Knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B amongst students of Pamo University of Medical Sciences (PUMS), Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Background: Globally, 296 million people were infected by hepatitis B in 2019, with 1.1 million deaths. Africa is one of the endemic regions. Good knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B remain pivotal to the biosafety of medical students. This study sought to determine the levels of knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B among students of Pamo University of Medical Sciences (PUMS), Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and the predicting factors associated with this knowledge and awareness. The is with the aim of providing recommendations for improving and sustaining biosafety levels for medical and other health-related students of the University. Methodology: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional design conducted amongst 528 randomly selected medical students of PUMS, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were interviewer-administered to collect socio-demographic information and participants' responses to questions on knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B. Data were analysed using SPSS version 26.0 and relationships of socio-demographic characteristics and predictive factors with knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B were tested using binary logistic regression analysis with p value for statistical significance set at <0.05. Results: A total of 528 students participated in the study, 202 (38.3%) males and 326 (61.7%) females. Most participants (296, 56.1%) were between 15-19 years of age with mean age of 19 ±2.43 years. The mean (±SD) of participants responses with good knowledge of hepatitis B was 249±121.5 while for good awareness, it was 181±88.3. The percentage average for good knowledge and good awareness was 47.2% and 34.2% respectively, with positive correlation between knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B (r=0.720, p<0.0001). Age was significantly associated with participants percentage average knowledge (OR=0.77, 95% CI 0.70-0.84, p<0.0001) and awareness of hepatitis B (OR=0.84, 95%CI 0.78-0.90, p=0.004). No other factor was significantly associated with knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B except Ijaw tribe (OR=0.4, 95%CI 0.24-0.66, p=0.034) and attendance of Federal Government College (OR=0.4, 95% CI 0.24-0.68, p=0.046). Conclusion: The percentage average good knowledge of 47.2% and awareness of 34.2% for hepatitis B in this study are low, although most participants in the study were between the ages of 15-19 years and in their first and second year of study. This gives room for improvement in knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B with progression in age and year of training. Good knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B are central to the biosafety of medical students. It is recommended that the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) review the current medical school curriculum to increase the teaching of medical and health-related students that will impact more on knowledge and awareness of infectious diseases and infection prevention and control.

The state of emergency care in the Republic of the Sudan

Sudan is one of the largest African countries; covering an area of 1.9million km2-approximately one fifth of the geographic area of the United States. The population is 30million people; the majority of whom (68) live in rural areas; as compared with the sub-Saharan African average of approximately 62. Sudan is considered a lower-middle income country-with 47 of the population living below the poverty line and a gross domestic product (GDP) of US $62billion in 2010. In addition to excessive burden of communicable diseases such as malaria; tuberculosis; and schistosomiasis; Sudan is particularly susceptible to both natural and manmade disasters. Drought and flood are quite common due to Sudan's proximity to and dependency on the Nile; and throughout history Sudan has also been plagued with internal conflicts and outbreaks of violence; which bring about a burden of traumatic disease and demand high quality emergency care. The purpose of this paper is to describe the state of emergency care and Emergency Medicine education; and their context within the Sudanese health care system. As is the case in most African countries; emergency care is delivered by junior staff: new graduates from medical schools and unsupervised medical officers who handle all types of case presentations. In 2001; increased mortality and morbidity among unsorted patients prompted the Ministry of Health to introduce a new triage-based emergency care system. In late 2005; twenty-one Emergency physicians delivered these new Emergency Services. In 2011; following a curriculum workshop in November 2010; the Emergency Medicine residency program was started in Khartoum. Currently there are 27 rotating registrars; the first class of whom is expected to graduate in 2015