ABSTRACT
The church could be a powerful force for social and behavioural change, particularly in the current efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Anecdotal evidence suggests that church youths are sexually active but few studies have documented the sexual practices of these youths. We looked at the sexual practices of 341 youths in two churches in southern Nigeria. Sixty-five percent were sexually experienced; age at first sexual intercourse for males was seven years and eight years for females. By 19 years of age, 42% of the females and 44% of the males had become sexually active. In the 12 months preceding the study, 19% of the sexually experienced youths abstained from sex, 30% had one sexual partner and 28% had more than one sexual partner; 60% had used condoms 24% of whom used them always. These results suggest that sexual practices of committed church youths might be similar to those of youths in the wider society. More might be achieved by a more pro-active engagement of the church in young people's sexual and reproductive health matters.
Subject(s)
Christianity , HIV Infections/prevention & control , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Sexual Behavior/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Coitus , Condoms/statistics & numerical data , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , HIV Infections/epidemiology , HIV Infections/transmission , Humans , Male , Nigeria , Peer Group , Self Disclosure , Sex Factors , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Malaria is thought to be rare among neonates in malaria-endemic regions. Consequently, blood film for malaria parasite is not routinely included in the sepsis screening protocol for neonates. We examined the role of malaria in perinatal morbidity among neonates admitted into our unit with a view to determining the need or otherwise of including malaria parasitaemia in the sepsis work-up in suspected neonatal septicaemia. Fourteen babies who met our preset criteria were screened for malaria parasitaemia out of which five (35.71 per cent) had positive blood smears for Plasmodium falciparum. Eighty per cent of the neonates presenting with fever had positive blood films (Yates corrected chi2 = 3.9822; p = 0.04). All the babies responded to an oral course of chloroquine. These data have further highlighted the importance of malaria in perinatal morbidity in our environment. We recommend a multi-centred study to define clearly the role of malaria in perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in malaria endemic areas.
