Search

Background: When people are ill, the options for health-seeking behavior are shaped by several factors. Understanding these options is likely to contribute to early treatment and better outcomes. The objective of this study was to investigate the utilization and preferred places for treating common health problems in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using both an interviewer administered questionnaire and focus group discussions to obtain data. Participants were recruited through multi- stage sampling methods from four local government areas in Lagos State. Conditions of interest included fever in children, cough, diarrhoea and vomiting and pregnancy care. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 software was used for analysis while the qualitative data was analyzed with ATLAS.ti software version 7. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05 Results: Two thousand participants were recruited. The mean age was 37.6±10.21years. Government hospitals were the most frequent usual source of health care (41%). Perceived effectiveness of treatment, speed of service and low cost were main reasons for these choices. Other sources of care such as drug store, nursing homes and trado-medical facilities were preferred more frequently by more than a third of respondents for most conditions except for pregnancy care. Primary Health Care centers were the least preferred sources of care. Conclusion: Primary Health Care centres were the least utilized sources of care. Increased advocacy is a recommended strategy to improve early presentation to health facilities.

Background: It is predicted that the population of sub-Saharan Africa will be thrice its size by the end of the 21 st century. Our study compared patterns, incentives and disincentives for the uptake of contraceptives in rural and urban communities of Lagos, Nigeria., Materials and Methods: This is a population-based cross-sectional study on 1445 women of reproductive ages 15-49 years using a cluster sampling technique and a pre-tested, interviewer-administered electronic questionnaire in 2020. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 26.0 and ethical approval was obtained for the study., Results: About 32.4% of the respondents were rural dwellers and 67.6% were urban residents. The overall mean age was 31.7 ± 7.8 years. In terms of pattern, slightly over half (53.3%) of all respondents had ever used family planning (FP), including modern contraceptives and slightly less than a third (30.8%) currently use FP methods in both rural and urban communities, respectively. Predominant disincentives for non-use of FP include a desire to retain fertility, lack of further need, unbearable side effects and lack of spousal support. The odds of being an urban dweller currently using a method of contraceptive method is 4.169 times higher for earners above ₦60,000, which is twice the minimum wage compared to those without income (adjusted odd's ratio: 4.169, 95% confidence interval: 1.395-12.462)., Conclusion: Sustained effort is required to improve contraceptive uptake, FP service delivery and demand satisfaction for modern contraceptives to enable the achievement of demographic dividends and gains., Competing Interests: None

Background:  The availability of adequate infrastructure, diagnostic medical equipment, medicines and commodities and well-trained medical personnel are essential for the effective delivery of health care services., Aim:  This study assessed maternal and child health (MCH) services' specific readiness by type and location of the health facility and compared the readiness between urban and rural primary health care (PHC) facilities in Ekiti State, Nigeria., Setting:  The study was conducted amongst the heads (officers in charge) of PHC facilities in Ekiti State, Nigeria between August 2020 and October 2020., Methods:  A descriptive cross-sectional study in which all PHC facilities were conducted and data were collected with the aid of the Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tool using the KoboCollect app. Data were cleaned and coded on Microsoft Excel 2016 and exported to Stata SE 12 for analysis. The level of significance was set at p  0.05., Results:  Overall, the MCH readiness score amongst PHC facilities was 47% (0.47 ± 0.18). About half (52%) of the facilities had necessary and relevant equipment. Health facilities located in urban areas had more medicines and commodities compared with those of rural areas (0.51 ± 0.16 vs 0.45 ± 0.17, p  0.05). Primary health care facilities in Ekiti North I had an overall higher service readiness score (0.63 ± 0.19) compared with other federal constituencies (p  0.001)., Conclusion:  The overall MCH-specific service readiness in Ekiti State was relatively low. Strategies to address the identified gaps for a smooth journey towards the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) are recommended.

Client satisfaction is an important measure of quality of care as it provides information on how well health service providers meet clients' values and expectations. The study was cross-sectional and analytical in nature. Data were obtained with the use of an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Respondents (n = 994) were a subset of a larger group of community members recruited for a study on quality of health care who had used a health facility for care within 3 months prior to data collection. A total of 94% of clients were satisfied with services received although client satisfaction rates were higher with private than public health facilities. Waiting time of less than 20 minutes (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 9.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.08-41.67), cheap cost of all services received (AOR = 7.58, 95% CI = 1.95-29.41), and the ability of the health care provider to offer explanations clearly to clients (AOR = 6.21, 95% CI = 1.90-20.41) were predictors of client satisfaction. However, the use of a government-owned hospital (AOR = 0.23, 95% CI = 0.08-0.63) was predictive of client dissatisfaction. Only service characteristics were predictive of client satisfaction. Improvement in service delivery is recommended., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting Interests:The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2020.)

Background: The Ebola virus disease outbreak that ravaged parts of West Africa has been described as the most severe acute public health emergency seen in modern times. Hand washing was promoted among other measures for infection prevention., Objective: This study assessed the awareness of Ebola virus disease and hand-washing practices among Lagos residents, southwest Nigeria., Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was used. A total of 1982 respondents aged 18 ⩾ years were selected using a multi stage sampling technique. An interviewer-administered, pre-tested questionnaire was used for data collection between August and November 2015. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22, with level of significance set at 0.05., Results: Almost all (97.3%) respondents were aware of Ebola virus disease, with over half of respondents having heard about it from television. A majority of 1890 (95.4%) respondents were aware of the importance of hand washing in disease prevention. Similarly, high proportions of respondents were aware they should wash their hands after an outing, toilet use, touching pets, before and after meals, while 1628 (82.1%) of respondents knew to wash their hands after a hand shake. However, less than half of respondents (38.8%) always washed their hands after handshakes., Discussion: A majority of respondents surveyed were aware of Ebola virus disease and hand washing, but the practice of hand washing, which is key in prevention of infection, lagged behind the knowledge of the respondents., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: The perception of healthcare workers (HCWs) by community members is dependent on the quality of services rendered by HCWs and contributes to utilisation. The objective of the study was to assess the perception of health workers in both public and private facilities by residents of Lagos State., Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using mixed-methods approach. Respondents (n = 2000) were selected using a multistaged sampling technique from four local government areas. An interviewer-administered, pre-tested questionnaire developed for the study was used for data collection and focus group discussions were held. Domains assessed included competence, work attitudes, interpersonal skills and unethical behaviour. A perception index was generated. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 22, with level of significance set at 0.05 for quantitative data and ATLAS.ti software (Scientific Software, Berlin; version 7) for qualitative data., Results: At least seven out of ten participants (>71%) perceived the HCWs highly in the areas of professional competence, attitude to work, responsiveness and interpersonal skills. Out of a maximum of 12, doctors had the highest mean perception index (10.6 ± 1.9), laboratory scientists had 10.1 ± 2.1, pharmacists had 10.0 ± 2.3 and nurses had 9.6 ± 2.7. A larger proportion of respondents had a significantly better perception of workers in private facilities more than those in government facilities., Conclusion: Perception of health workers was high and was better in privately owned facilities. Periodic retraining of health workers and regular assessments of health facilities are recommended., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest

Background: Human milk is uniquely superior as a source of nutrition for infants, and breastfeeding has many benefits. This study determined the breastfeeding knowledge and practices of women who have children aged 0-2 years living in a Naval Barracks., Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among 220 women in a Naval Barracks selected using systematic random sampling method. Pre tested questionnaires were administered by trained interviewers, and data was analyzed using Epi info 2000 and Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 19., Results: There was generally fair knowledge about breastfeeding among the women. Most of the respondents (97.3%) had ever breastfed their babies, 56.5% of them initiated breastfeeding within an hour of delivery, 24.1% admitted that they gave pre lacteal feeds, 74.1% practiced exclusive breastfeeding for a mean period of 4.98 months and 30.7% engaged in bottle-feeding. Several factors were significantly associated with breastfeeding practices., Conclusions: Breastfeeding practices varied among the respondents despite the fair knowledge., Global Health Implications: This study reveals the need to educate women and communities worldwide particularly in low-income countries about good breastfeeding practices. Targeting these women will help to improve maternal and child health., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interests relevant to this study.

Aims and Objectives: This study was carried out among patients attending human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment centres in Lagos to assess their sexual behaviour, conduct a health education intervention on safe sexual behaviour among the patients in the study group and re-assessing the sexual behaviour in both control and study groups., Subjects and Methods: A multi-stage sampling method was used to recruit 253 control and 256 intervention patients. The study sites selected were HIV treatment centres in Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (control), and Ifako-Ijaiye and Isolo General Hospitals (intervention). A pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The study site intervention consisted of health education seminars. Post-intervention data were collected after 3 and 6 months. Total study duration was about 10 months., Results: At baseline, there was no statistically significant difference in the sexual behaviour of respondents in both groups. Post-intervention, the notable effects of this intervention on the sexual behaviour of the study group were a 37.7% rise in condom use at last sexual exposure, a 74.3% increase in consistent condom use in the last 3 months, a 74.3% rise in consistent condom use with regular partners and a 39.0% rise in consistent condom use with casual partners., Conclusion: The modification of sexual behaviour of respondents achieved in this study has shown that dedicated interventions to increase the practice of safer sex can be effective. More of such interventions are required to stem the spread of HIV in Nigeria.

Background. Cervical cancer prevention in developing countries is suboptimal compared with the developed world where there are fewer deaths and improved survival rates. This study describes the perception and preventive practices on cervical cancer by residents of an urban neighborhood of Lagos, Nigeria. Methods. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 317 consecutively recruited consenting participants at a medical outreach using a pretested, interviewer-administered, semistructured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using statistical package for social sciences version 19. Tests of significance were performed using 95% confidence interval with level of significance set at P < 0.05. Results. The majority of respondents were within 30-49 years of age (46.7%) and female (62.1%) and 70.3% had secondary level education and above. About 37.2% of respondents had heard about cervical cancer with 84.5% of the participants willing to attend a cervical cancer health education program. Among the female respondents, 4.1% had received the HPV vaccine, while 5.1% had undergone a Pap test. Awareness about cervical cancer was significantly higher with increasing age in the total population (P < 0.05). Conclusion. There is a need to improve awareness of at-risk groups and the menfolk about cervical cancer based on the immense benefit of male involvement in reproductive health matters.