Knowledge and awareness of undergraduate university students towards eye donation in North-west, Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

Background: Corneal blindness still remains a large contributor of childhood blindness in Africa. Corneal transplant is a sight saving procedure that is still lacking in most of African countries despite the first successful corneal transplant in 1905 by Dr. Eduard Zirm. The cornea eye bank and transplant procedure in Nigeria is still in the infancy stage despite Federal Government of Nigeria acknowledged the need for an eye bank and promulgated the decree No. 23 titled Corneal Grafting Decree 1973. Objectives: To assess the level of knowledge and awareness on eye donation among the undergraduate students of Kebbi State University of Science and Technology. Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken among undergraduate university students, using a pre-tested, self-administered questionnaires. Information on the socio-demographics, the participants' knowledge and willingness to donate eye was obtained. The questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: Of 281 participants, 157 (55.9%) were males and Muslim 204 (72.6%). Few students 59 (21%) were willing to donate their eyes after death, while131 (46.6%) were not willing to donate their eye because of their religious belief. Ninety-three (33.8%) of the students support eye donation. Television was the main 94 (33.5%) source of information about eye donation. Conclusion: The knowledge and awareness of eye donation among the students was low. Furthermore, majority were not willing to donate their eye mostly because of their religious belief. Health education on eye donation is needed to increase the uptake of eye donation among population

Magnitude and Leading Causes of In-Hospital Mortality at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital

Background: Population based mortality data are scarce especially in developing countries including Nigeria. Despite its limitations; hospital mortality analysis assesses the quality of health-care delivery and provides a proximate measure of mortality. We reviewed the magnitude and causes of death among in-patients in a tertiary hospital in northern Nigeria. Methods: Analysis of mortality rate and causes of death for the period 20052008 (inclusive) in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. Causes of death were prospectively entered on a database and classified according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). Results: Out of 51;975 patients admitted to the hospital; 4;029 of them died. This gives a mortality rate of 7.8(95Confidence Interval of 7.5to 8.0). Specifically; of the 15;484 males admitted; 2;361 died giving a mortality rate of 15.2while of the 36;491 females admitted; 1;668 died giving a mortality rate of 4.6. The median age for all patients that died was 32.4 years (range: less than 1 day to 101 years); but 36.1 years (range: less than 1 day to 101 years) for the male and 29.3 (range: less than 1 day to 87 years) for the female subsets. The ten most common causes of mortality were HIV/AIDS (8.3); Septicaemia (6.8); cerebrovascular disease (6.3); chronic renal failure (3.9) chronic liver disease (3.3); diabetes mellitus (3.2); neonatal jaundice (2.9); severe birth asphyxia (2.6); prematurity (2.5) and bronchopneumonia (2.4). Conclusion: The mortality rate and causes of death are comparable to similar centres. Regular mortality audits could identify management errors and prevent recurrence of avoidable deaths