Knowledge and practice of pregnant women and health care workers on hepatitis B prevention in the Limbe and Muyuka health districts of the south west region of Cameroon

Introduction: hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major health problem worldwide owing to its high prevalence and significant morbidity and mortality. There are about 2 billion people living with HBV worldwide and over 360 million chronic carriers. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and practices of pregnant women and health care workers in the ANC and maternity units on HBV infection and its transmission.Methods: about 270 women attending ANC and 31 health care workers were selected by convenience sampling. They were evaluated using a structured questionnaire to assess their knowledge and practices on HBV prevention and transmission. Results: pregnant women in the Limbe Health District demonstrated good knowledge but adopted poor practices whereas in the Muyuka Health District, pregnant women demonstrated poor knowledge and adopted poor practices regarding the mode of transmission and prevention of HBV infection. Health care workers in both the Limbe and Muyuka Health Districts however, demonstrated good knowledge and adopted good practices.Conclusion: there was a significant relationship between the knowledge and practice of pregnant women and health care workers on Hepatitis B prevention in the Muyuka Health District (P = 0.0006)

Prevalence of stillbirth at the Buea Regional Hospital, Fako Division south-west region, Cameroon

Introduction: the study investigated the prevalence of stillbirth at the Buea Regional Hospital, by taking cases of pregnant women who attended antenatal clinic(s) and those who did not attend but had thier deiveries at the Buea regional hospital. The study specifically estimated the prevalence of stillbirths; identified possible risk factors associated with stillbirths, and determined whether the number of antenatal clinic visits is related to the occurrence of stillbirths-because during antenatal clinic visits, pregnant women are educated on risk factors of stillbirths such as: preterm deliveries; sex of the stillbirth; history of stillbirth; history of abortion(s); what age group of mothers are more likely to have a stillbirth.Methods: the study was a hospital based retrospective study at the maternity in which there were 3577 deliveries registered at the Buea Regional Hospital dated May 1st, 2014 to April 30th, 2017. With the aid of a checklist data was collected, analysed and presented with the use of tables, pie-charts and bar charts.Results: the prevalence of stillbirths was 26‰; possible risk factors associated with stillbirths included: preterm deliveries; women aged 20-29 years; history of abortion(s); a history of stillbirth; sex of stilbirths were more of females than males; and insufficient antenatal clinic attendance (≤1 antenatal clinic attendence) had more stillbirths. Conclusion: the study estabished that stillbirths can occur in any woman of child-bearing age. possible risk factors associated with stillbirths included: preterm deliveries; women aged 20-29 years; history of abortion(s); a history of stillbirth; gender of stilbirths were more of females than males; and insufficient antenatal clinic attendance (≤1 antenatal clinic attendence) had more stillbirths