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Background: Success in the treatment of the mentally-ill is suggested by patient's level of functioning. This study is to determine the highest overall level of functioning among the mentally-ill patients on follow-up at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. Methods: Patients were picked consecutively as they presented at the Mental Health Out-Patient Clinics of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital over a three month period. Sociodemographic characteristics of the patients were obtained along with clinic appointment records. Global Assessment of Functioning scale was adopted to determine the overall level of functioning of patients. Results: A total of 214 patients were studied. Age range was from 11 to 80 years, with a mean age of 39.7±15.5 and modal age of 36. No statistically significant difference in employment status. The patients with secondary level of education (37.4%) and tertiary level of education (35.5%) were more represented. Almost all the patients (98.6%) were Christians. Three quarters of the patients (76.6%) had a Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) score of ≥ 71, which translated to minimal impairment in their level of functioning. A good level (> 50%) of compliance with hospital check-up was found in the majority (93.0%) of the patients. Conclusion: The better the compliance with hospital follow-up, the higher the level of functioning of the patients.Key words: Global assessment of functioning mentally-ill, out-patients

Objective: To determine the prevalence of RHD among primary school pupils in Egor Local Government Area (LGA) of Edo State of Nigeria.Design: A cross sectional studySetting: The study was carried out among selected primary pupils in three public and six private schools in Egor LGA, (the smallest governmental unit) in mid-Western Nigeria.Subjects: Using a multistage sampling technique, pupils were selected from public and private primary schools in Egor LGA. They were clinically screened for evidence of RHD by auscultating for significant murmurs. The pupils with significant murmurs then had echocardiographic evaluation to confirm the presence of RHD.Main outcomes: Pupils with significant murmurs and pupils with echocardiographically confirmed RHD.Results: Of the 1764 pupils recruited, 900 (51.02%) were females while 864 (48.98%) were males. The mean age of the pupils was 8.86 ± 2.14 years. 1065(60.37%) and 699(39.63%) respectively were recruited from public and private schools. Of the 1764 pupils, six (0.34 %) had significant murmur. Only one of the six had RHD, giving a prevalence of 0.57/1000 pupils. The pupil with RHD was a male, from public school and in the low socioeconomic class.Conclusion: The prevalence of RHD in this study is low compared to similar studies conducted outside the country. The true prevalence may be underestimated since higher prevalence is obtained from echocardiographic based screening compared to clinical screening.

Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) is the most common inherited haemoglobinopathy in Blacks. In Nigeria with high burden of SCA, there are relatively few programmes for the disease management and there is no focus on comprehensive care of the diagnosed child. In an effort to detect early the disease condition so as to foster a decline in mortality and morbidity for this group, we screened all admitted cases into the Children Emergency Room (CHER) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City for their haemoglobin phenotypes and computed thecontribution of SCA related morbidities to paediatric admissions. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted between April and September 2011. It involved 589 children aged six months to 17 years admitted during the study period. Haemoglobin SS (SCA) contributed 5.8% (34/589) of the admissions. Haemoglobin AA made up 73.7% (434/589). The others were haemoglobin AS(20.0%) and haemoglobin AC (0.5 %). The related morbidities in children with SCA were infections (44.1%), vaso-occlusive crisis (29.4%), severe anaemia (20.6%) and cerebrovascular accident [CVA](5.9%). Among those with HbSS, 17.6% were newly diagnosed while 82.4% were known HbSS patients. All thenewly diagnosed HbSS cases were less than 24 months of age and presented with acute problems. Furthermore, all children with CVA were newly diagnosed HbSS. It is concluded that sickle cell anaemia related morbidities contribute significantly to paediatric admissions. A strong case is made for the initiation of Sickle Cell Disease screening programmes in all health institutions in Nigeria.