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Background: Timely vaccination of children is one of the most cost-effective interventions that ensure childhood survival. We determined the proportion of children who received timely vaccination and examined the factors associated with timely receipt of Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) and third dose of pentavalent vaccine (Penta 3). Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional survey among 599 caregivers-infant pair aged less than 24months, attending the immunization clinic of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria, selected using systematic sampling methods. Using a structured questionnaire, we access the proportion of children who received timely vaccination, the relationship between the timely receipt of BCG, Penta 3 vaccine and infant/caregiver characteristics was examined using chi-square and multiple logistic regression at a 5% level of significance. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 30.1±5.0 years. The majority (73.8%) had attained tertiary education, lived in an urban setting (90.9%), had received antenatal care during pregnancy (99.3%) and was delivered in a hospital (97.0%). About half of the children (52.9%) were male. About 18% of the caregivers reported missing scheduled immunization visits, due to forgetfulness (18%), child illness (14%) and being busy (5%). About 88% (482) of the children got their BCG vaccines on time, 91.1% got timely OPV0, however, only 29.5% of the newborns got HBV0 within 24 hours of birth. Only 65.7% and 65.0% received the timely measles-containing vaccine and yellow fever vaccine. None of the factors examined predicted timely receipt of BCG and Penta 3 vaccines. Conclusion: Interventions that remind caregivers about the immunization schedules, could improve timely vaccination.
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INTRODUCTION: Fetal distress has been shown to contribute to the increasing caesarean section rate. There has been controversy on the usefulness of clinical diagnosis of fetal distress using only the intermittent counting of the fetal heart rate and/or passage of meconium-stained liquor. AIM: To evaluate the clinical diagnosis of fetal distress and the perinatal outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study in which the case records of the patients, who were diagnosed of fetal distress at Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Nigeria, from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2014, were collated. The statistical analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 17 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago IL, USA). RESULTS: Out of the 15,640 deliveries carried out within the study period, 3,761 (24.05%) deliveries were through caesarean section. A total of 326 (8.9%) of the 3,761 caesarean sections were due to fetal distress within the study period. More so, a total of 227 (70.9%) babies were born with ≥ 7 Apgar score at the 1(st) minute of delivery. The perinatal mortality rate was 31.25 per 1000 deliveries. Though birth asphyxia was recorded more on babies of mothers that had fresh meconium-stained liquor and whose decision-intervention interval was more than 30 minutes when compared with those without any of the two conditions, there was no statistical significant difference between them. CONCLUSION: The clinical diagnosis of fetal distress is accurate in 29.1% of the cases. However, it has led to an unnecessary caesarean section in the remaining 70.9% of the parturients. In order to reduce this high trend of unnecessary caesarean sections due to clinical diagnosis of fetal distress in this environment, antepartum fetal assessment with non-stress test or biophysical profile and intrapartum use of continuous electronic fetal monitoring should be used to confirm or refute the fetal distress before any surgical intervention. Fetal blood sampling and fetal pulse oximetry should be performed in event of non- re-assuring or abnormal cardiotocography.
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Background. Optimal breastfeeding practices include exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 months of life; followed by continued breastfeeding with adequate complementary foods on to at least 2 years of age. This is expected to be well known and practised by healthcare workers (HCWs) who are in the position to educate the community. Objective. To determine the actual breastfeeding practices of HCWs in a tertiary hospital in south-eastern Nigeria. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional; descriptive study among female HCWs at the Federal Teaching Hospital; Abakaliki; southeastern Nigeria; using a self-administered; semi-structured questionnaire. Results. One hundred HCWs were recruited; including doctors; nurses; pharmacists and other HCWs. Only 3 practised EBF with all their children; their cited reasons being a busy work schedule (61.8); EBF being too stressful (18.4); ignorance of benefits of EBF (13.2) and lack of family support (3.9). Only 1 breastfed their babies up to 2 years. The reasons for failing to do so included refusal of the child to breastfeed (32.6); another pregnancy (30.4); feeling it was shameful (10.9) and feeling that the baby was too old (8.7). Conclusion. There are obvious shortcomings in breastfeeding practices among HCWs. They need to be empowered and supported to promote and support breastfeeding among their patients in particular and society in general
