Lessons for strengthening childhood immunization in low- and middle-income countries from a successful public-private partnership in rural Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Immunization is a cost-effective public health strategy to reduce vaccine preventable disease, especially in childhood. METHODS: This paper reports the philosophy, service delivery, achievements and lessons learned from an immunization program in rural Nigeria privately financed via a corporate social responsibility initiative from GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals. RESULTS: The immunization program served the community for a 16-y period extending from 1998 until 2015, resulting in an increase in age-appropriate immunization coverage from 43% to 78%. CONCLUSION: In its success, this immunization program exemplified the importance of early and sustained community engagement, integration of strategies to optimize implementation outcomes and effective team building well before some of these principles were accepted and codified in the literature. The project also underscores the important role that the private sector can bring to achieving critical immunization goals, especially among underserved populations and provides a model for successful public-private partnership.

Building capacity of primary health care workers and clients on COVID-19: Results from a web-based training.

BACKGROUND: Health care workers (HCWs) in the first line of care play critical roles in providing the correct information about the coronavirus disease to the community. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of virtual training on the knowledge, attitude, and preventive practices among PHC workers and their clients in the prevention and control of coronavirus disease. METHODS: A quasi-experimental intervention virtual training, using a before and after design amongst HCWs and clients was conducted at primary health care facilities in two Local Government Areas of Lagos State. The study instruments were pre-tested questionnaires for both HCWs and their clients. which investigated knowledge of symptoms, modes of disease transmission, methods of prevention, and preventive practices. Changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practices were compared pre-and post-intervention. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Sixty-three HCWs (out of 100 recruited at baseline) and 133 clients (out of the initial 226) completed the study. The mean ages of the HCWs and clients were 39.2±9.9 and 30.9±5.0 years respectively. At the baseline, the HCW's knowledge was good in the domains of symptoms, modes of transmission, and preventive measures. The training led to a higher but not significant (p> 0.05) increase in the level of knowledge. Contact with trained HCWs was found to lead to significantly (P < 0.001) higher levels of knowledge, attitudes, and preventive practices. amongst clients. CONCLUSION: The training was effective in improving the knowledge of both the trained HCWs and their clients.

Nigeria in the COVID era: Health system strengthening for national security and prosperity.

The coronavirus disease-19 pandemic has spread to all parts of the world. As of 20 May 2022, over 500 million confirmed cases have occurred with over 6 million deaths. In Nigeria, over 255,000 cases have occurred with more than 3000 deaths. The pandemic has adversely affected virtually all aspects of human endeavour, with a severe impact on the health system. The Nigerian health system was ill prepared for the pandemic, and this further weakened it. The impacts of the pandemic on the health system include disruption of health services, low motivation of the health workforce, unresponsive leadership and poor funding. The national response, though initially weak, was ramped up to expand capacity building, testing, public enlightenment, creation of isolation and treatment centres and research. The funding for the national response was from the government, private sector and multilateral donors. Nigeria must comprehensively strengthen its health system through motivating and building the capacity of its human resources for health, improved service delivery and provision of adequate funding, to be better prepared against future pandemics.

COVID-19: A review of the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions.

COVID-19, a highly infectious disease, caused by a novel virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has brought about an unprecedented threat to global health. First reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, it has now spread to all continents of the world becoming a pandemic. There is no known treatment or vaccine for it although many candidate drugs and vaccines are in various clinical trial phases. For now, non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs) have become the mainstay of response for COVID-19 and are being used across the world to flatten the epidemiologic curve with some success. This review focussed on identifying which NPIs have been effective. NPIs that are effective include isolation and quarantine, physical distancing, use of face masks and hand hygiene. These measures are best used in combination and simultaneously. The evidence is that they should be instituted early in the pandemic and for sustained periods. They should also be implemented in the context of the cultural and socioeconomic conditions of the populace. Ineffective NPIs include ultraviolet irradiation and spraying of outdoor spaces and individuals. We recommend that decision makers weigh the evidence carefully, as it applies to the local setting to inform public health decisions.