Practice of food hygiene among nursing mothers attending under-five clinics in a rural community in Edo State, Nigeria

Children under the age of five are prone to foodborne diseases, resulting from poor food hygiene because of their less effective immune systems. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of food hygiene among nursing mothers attending under-five clinics.Method: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study, involving 330 nursing mothers attending the under-five clinic in health care facilities. Data were collected using interviewer-administered questionnaires and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.A p-value < 0.05 at 95% confidence interval was considered statistically significant.Result: Eighty-two percent of the respondents had good knowledge of food hygiene; 95.2% had a good attitude and 82.7% demonstrated good practice. Knowledge on food hygiene was significantly associated with the age of the respondents (P=0.008) and their educational status (P=0.001), those with tertiary education doing better. Similarly, respondents with tertiary education had significantly better attitude (P=0.001 and practice (P=0.001). The predictors of knowledge on food hygiene were education status (odds ratio [OR] =0.249, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.126, 0.492) and occupation of the respondents (OR = 2.158, 95% CI: 1.156, 4.026). Educational status was also the predictor for positive attitude (OR =0.143, 95% CI: 0.031, 0.667) and practice of food hygiene (OR =0.394, 95% CI: 0.210, 0.738).Conclusion: The knowledge, attitude and practice of food hygiene among the respondents was good. Predictors of knowledge included level of education and occupation. Government at the State and Local Government levels should organize regular health promotion on food hygiene.

Medical laboratory practice in Malawi ­ Current status

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Knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards drug-food interactions among patients at public hospitals in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Background: Drug-food interactions can lead to adverse drug reactions and therapy failure which can potentially impact patient safety and therapy outcome. Objectives: This study assessed patients' knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding drug-food interactions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients at three public hospitals in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS® version 25. The association between demographic variables and patients' knowledge, attitudes and practices were assessed. Results: Of the 342 patients, 70.5% were female, and the mean age was 42.87±0.89 years. Almost 50% of patients had secondary level education, and 64% were unemployed. About 52% of patients had high knowledge of drug-food interactions; however, only 30-50% of the patients could identify potential drug-food interactions of their drugs. More than half of the patients (51.5%) answered that they took multivitamin pills with medications and 61.7% responded they consulted healthcare professionals for drug-food interactions' information before taking new medications. Few patients (15.2%) had experienced drug-food interactions. Conclusions: Overall, patients had gaps in their knowledge and practices, and positive attitudes towards drug-food interactions. Many patients could not identify food items that can potentially interact with their drugs. It is important that education and medication counselling are provided to patients to prevent drug-food interactions, ensure optimal drug therapy and patient safety

Comparative assessment of infection prevention and control practice among maternity unit health workers in public and private secondary health facilities in Kaduna state, Nigeria

Objectives: Infection prevention and control (IPC) practice in health facility (HF) is abysmally low in developing countries, resulting in significant preventable morbidity and mortality. This study assessed and compared health workers' (HWs) practice of IPC strategies in public and private secondary HFs in Kaduna State. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was employed. Using multistage sampling, 227 participants each were selected comprising of doctors, midwives, and nurses from public and private HF. Data were collected using interviewer-administered questionnaire and observation checklist and analyzed using bivariate and multivariate analysis. Statistical significance determined at P < 0.05. Results: The practice of infection prevention was poor. Overall, 42.3% of the HWs did not change their gowns in-between patients, with the significantly higher rates in 73.1% of private compared to 42.3% of public HF workers (P < 0.001). In addition, 30.5% and 10.1% of HWs do not use face mask and eye goggle, respectively, when conducting procedures likely to generate splash of body fluids, however, there was no significant difference in these poor practices in public compared to private HFs. The mean IPC practice was 51.6 ± 12.5%, this was significantly lower among public (48.8 ± 12.5%) compared to private (54.5 ± 11.9%) HF workers (P < 0.0001). Private HF workers were 3 times more likely to implement IPC interventions compared to public HF workers. Conclusion: IPC practice especially among public HF workers was poor. Keywords: Hospital-acquired infection, Infection prevention and control, Maternity unit, Practice

Oral Health-Related Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Among Trainee Community Health Officers in A Nigerian Tertiary Health Institution

To evaluate the oral health-related knowledge and practices of trainee Community Health Officers. A cross-sectional descriptive study conducted using total population purposive sampling method with a self-administered questionnaire on 70 community health officer's trainees at the centre for training community health officers. Sixty-two trainees (response rate of 88.6%) participated made up of year one (45.2%) and year two 54.8%. %). Mean age of 33.5 years (SD=8.65). By gender, females 90.3% were more than males 9.7% while privately sponsored (53.2%) were more than government-sponsored 38.7% A majority had knowledge of Caries (98.4%), Periodontal disease (93.5%) and Oral cancer (96.8%). Year two trainees had more knowledge about periodontal diseases 54.8% compared to year one 38.5% (p<0.05). Most respondents (91.1%) reported dental visit to be important with 87.1% of the opinion that the visit should not be for pain only; 38.7% felt that dental treatment was expensive. More privately sponsored (51.5%) compared to government-sponsored (20.8%) felt that dental treatment was expensive (p<0.05). only 11.3% had visited the dentist in the past six months with dental experience gum bleeding (8.1%), dental caries (8.1%), and tooth sensitivity (21%). A majority (85.5%) rated their oral health to be good. The study showed that community health officer trainees have a good knowledge of oral diseases with the year two trainees demonstrating a better knowledge of caries, periodontal disease and oral cancer and self-rated oral health. Their role in oral health promotion programs at the Primary Health Care level should be encouraged to reduce the burden of oral health diseases in the community.