Perspectives of nursing students on challenges of e-learning during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: E-learning is becoming an important approach to teaching and learning in higher education institutions, including nursing training. Despite that, there are students who were never introduced to e-learning prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Their challenges in relation to e-learning could differ from those of other students who had experienced the platform before, especially against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic that brought an abrupt change in the approach to teaching, learning and assessment. Objectives: This study explored and described university nursing students' challenges in relation to e-learning during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in a resource-constrained setting. Method: Qualitative exploratory and contextual design was used. The sample consisted of 17 participants who were conveniently selected, and data were collected by means of two focus groups and five individual interviews. Data analysis followed a qualitative content analysis process. Results: The five categories emanated from analysis are e-learning mode not suitable for practical components, challenges related to assessment of learning, connectivity issues, e-learning is a lonely journey and computer illiteracy and limited skills for the use of e-learning. Conclusion: Nursing students' challenges regarding e-learning during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic related to the learning of practical components, assessment, connectivity, a lack of interaction with peers and a lack of the skills required to operate e-learning tools.

Attitudes and treatment practices of mothers regarding teething

Background: Generally, mothers are saddled with early childcare responsibilities. Therefore, their attitude, practice, and care toward events occurring in early childhood including teething are important. Objective: To evaluate the attitudes and treatment practices of mothers regarding teething, Materials and Methods: The study is a descriptive cross-sectional survey. A systematic random sampling technique was utilized in selecting the participants for this study. Socio-demographics, attitudes, and treatment practices of mothers regarding teething were obtained via an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire. IBM SPSS, Version 21.0. was used for data analysis. The level of significance was set at p= 0.05 Results: A total of 120 mothers participated in the study. The participants in the age group of 20-30 years were in the majority. A majority (86.7%; n=104) strongly agreed that mothers have a role to play in the management of teething. On the other hand, less than half (41.7%; n=50) strongly agreed that doctors have a role to play in the management of teething. Of the 103 mothers who practice self-medication, over 85% (85.4%; n=87) use teething syrup, 63.1% (n=65) sometimes use antibiotics, 80.6% (n=82) use analgesics, and 68.0% (n=70) always use herbal mixtures. The study further revealed a negative grade for attitude and a fair grade for practice Conclusion: Though the attitude level of mothers towards teething in this study was more negative, their treatment practices were nonetheless fair. We recommend educational programs that aim to improve the observed areas of negative attitudes and practices of the study population.

Atlas of African health statistics 2022: Health situation analysis of the WHO African Region

The population of the World Health Organization's (WHO) African Region was estimated to be 1 120 161 000 in 2020 and about 14.4% of the world's population of 7 758 157 000. It was 8 billion in 20211 . It is the third largest population among the WHO regions after South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. Between 2019 and 2020, the population differential was equivalent to that of a state of more than 28 million inhabitants. The five most populated countries account for more than 45% of the Region's population. Among these, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo represent about 50% of the population of the West African and Central African subregions, respectively, and Ethiopia represents about 20% of the population of the East and Southern Africa subregions. The average annual population growth in Africa was 2.5% in 2020. If the heterogeneity of the population growth between the regions of the world and between countries in the same subregion is considered, countries from and East and Southern Africa subregions seem to have lower population growth rates than countries in other large subregions, which show significantly higher increases. The current population density of Africa is low, estimated to be 36 inhabitants per km2 for the whole continent. However, many areas are uninhabitable and some countries have relatively large populations. High population density is a concern that must be addressed through policies, because it could generate surges and high concentrations of populations in mega cities and urban slums, which can be an issue when it comes to accessing various qualitative services. Gross domestic product (GDP) reflects a country's resources and therefore its potential to provide access to services to its people, particularly health services. This dynamic creates a circle, with healthier people going to work and contributing to the production of wealth for the benefit of the country. The most vulnerable people live from agriculture in rural areas, or in conflict-affected states. Difficulties in accessing health services, low education and inequalities between men and women are additional obstacles to poverty reduction. The population of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to almost double over the next three decades, growing from 1.15 billion in 2022 to 2.09 billion in 2050. The world's population is expected to grow from 7.94 billion at present to 8.51 billion in 2030 and 9.68 billion in 2050. The demographic dividend2 for African countries will emanate from the acceleration of economic growth following a de crease in fertility with a change in the structure of the age pyramid where the active population, that is those aged 18­65 years, will be more important, reaching a certain optimum to make positive the ratio between the population able to finance health and education systems and the population that benefits from these systems. This is the human capital for development at a given moment. The demographic dividend appears to be an opportunity and an invitation to action, but it is also a real challenge, that of creating sustainable jobs to generate the development to activate the economic growth lever.

Health workers with good self-perceived competency have lower actual competency levels on HIS in Eastern Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Utilization of health information is critical to meeting service performance goals and for making informed decisions. However, in resource limited countries, health data is rarely used in decisions around program improvements. This study aimed to assess the determinants of competency levels for health workers who utilized data from health information systems in Eastern Ethiopia. Methods:A cross-sectional study was carried out from April -May 2021 at selected public health facilities in the Dire Dawacityand Harar regions. A total of 129 health professionals were included in the study and simple random sampling techniques were used to select health facilities. Data was collected using face-to-face interviews and competency levels were measured using a tool adapted from the Performance of Routine Information Systems Management (PRISM) framework. STATA version 16 was used for data analysis. A linear regression model was applied to determine the linear relationship between self-perceived competency and the actual competency levels of the healthcare workers.Adjusted beta (ß) along with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to measure the strength of the association with a p-value < 0.05. Results:The overall mean for the actual competency levels of health workers who utilized data was 20.45 [95% CI: 16.71, 24.19]. Being head of a hospital/health center (ß: 19.24, 95% CI: 4.42, 34.06), perusing HIS training (ß: 14.38, 95% CI: 6.10, 22.67) and good perceived competency to perform RHIS tasks (ß: -12.96, 95% CI: -25.49, -0.43) were significantly associated with actual competency levels.Conclusion:The Health workers with high perceivedcompetency levels were found to have actual competency levels that were low. Health information systemfocused trainings were found to be positively associated with actual competency levels and being a hospital or health center head was found to be associated negatively to the actual competency levels of health workers. This research has found that providing health information system training for health workers could prove to be beneficial. There is also a need for initiatives aimed at enhancing competency in order to improve the health information systems related competency levels and data use.[Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2022;36(SI-1)]

Analise epidemiologica da vigilancia epidemiologica das doencas tranmissiveis; Mocambique-1981-2001

Com a presente edicao pretende-se dar a conhecer o perfil epidemiologico de algumas patologias; com especial realce para aquelas que maior morbi-mortalidade causam na populacao mocambicana. Toda a informacao recolhida e analizada deve ser vista com algum cuidado e com espirito critico; pois a base deste trabalho traduz ao mesmo tempo; toda uma serie de transformacoes e ideias que atingiram as diversas fases por que passou a implementacao do Sistema de Informacao do pais; e neste caso concreto; este sub-sistema de doencas transmissiveis