Evaluation of the Implementation of Family Life and HIV Education Programme in Nigeria.

Family Life and HIV Education (FLHE) programme was introduced nationwide in Nigeria in 2003. Since then little is known about the patterns of its implementation across the states in the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. This study represents an attempt to fill this lacuna in the FLHE literature in Nigeria. Quantitative data was collected from the Federal Ministry of Education and the State Ministries of Education on all salient aspects of FLHE implementation. The findings from data collected in 35 states and the Abuja Federal Capital Territory show large variations in the year of adoption of the programme, level of implementation of the programme, the proportion of implementing schools that are reporting to the coordinating government ministries/agencies, the level to which schools have been supplied with relevant curriculum, and promptness of distribution of materials across the zones. All these indices did not show significant level of interdependence. In general, there were higher levels of FLHE activities in the South than the North. Several problems affect implementation of FLHE in Nigeria, most of which will require increased financial and technical support from government and other organizations. The FLHE programme has had positive effects in the states and among schools where the implementation has been effective, underscoring the need for a more effective implementation of the programmes throughout the country.

Levels of consciousness and awareness about evidence-based medicine among consultants in tertiary health care institutions in Nigeria.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Evidence-based medicine (EBM) incorporates results of health care research when making decisions about the clinical care of individuals. Information and communication technologies now play significant roles in organizing available research results in EBM software suites. This study examines the level of consciousness and awareness about EBM of consultants in tertiary health institutions in Nigeria. METHODS: A total of 100 consultants were randomly selected from 10 of the 29 teaching hospitals in Nigeria and data were collected using a questionnaire and an interview schedule. From this data, 64 EBM awareness and utilization variables were identified and data on the dynamics of their inter-relationships were reported by 89 of the participants. RESULTS: Of the 89 respondents, less than half (47.19%) have knowledge about EBM that could be considered as high, while EBM knowledge is low for the remaining respondents (52.81%). Evidence Summaries appear to be a more popular tool among the respondents than the resources of Journals and Clinical Guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: Consultants in the teaching hospitals appeared not to have the high level of EBM consciousness and awareness that would be expected of them, although there is a consciousness that EBM will foster ease of access and promote equity in health care services.

Effectiveness of sources of HIV/AIDS awareness in a rural community in Imo State, Nigeria.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The effectiveness of each of the 14 sources of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) awareness available to women and adolescent girls dwelling in a rural community in Imo State, Nigeria was measured in order to understand the relative contribution of the sources to the general knowledge about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS possessed by the women and the girls. METHODS: The details of the research methods adopted in this study, which involved 734 in-school and out-of-school adolescents and 434 women, have been described previously [Nwagwu, W. Di Nwanna and the reproductive health of the girl child in Imo State, Nigeria. Final Report (04 83064 000 GSS) submitted to MacArthur Fund for Leadership and Development, Abuja, 2006]. RESULTS: Friends and relatives emerged as the most effective source of AIDS awareness for women (29%), followed by community meetings (26%) and then television (20%), whereas the most effective sources for the girls were television (28%), followed by friends and relatives, and radio (17% and 14.4%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Each of the information sources listed made some contribution to the general knowledge about HIV/AIDS possessed by the respondents, although the level of awareness would have been low among women in the absence of friends and relatives, and among the girls in the absence of television. Information awareness programmes should be selected according to the needs of social groups and the most effective information sources concentrated upon.

The Internet as a source of reproductive health information among adolescent girls in an urban city in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: There exists some research evidence regarding how adolescents utilize the Internet for health information seeking purposes. The purpose of this study is to understand how in-school and out-of-school adolescent girls in Owerri, Nigeria use online resources to meet their reproductive health information needs. The result could be considered very crucial in assessing the potential role of the Internet in providing health information to adolescent girls in a typical Nigerian urban city. METHODS: A questionnaire was used to collect data from 1011 adolescent girls in selected secondary schools in the communities, and also from 134 out-of-school girls selected from the same communities. RESULTS: More than 73% of the girls reported having ever used the Internet; more than 74% and 68% of them being in-school and out-of-school respectively. The in-school girls (43.9%) reported having home access more than the out-of-school (5.6%) although the out-of-school have used the Internet for finding reproductive and related information more than the in-school. While parents (66.22%) and teachers (56.15%) are the two sources most used to the in-school girls, friends (63.18%) and the Internet (55.19%) were reported by the out-of-school youth as the two most used sources of information to them. CONCLUSION: The Internet is not a first choice of source of reproductive health information for both the in-school and out-of-school adolescent girls in Owerri, Nigeria. The source is however, more commonly used by the out-of-school than the in-school, but the in-school have a more favorable assessment of the quality of information they obtain from the Internet.