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The COVID-19 virus has impacted all facets of our lives. As a global response to this threat, vaccination programmes have been initiated and administered in numerous nations. The question remains, however, as to whether mass vaccination programmes result in a decrease in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. In this study, we aim to predict the future number of COVID-19 confirmed cases for the top ten countries with the highest number of vaccinations in the world. A well-known Deep Learning method for time series analysis, namely, the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, is applied as the prediction method. Using three evaluation metrics, i.e., Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), we found that the model built by using LSTM networks could give a good prediction of the future number and trend of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the considered countries. Two different scenarios are employed, namely: ‘All Time’, which includes all historical data; and ‘Before Vaccination’, which excludes data collected after the mass vaccination programme began. The average MAPE scores for the ‘All Time’ and ‘Before Vaccination’ scenarios are 5.977% and 10.388%, respectively. Overall, the results show that the mass vaccination programme has a positive impact on decreasing and controlling the spread of the COVID-19 disease in those countries, as evidenced by decreasing future trends after the programme was implemented.

Child safeguarding services intervene when a child is at risk of serious emotional or physical harm. Oxfordshire County Council is implementing a new approach to child safeguarding (Family Solutions Plus [FSP]) with a greater focus on whole family support and reducing the need for foster care. We sampled two cohorts of children closed within 1 year and examined the time spent in services. The sample included 474 children entering services before the new model's implementation and 561 children after. A greater proportion of children receiving FSP required a single care plan before their case was closed (85.9%; 69.4%, p < 0.001) and only experienced the lowest level plan (74.5%; 61.8%, p < 0.001). On average, this group spent less time in services for the period being observed (MD = 17.58, 95% confidence interval = 6.19, 28.96). At this early stage, no significant reduction in the number of children requiring foster care was seen (5.5%; 3.9%, p = 0.23). These initial findings suggest a potential association of FSP with a reduced number and level of care plans as well as length of time. Local authorities in England may investigate further whether FSP is a potentially useful model in improving safeguarding services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of the study was to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices towards hepatitis B vaccination among patients aged 16- 40 years attending Buwasa health center IV Sironko District. Methodology: The study involved a descriptive cross-sectional study design to address the specific objectives of the study, on a sample of sixty (60) respondents using a simple random technique as the sampling technique. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed and used as a data collection tool. Results: Regarding the practices, the majority (90%) of the respondents reported that they had ever been screened against hepatitis B infection, the majority (87%) of those who reported having been screened negative were initiated on vaccination, and more than half (59%) of them had completed the three doses, among the unvaccinated, the most (47%) frequently mentioned reason for non-vaccination was fear of side effects, more than half (55%) had ever been sensitized about the importance of hepatitis B vaccination. Conclusion: the knowledge of hepatitis B vaccination was poor since most of the respondents did not know the complete hepatitis B vaccination schedule, and the intervals between the doses; with a relatively good attitude and fair practices towards hepatitis B vaccination, and this consequently called for the need to raise patient’s awareness about hepatitis B vaccination to improve on the knowledge, attitude, and practices towards hepatitis B vaccination. Recommendation: The researcher finally recommended that the government of Uganda through the ministry of health should supply adequate vaccine stock to the facility to ensure consistent availability of the vaccine.

Background: Oral hygiene is maintaining the cleanliness of the mouth and taking care of teeth and gum. The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices toward oral hygiene among patients aged 18-45 years in Lira Regional Referral Hospital, Lira district. Methodology: The study employed a cross-section design to address the specific objectives of the study on a sample of 50 respondents using the simple random technique. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed and used as a data collection tool. Results: From the study findings, the majority (86%) of the respondents knew about oral health, most (40%) of the respondents reported dentists as their source of information about oral hygiene, and the majority (92%) went for dental checkups to dentists, the majority (86%) knew about dental caries and most (68.9%) gave the correct response about what dental caries are, the majority (92%) reported that they knew the causes of dental caries and more than half (60%) gave the correct response about the cause of dental caries. Conclusion: Even though the respondents had good knowledge and positive attitudes toward oral hygiene, surprisingly they were at risk of contracting dental caries and other periodontal conditions because their oral hygiene practices were below the global recommendations and most of them used only toothbrushes to clean their teeth. Recommendation: The ministry of health should emphasize oral and dental care health education in health facilities and hospitals or carry out health camps and community outreaches. This would at least ensure that the general public gets access to basic knowledge about oral health and hygiene practices and can identify the signs and symptoms of oral health conditions as well as prevent them.

Background: The purpose of the study was to assess; the knowledge, attitude, and practices toward the prevention of dental caries among youths aged 15-25 years in Soroti Regional Referral Hospital, Soroti district. The specific objectives of the study were to assess; the knowledge towards prevention of dental caries among youths aged15-25 years, attitudes towards prevention of dental caries among youths aged 15-25 years, and practices towards prevention of dental caries among youths aged 15-25 years. Methodology: A cross-section study design was employed with sampling technique as a sampling technique. Data was collected from a sample of 50 respondents using a semi-structured questionnaire written in the English language; later analyzed manually; using a scientific calculator, and systematically computed into frequency and percentages using Microsoft excel to generate tables and figures for easy presentations. Results: About practices towards prevention of dental caries among youths aged 15-25 years; results showed that (70%) of the respondents were using fluoridated toothpaste, (90%) commonly used toothpaste and toothbrush, (60%) used to take sugar-containing snacks, and (40%) were eating them daily, (60%) reported a brush and paste as oral cleaning habit that they normally used and (80%) reported cleaning their teeth once daily. Conclusion: The researcher generally concluded that; even though study participants exhibited fair knowledge about the prevention of dental caries but their attitude and practices were not worthy agreeable since almost all respondents had an average attitude towards the prevention of dental caries and also doing some practices that are not in line with the prevention of dental caries. Recommendation; the government together with the ministry of health should improve on the sensitization of people about oral health and put up restrictions that can reduce the accessibility of sugar-containing products like snacks hence preventing dental caries among youths of Soroti district.

Background: The purpose of the study was to determine the factors contributing to the increased use of herbal medicine among pregnant women aged 18-45 years attending Buwambo Health Centre IV, Wakiso District. The specific objectives were to determine the: Maternal, Socioeconomic, and health facility-related factors contributing to the increased use of herbal medicine among pregnant women aged 18-45 years. Methodology: The study design was descriptive and cross-sectional and the researcher employed the simple random sampling technique. The study instrument was a questionnaire and a sample of 50 respondents was used. Medicine because they were readily available. Results: Regarding the health facility-related factors contributing to increased use of herbal medicine, the majority (74%) of the respondents reputed that the health workers took a lot of time to work on them, and most (40%) had their homes more than 10km away from the health facility and more than half (52%) waited over 2hrs to be seen by the doctor. Conclusion: Maternal factors contributing to increased use of herbal medicine included having information about herbal medicine from family members (70%), being in the first trimester (76%), and the pregnancy-related complications such as nausea and vomiting (40%), socio-economic factors were; encouragement by their culture and religion (60%), availability of herbal medicine (56%), health facility-related factors were; long waiting hours (74%), and long-distance from the health facility (40%). Recommendation: The researcher recommended the Ministry of Health put up more health facilities to reduce the distance moved by the pregnant women while looking for the antenatal care services and that Buwambo Health Centre IV should intensify health education the pregnant women on the importance of antenatal care visits and the implications of the use of herbal medicine during pregnancy.