ABSTRACT Active Management of the Third Stage of Labor (AMTSL) is an evidence-based, low-cost intervention focusing prevention of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) which accounts for over 25% globally and Kenya at 33.9% translating to 510 deaths /100,000 live births. The study aimed at assessing knowledge and competencies of midwives in active management of third stage of labor in health facilities of Meru County. The study adopted a descriptive cross sectional design and utilized stratified rand...
ABSTRACT Malaria is a major public health challenge in Kenya especially among young children and pregnant women. It accounts for 30% of all outpatient attendances, 19% of all admissions and leads to 20% of all deaths in children aged below five years. Despite much effort to fight malaria, the efforts have been undermined by malaria parasites that develop resistance to the commonly available malaria drugs. Since a new antimalarial drug, Artemether - Lumefantrine (AL) was introduced in Kenya i...
ABSTRACT In 2006, Kenya developed and adopted Community Health Strategy as a means of enhancing community access to Healthcare services. Although there has been scientific evidence that community based health approaches are effective in delivering specific health services, there has been little effort to examine the performance of the Kenya’s Community Health Strategy against sanitation indicators. This analytical cross-sectional study was therefore designed to evaluate the effects of Comm...
ABSTRACT The desire to correct the poor implementation of traditional antenatal care (ANC) in developing countries resulted to the adoption of antenatal care model termed as Focused Antenatal Care (FANC). The goal of FANC is to ensure a good outcome for both the baby and mother and prevent complication during pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum period. It is characterized by four main focused visits. Studies have shown that Kenya has long suffered from high maternal morbidity and morta...
ABSTRACT Vitamin A intake is one of the dietary interventions that support the achievement of nutrition priority outcomes. Inadequate Vitamin A intake leads to its deficiency which causes depressed immune response, impaired movement of iron, poor growth, night blindness and xerophthalmia major public health concerns. Vitamin A deficiency has been addressed through supplementation worldwide to children under the age of 59 months. The purpose of this study was to assess Vitamin A intake and su...
ABSTRACT Globally, diarrhea remains the second leading cause of reported mortalities among children (0-59 months) and a cause of significant morbidity, especially in developing countries. In Kenya, diarrhea accounts for 16% of deaths among children (0-59 months). It’s a major cause of mortality in children below five years after malaria and pneumonia in Busia County. Many of the children die due to poor home-based management of diarrhea. The main aim of the study was to explore the differe...
ABSTRACT About 33.4 million people were living with HIV as of 2008 globally; 2.1 million of them were children under 15 years, and about 15.7 million were women. In certain parts of the world, HIV infection has significantly affected child survival. The World Health Report 2005 estimated that HIV infection contributed 3% to the global mortality among children younger than 5 years of age in 2005. According to UNAIDS and WHO 2004, there were more than 1.3 million people infected with HIV and A...
Abstract Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global public health problem. The disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya. TB control has remained a major challenge for the National Leprosy and TB Control Programme (NLTP) especially in this HIV/AIDS era and the emergence of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). Early identification of cases and commencement of effective chemotherapy is an effective method to control the spread of TB. Reliance by NLTP on passive case finding means th...
ABSTRACT Many developing countries including Kenya are struggling to provide proper sanitation to their population with most reporting less than 50 percent adequacy in sanitation. Different research works indicate sanitation is worse in schools compared to the general population despite the fact that schools hold a significant 26 percent proportion of the entire population. Provision of quality latrines in schools is critical in dealing with sanitation and health challenges. Healthy Environm...
ABSTRACT According to KAIS 2007, nearly 1 out of 10 pregnant women in Kenya are infected with HIV (9.6 percent). The objective of the study was to investigate the impact of utilization of knowledge on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV among pregnant women attending selected public health facilities in Embu District. In this study, utilization of knowledge on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, utilization of providerinitiated counselling and testing and the com...
ABSTRACT This research presents the agrochemical residues analysis on the study conducted in Weruweru River Sub-catchment, Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania. Agrochemicals have negative consequences on watershed management in the sub-catchment. It compromises water quality and environment, and thus causing threat to human health and aquatic organisms. This study was undertaken to assess the effects of agricultural pesticides and fertilizers and their residue levels in water and sediments sample...
ABSTRACT Underutilized cereals and tubers can contribute to food security and in addition provide nutritional balance in the diet as they form a ready source of essential nutrients yet they have been neglected as the dependence on maize, rice and wheat as main cereals increases. The objective of this study was to assess the consumption of underutilized cereals and tubers in urban households and their contribution towards household food security and dietary diversity. A cross sectional analyti...
ABSTRACT Despite high sexual activity among adolescent girls in Kenya, contraceptive uptake is very low with only about 26 percent sexually active adolescent girls currently using a contraceptive method. This exposes them to HIV infections and unplanned pregnancies which consequently lead to school dropouts, unsafe abortions, and lack of employment opportunities. The study aimed at assessing the utilization of contraceptives among secondary school adolescent girls in Karuri Town Council, Kiam...
ABSTRACT Sexual abuse among children has long history in Kenyan schools. Recent evidence however points out on underreported cases of boy child sexual abuse; rise in incidence of reported crimes of sexual nature and sporadic occurrence of such inhumane treatment of children outside and within learning institutions attest to threatened sexual safety and future reproductive health of children. The study aimed at assessing prevalence and risk factors of sexual abuse among boy child in public p...
Abstract Immunization is a key approach that can be successfully employed to reduce deaths and illnesses among children. Immunization presently averts an estimated 3 million deaths annually for children aged under five. Kenya Expanded Program on immunization has a stipulated immunization schedule guideline that should be adhered to for effective utilization of immunization services for improved health outcome. The study was prompted by the alarming statistics on morbidities related to vaccin...