels in advancing pregnancy remains unclear despite the reported abortions among HIV-infected women. Thus, the main objective of this study was to determine and compare the profiles of progesterone, systemic cytokines and blood lymphocyte counts in advancing pregnancies of HIV-infected and HIV-non-infected women population. In a longitudinal cohort study, 44 HIV-infected and 44 HIV-non-infected pregnant...
ABSTRACT Breakfast is an important meal of a day, especially to children and pre-adolescents. However, pre-adolescents seem to have the highest prevalence of missing breakfast (MB) despite its importance to their cognitive performance, growth and development. Furthermore, sociodemographic characteristics have been shown to impart on breakfast missing among children. There is a paucity of literature in Africa regarding the influence of missing breakfast on the cognitive functions of the childr...
VABSTRACT The study to evaluate the Malezi bora communicated messages on utilization of health services for children less than 5 years old in Lugari Sub County was conducted in October, 2015.Lugari was chosen because it had an under five mortality rate of 64 deaths per 1000 live births which was higher than the national average of 52 deaths per 1000 live births and children had low access to health services. The objectives of the study in Lugari were; evaluation of the influence of Malezi bor...
ABSTRACT Vitamin D is a lipid soluble vitamin that acts as a hormone as well as a micronutrient. Through vitamin D receptors (VDR) expressed on immune cells, vitamin D polarizes Th1/Th2 cytokine balance in pregnancy regulating humoral immune responses triggered by B cell antigens. How plasma concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D affect the quantity of anti-measles virus and anti-diphtheria toxoid vaccine-antigen antibodies during pregnancy in early life years remain unclear. This study assume...
ABSTRACT Poor sanitation is associated with poor health outcomes in populations, loss of school days, low academic performance and stunting in children. Kenya loses 0.9% of its Gross Domestic Product, KES 27.4 billion, annually due to poor sanitation. This indicates that failure to invest in sanitation may be costly. Busia County is among the counties that currently require education on importance of using standard sanitation facilities. Despite the knowledge of the needs for efficient sanita...
ABSTRACT Globally and in Kenya, Maternal Mortality Ratio remain high at 546/100,000 and 362/100,000 live births respectively. In Kenya, skilled birth attendants (SBA) are estimated at 62% and 68% in Nyatike. Factors influencing skilled birth attendants in still unknown in Nyatike. The specific objectives of this study were to assess the level of knowledge on safe motherhood, socio-demographic characteristics, health workers’ attitude, quality of skilled delivery services and association wit...
Abstract The consequences of heavy or ‘binge‘ drinking pose serious risks for drinkers, but also for those in the immediate environment. This study therefore, was to investigate whether alcohol dependency has any negative influences on the academic performance on those who depend on it using the following objectives: to establish the causes of alcohol dependency, to investigate the effects of alcohol dependency on academic performance and to find out the economic constraints incurred by s...
ABSTRACT According to the 2013 World Health Organization estimates, maternal tetanus toxoid (TT2) immunization coverage was 65% globally, and 66% in Africa. In Kenya, the vaccination was 48.7% in 2013 while 27.4% in Kakamega County. Since non-uptake of TT vaccination means a mother would not be able to develop immunity against tetanus, the mother would not pass anti-tetanus immunity to her neonate. In this case, Neonates born of 72.6% anti-tetanus naive mothers in Kakamega County are suscepti...
ABSTRACT There is a rise in prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in Kenya, and an increase in related complications, which lead to disability and death. Diet modification to control blood sugar, lipid levels and pressure are vital in lowering risk and complications development in the management of Type 2 diabetes. Adherence to diet on the other hand, is a behaviour, influenced by among others, socio-economic factors and perceptions. Studies indicate that adherence to diet therapy is below average, e...
ABSTRACT Patients with chronic kidney disease undergoing hemodialysis are usually co-morbid with hypertension that contributes to increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality if not controlled. A number of factors are targeted as influencing agents to uncontrolled hypertension but adherence to treatment is counted as a major factor contributing to poor control of hypertension. In Kenya studies done among chronic kidney disease patients have found high uncontrolled rate of blood pressure i...
ABSTRACT Kenya is among the 22 high burden countries that contribute 80% of the world’s TB and is ranked 15th globally, while in Africa, it is ranked number five. Strategies for reduction of TB rely on knowledge of where, when and to what degree the disease is present. Information on the geographical occurrence of TB in the high burden regions of Kisumu and Siaya Counties, Western Kenya remains scanty. As such, the main objective of this study was to analyze the spatial distribution of TB a...
ABSTRACT Amoxicillin dispersible tablet (DT) is now recommended by the World Health Organization as a first line product for treatment of pneumonia in children below 5 years. This formulation, is however, not readily available in most of Africa. The main aim of this study was to compare the acceptability, adherence and clinical outcome of amoxicillin dispersible tablets to that of the conventional Amoxicillin oral suspension (OS) in treatment of children aged 2-59 months with pneumonia in Ken...
Abstract Client satisfaction is influenced by the efficiency of services offered in health facilities. When services are offered promptly, clients are more likely to comply with prescribed treatment. Long waiting time has frequently been mentioned as one factor which may limit health service utilization by any given community. Studies carried out in developing countries show that clients spent 3-4 hours in outpatient departments before seeing the doctor. Studies have shown that long waiting t...
ABSTRACT In sub-Saharan Africa, 34.8 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed per 100,000 women annually and 22.5/100,000 women die from the disease. The disease burden is higher in the developing countries with lower screening rates. Despites of the magnitude of this problem, Kenya still has a screening rate of 3.2% therefore cervical cancer prevalence has not been established. Having been shown to be effective with other health indicators and being members of the communities, community he...
ABSTRACT The increase in prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in members of enterobacteriaceae is posing a major challenge in treatment of bacterial infections and paving way to emergence of multidrug resistant pathogens. Multidrug resistance pathogens such as strains of bacteria (Escherichia coli) produce extended spectrum Beta-lactamases hence are a global problem. Alternative treatment is therefore needed to cure the bacterial infections. Bidens pilosa is among the plants that have been ...