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Purpose: This study assessed the effectiveness of malaria classroom corner (MCC), school-based intervention in the promotion of basic malaria awareness and common control practices among children of primary school age. Design/methodology/approach: A quasi-experimental design was employed, involving 206 children of primary 5 and 6 classes from two randomly selected public primary schools in Owerri, South Eastern Nigeria. The MCC was designed and set up in the intervention school (with 103 children) while the control school (with 103 children) was offered malaria health talk. Structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data pre- and post-intervention in both schools. Data was analysed using Statistical Package -- Stata version 14.1 (Stata Corp, College Station, TX, USA). Findings: Results show that there was a significant enhancement of basic malaria awareness (p = 0.0003) and common preventive and management practices (p = 0.0202) among children in the intervention primary school compared to those in the control primary school. Research limitations/implications: The study did not account for actual behaviour change, as its scope was within basic malaria awareness and common control practices. Practical implications: This approach could enhance awareness and proactiveness of school children towards malaria prevention and overall health consciousness. Social implications: This could help in achieving a healthy population of school children with a positive effect on their school performance. Originality/value: The MCC could provide a simple, participatory and effective approach for the promotion of basic malaria awareness and common control practices among primary school-age children in malaria endemic areas. Such children could, in turn, become malaria conversation drivers and behaviour change agents in their homes and communities, thereby contributing to the malaria elimination efforts.

Abstract Background This study determines the relationship between malaria transmission intensity and morbidity in holoendemic areas of Imo River Basin, Nigeria. Results Standard entomological and parasitological techniques were used to determine transmission intensity and parasite rates respectively while sociocultural methods and review of hospital records were used to determine morbidity patterns. The average transmission rate was 16.1 infective bites per person per night (ib/p/n). The average malaria specific morbidity rate for the study area was 30.2%. These parameters showed no significant differences among the communities studied (P > 0.05). Transmission intensity and morbidity rate had a linear relationship such that high transmission intensity corresponded with high morbidity rate and vice versa. Conclusions This therefore puts to rest discrepancies about the relationship between malaria transmission and morbidity in the study area and calls for serious scaling up of the insecticide treated nets strategy especially in high transmission areas and seasons. Concerted efforts should also be made towards production of transmission blocking vaccines.

The contamination of pharmaceutical products by micro-organisms poses a significant risk to public health. This study was conducted to detect and characterize micro-organisms associated with unsealed drugs sold in Ihiagwa community in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. A variety of microbiological techniques were employed to analyse samples from unsealed drug containers. The identification process involved morphological, biochemical and sugar utilization methods, aiding in the accurate determination of microbial species. Microbial contamination was observed in 42 (84 %) out of 50 samples, with contaminants including bacteria and fungi. The range of contamination is between 1.2±0.01×10 3  and 2.3±0.02×10 3  c.f.u. ml -1 for viable count, 0.1±0.02×10 2  and 0.3±0.01×10 2  c.f.u. g -1 for coliform count and 0.2±0.01×10 1  and 0.5±0.01×10 1  c.f.u. g -1 for fungi count. The identified microbes were Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger . The most common bacterial isolate was S. aureus (51.8 %), while C. albicans (73.3 %) was the most prevalent fungus. Among the pharmacies and healthcare facilities examined, the Uchems pharmacy had the highest proportion of bacterial isolates (37 %), followed by the Stepwise pharmacy (22.2 %), while the lowest proportion was found at the Roseline Health Clinic (7.4 %). The identification of potentially harmful micro-organisms in these unsealed drug container samples emphasizes the importance of stringent quality control measures and improved handling, storage and packaging practices to ensure product safety and efficacy, especially among pharmacetical dealers., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest., (© 2024 The Authors.)