Assessing baseline knowledge and practices of injection safety among primary health care workers in Cross River State, Nigeria: a cross-sectional urban-rural comparative study.

INTRODUCTION: unsafe injection practices are commonplace in low-income countries, and place health care workers at risk of blood-borne infections. A safe injection strategy requires a synchronized approach to deal with change in behavior of users and service providers towards safer practice. There is general lack of data on injection safety practices in Cross River State. This was a baseline study to compare the knowledge and practice of safe injection practices among primary health care (PHC) workers in urban and rural health facilities in Cross River State, Nigeria. METHODS: this was a cross-sectional comparative study among PHC workers in randomly selected rural and urban Local Government Areas (LGAs). Using multistage sampling technique, a total of 320 respondents: 160 from the urban LGAs and 160 from the rural LGAs were interviewed. Semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaires were used to obtain data. Data analysis was done using STATATM version 14.0. Associations were tested using Chi square, and multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: in this study, there was no difference in the baseline knowledge (58.8% vs. 55.0%, P=0.499) and practice (33.1% vs. 34.4%, P=0.813) of injection safety between PHC workers in the urban and rural locations. In the multivariate logistic regression model, the senior health workers had a two-fold increased odds of practicing safe injection compared to their junior counterparts [OR=2.21 (95% CI: 1.28,3.84)]. CONCLUSION: in both the urban and rural locations, there was good knowledge but poor practice of injection safety among respondents in the LGAs; hence, the need to organize periodic injection safety training and retraining of PHC workers targeting junior workers to improve on the practices of injection safety.

Relationship of blood pressure with some cardiovascular disease risk factors in a rural population of Plateau State, North Central Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is associated with certain cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors which vary from one place to the other depending on community sophistication. We decided to obtain the situation as it affects this rural Nigerian community to be in an evidence-based position to initiate individual and group prevention strategies. DESIGN: Cross-sectional population survey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We surveyed for CVD risk factors among subjects 15 years and above in this rural community using a questionnaire requesting personal, medical and anthropometric information. One in three of them were randomly assigned to laboratory investigations. RESULTS: Of the 840 subjects studied, 25% were males. The population mean age was 45.5 (18.2) standard deviation (SD), with 1.8% smokers and 4.1% using alcohol. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) correlated with age, body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol (TC) and uric acid (UA); while diastolic blood pressure (DBP) correlated with age, BMI, TC, UA and atherogenic index (AI). SBP and DBP improved with exercise but not salt intake. The local seasonings used in cooking had no impact on blood pressure. CONCLUSION: To reduce cardiovascular morbidity in this and probably other rural sub-Saharan African communities, BMI, TC, UA and salt intake in diet should be targeted for reduction. Physical activity should be encouraged. Interestingly, these fall into the sphere of healthy lifestyle which should be encouraged and re-inforced.

Training: A vital tool for improving the knowledge and practice of food safety and hygiene among food handlers in boarding secondary schools in Plateau State.

BACKGROUND: Food is an important basic necessity, its procurement, preparation and consumption are vital for the sustenance of life. Food handlers have been found to play prominent roles in the transmission of food borne diseases, therefore training of food handlers on food safety and hygiene is crucial to the prevention of food borne diseases. METHODOLOGY: A quasi-experimental study carried out among food handlers in boarding secondary schools in Jos North Local Government Area to determine the effect of training on the knowledge and practice of food safety and hygiene. EPI info statistical software version 3.5.4 was used for data analysis and 95% confidence interval was used in this study with a P ≥ 0.05 considered statistically significant. RESULT: The mean age of the food handlers in the study was 42.07 ± 8.71 years with the mean years of work experience as 11.59 ± 8.05 years. The level of knowledge of food safety and hygiene improved significantly after the training (P < 0.001). Majority (98.5%) of the food handlers had good practice of food safety and hygiene after the training as against 51.5% who had same before the training (χ2 = 76.6; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study has demonstrated the effectiveness of training in improving the knowledge and practice of food safety and hygiene among food handlers.