Delay in health-seeking behaviour: Implication to yellow fever outcome in the 2019 outbreak in Nigeria.

Yellow fever is a vaccine-preventable acute viral disease that can rapidly spread and cause serious public health impact. Delay in seeking health care from health facilities is a potential risk of prolonged disease spread. Therefore, this study assessed the delay in health-seeking behaviour and implications for yellow fever outcomes in the 2019 outbreak in Nigeria. Furthermore, the study examined the factors associated with delayed yellow fever vaccine uptake. A retrospective study was conducted from January to December 2019 using 137 cases recorded in the WHO database. The data were analysed using descriptive (frequency and percentages) and the Chi-square test. The results were significant at p < 0.05. Results showed a low uptake of yellow fever vaccine (24.1%) among patients and a median total health-seeking delay of 7 [IQR 7, 9] days. The delay was more among the older age ≥40 years (12 [IQR 12, 29]), females (8 [IQR 8, 11], and rural inhabitants 7 [IQR7, 9], particularly in Izzi LGA (9 [IQR 9, 16] than the other subgroups. Patients' location or place of residence was significantly associated with the yellow fever vaccine uptake (p < 0.000*), and delay (p = 0.003*). Conclusively, the low vaccine uptake was due to the delay in health-seeking behaviour. Thus, the healthcare system in Nigeria needs to intensify mass participation in immunisation programmes. Interventions that promote behavioural change towards immunisation are required. Also, health promotion campaigns to educate rural people on desirable health-seeking behaviour are needed.

Work-related stress, burnout, and related sociodemographic factors among nurses: Implications for administrators, research, and policy.

This study examined work-related stress and burnout symptoms with respect to related sociodemographic factors among nurses in Nigeria.A representative sample of nurses (N = 393) was randomly selected from hospitals in Southeast Nigeria to take part in this cross-sectional, correlational study from June to December 2017. Participants received questionnaires by mail, which measured work stress and burnout symptoms, respectively. Data collected were analyzed using bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses.Among the sociodemographic factors investigated, sex was significantly correlated with work-related stress. The sociodemographic factors were not significantly associated with burnout symptoms. Stepwise multiple regression procedure produced a model that contained four sociodemographic factors and explained 4.5% of the variance in nurses' work stress scores and 0.8% of the variance in nurses' burnout scores. Age, work environment, and work experience did not make significant contributions to the prediction of work-related stress among the nurses. Finally, sex, age, work environment, and work experience did not make significant contributions to the prediction of burnout among the nurses.Nurses' sociodemographic factors, which included sex, age, work environment and work experience accounted for only a small proportion of variance in nurses' work stress and burnout in Southeast Nigeria. The study also furthers our awareness that sex is significantly linked to work-related stress among the nurses in Southeast Nigeria. Thus, the implications of the study for administrators, research, and policy were discussed.

The need for school administrative policies to manage meningitis amongst students in Nigeria: a viewpoint.

Students are at greater risk of meningitis than non-students of similar age. However, a lack of specific school administrative policies for the management of meningitis may contribute to the increasing incidence of meningitis in the student population. The study aims were to promote the need for a policy framework in school settings to manage meningitis, and to encourage research to assess the readiness of school administrators to adopt such a policy in Nigeria. The material reviewed here derives from expert opinion, gray literature, national data sources, websites, and peer-reviewed journals. It is important to offer comprehensible, reliable, and accurate information about meningitis to students and staff of every school in Nigeria, as one of the best ways of achieving the goal of preventing meningitis in students may be through the adoption and implementation of meningitis policy frameworks by school administrators. Furthermore, studies are required to examine the readiness of school administrators to adopt a meningitis policy framework.