ABSTRACT In developing countries as many as 50% of patients for whom a transfusion is indicated are at risk of dying immediately if transfusion is withheld. It is therefore important that blood transfusion is made as safe as possible. This study was designed to assess the safety of blood transfusion in two large blood banks in Ibadan, Nigeria. Aliquots of 250 samples already screened and passed as negative for HIV-1 and -2 were collected from each of the blood banks. Samples were tested for t...
ABSTRACT Background: Substances extracted from lichens have previously been reported to possess antimicrobial activities against various groups of bacteria, fungi and viruses. Due to the high abundance of Parmelia perlata in the Eastern parts of Nigeria, we decided to explore whether it possesses antiviral activity against some common animal and human viruses. Methodology: The dried and powdered lichen was extracted with acetone, water and 4% (v/v) NaOH (to yield a crude polysaccharide fracti...
ABSTRACT The relationship of antenatal clinic (ANC) attendance and factors that could affect intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) uptake among 339 parturient women was examined. Respondents were enrolled over a period of three months in a secondary healthcare facility within 24 hours of delivery. Demographic details, delivery and antenatal history, insecticide treated net (ITN) use, and history of IPTp-Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine (SP) use in the index pregnancy were recorded. Finger and heel...
ABSTRACT Prescribing errors, particularly in the medical and paediatric specialties have been reported globally to affect up to 52.0% of hospitalized patients with potential to cause harm. Prescribing errors have however not been adequately investigated in Nigeria. This study was designed to carry out an in-depth evaluation of the nature, severity and causes of prescribing errors in three purposively selected tertiary hospitals in Nigeria with a view to providing pharmacist-led evidence-base...
ABSTRACT Securidaca longepedunculata Fers (Polygalaceae) is commonly used in many parts of Africa for the treatment of rheumatic conditions, fever, headache and various other inflammatory based diseases. The present study was carried out to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity of Securidaca longepedunculata leaf and stem bark methanol extracts using animal model. The anti-inflammatory activity of the methanolic extracts were evaluated using carrageenan induced paw edema in r...
ABSTRACT National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) aims to ensure that every Nigerian has access to good health care services at affordable costs. Inspite of the NHIS benefits, poor utilisation rate has been documented in previous studies and out-of-pocket means of payment still remain high. This study was therefore designed to investigate the experiences, level of satisfaction and attitude towards NHIS among Non-Teaching Staff (NTS) of College of Medicine, University of Ibadan (CoMUI), Ibadan...
According to international guidelines [1,2] and several nations' laws [3-5], research with humans requires independent ethics committee review. In the United Slates, committees are called institutional review boards (IRBs) [6]; elsewhere they generally are called research ethics committees (RECs). Committees are designed to: provide third party review, thereby minimizing conflicts of interest; protect the welfare of research participants through attention to risks, benefits, and informed cons...
A community-based survey to determine the prevalence of human T-cell Iymphotropic type I (HTLV-I) and type II (HTLV-II) virus infections in mothers and children in south-western Nigeria was carried out using blood samples collected in 1993. A multistage cluster, random sampling procedure was used to select 460 mother-child pairs (476 children because there were 16 sets of twills) from 14 enumeration areas. A commercially available, whole HTLV-I lysate antigen-based ELISA method was used to s...
ABSTRACT Drug administration is a core responsibility of nurses. Medication error occurring during the drug administration process can be attributed to varied effects on patients’ safety, ranging from the errors going undetected to prolonged hospital stays, discomfort and death. It is relevant to identify the extent of drug administration error in the district hospitals in the Central region of Ghana. A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses nursing patients admitte...
ABSTRACT The study investigated how compliance mediates physician communication and health related quality of life of patients with hypertension or diabetes in the Tamale Teaching Hospital. A cross sectional design was employed and collected data using structured questionnaire and structured interview guide. Using purposive, quota and convenient sampling methods, 211 patients were sampled out of which 148 and 63 were hypertensive patients and diabetic patients respectively for the study. Desc...
ABSTRACT Background: For effective outcomes of Anti-retroviral therapy (ART), people who are diagnosed of HIV and linked to care must remain in care and subsequently go through each step of the care continuum. However, persons are lost to follow-up at each stage of the continuum due to reasons including psychological, socioeconomic and health systems ineffectiveness. This study determined the factors associated with Retention of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in care at Pantang Hospital. Meth...
ABSTRACT Sensory evaluation is a useful tool in the food and non-food industries. Sensory evaluation of frozen desserts including polyethylene packed ones popularly found in Ghana are greatly affected by serving temperatures. Frozen desserts have been assessed with static methods like Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA®) but the temporal perceptions throughout consumptions are rarely covered. With food companies weary of the time intensive nature of descriptive methods like QDA® and cha...
ABSTRACT Background: Rotavirus gastroenteritis in children remains a global public health problem. It is responsible for over 2 million hospitalizations in children less than 5 years. Low birth weight is a known risk factor for several childhood infections and diseases. Over 96% of all low birth weight deliveries occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the relationship between rotavirus gastroenteritis and its burden in terms of morbidity or mortality is unknown. Objective: to investigat...
ABSTRACT Family planning is a cost effective health intervention that has immediate benefits for women, children and families. However, in the Bomfa subdistrict for the past five years, 1997-2001 the family planning acceptor rate has never exceeded 5%. The objective of this study was therefore to determine the factors accounting for this low acceptor rate. A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out over a four-week period. A total number of 170 persons, 76% females and 24% males wer...
ABSTRACT Background: In 2017, there were 425 million people living with diabetes globally, while in Ghana, the number of adults with diabetes was 518,400. The International Diabetes Federation revealed that patients with diabetes have health expenses of 673 billion USD annually. In Ghana, financial and non-financial cost associated with diabetes accounts for over two-thirds of household‘s income. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine out-of-pocket payments and financial co...