African Journals Online
Sahel Medical Journal

Volume 6, No. 1 January - March 2003
ISSN 1118 – 8561
ABSTRACTS

ANNOTATION:

Implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme: The Dawn of a New Era in Health Care Financing in Nigeria?

*L R Airede, FWACS

Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University

Teaching Hospital, Sokoto.

Summary

The Decree establishing the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was promulgated in 1999, however, actual implementation of the NHIS commenced in 2002. The goal of the NHIS is to provide easy access to qualitative healthcare services at an affordable price to all Nigerians. The NHIS operates on the principles of Social Health Insurance and has a total of 6 programmes designed to cater for all sections of the populace. 4 of the six Programmes of the NHIS have been commenced on a small scale. Further development of the NHIS to the stage of universal implementation will depend on several factors amongst which are continued political will, adequate funding, human resource development and public sensitization and mobilization to ensure widespread participation.

KEYWORDS: National Health Insurance Scheme, Programmes, Political will

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

Occupational Health Problems Associated with Traditional Cloth Weaving in Ilorin, Nigeria.

*A O AWOYEMI, FMCPH.

and

I S ABDULRAHEEM, FMCPH.

Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.

Summary

A study of the health hazards that traditional cloth weavers encounter at the workplace was carried out over a three-week period in Ilorin, Nigeria. All the registered members of the Association whose workplace could be identified were included in the study. The questionnaires were administered as interview schedule by four doctors who had previously been trained in questionnaire administration. One hundred and fifteen of the 124 questionnaires administered were found suitable for analysis.

Musculo-skeletal disorders accounted for 62.0% of all illnesses recorded. Causes of musculo-skeletal disorders identified included overwork, long duration of working, lack of backrest on the seats for workers, ignorance about hazards associated with the occupation, and lack of knowledge about ergonomic principles.

It is recommended that the level of awareness of these workers be improved through enlightenment campaigns. Also, design of seats with backrest for the workers will go a long way in reducing most of the identified hazards.

KEYWORDS: Traditional-cloth-weavers, Hazards, Prevention, Ergonomics, Enlightenment.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

Histopathological Study of 66 Germ Cell Tumours Seen in Maiduguri, North Eastern, Nigeria

*H A NGGADA, FMCPath.

and

M I A KHALIL, MD, PhD.

Department of Histopathology, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, PMB 1414, Maiduguri, Borno State.

Summary

A retrospective study of 66 histologically diagnosed teratomas in the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, in North Eastern part of Nigeria from January 1990 to December 2001 was carried out to analyze the age, gender, anatomical site and the hitological types. The tumours represented 2.1% of all tumours diagnosed within the study period. There were 45(68.2%) adults; 21(31.8%) children whose age range is between 5 weeks and 55 years. There was a broad peak age from 2^nd to 4^th decaes accounting for 69.7% of all cases. There was a marked female predominance with a M:F ratio of 1:15.5.

Fifty-eight (87.9%) cases were benign while 8(12.1%) cases were malignant. However, the ovary was the commonest organ involved while the testis was very rare. Four (6.1%) cases of the ovarian tumours occurred bilaterally. Five of the cases with benign cystic teratoma also had multiple uterine nodules (leiomyomata) of the uterus. The age range of these patients was between 28 and 46 years. About 10% of the teratomas had tissues derived from all the three germ layers.

In conclusion, teratomas are not uncommon in our environment. The malignant nature of the disease cannot be over emphasized and therefore early diagnosis with prompt medical treatment will improve the prognosis.

KEY WORDS:Teratoma: Gonadal; Extragonadal; Benign cystic teratoma; Leiomyoma, Germ layers.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

Awareness and Attitude of Medical Practitioners in Ilorin Towards the National Health Insurance Scheme

*I A Katibi, FWACP, **A A Akande, FWACP, ***T M Akande, FMCPH.

Departments of Internal Medicine*, **Chemical Path. and Immunology and *** Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Ilorin, PMB 1515, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria.

Summary

National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has remained on the drawing board since 1962. With the renewed interest and efforts at full commencement of the Scheme, an attempt was therefore made to study tle awareness and the attitude of 112 doctors practising across disciplines at University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. Even though all the respondents (100%) were aware of the Scheme, only 23.3% considered themselves as having adequate information on it.

Newspapers (61.1%) and seminars/workshop (35.2%) were the major sources of information on the Scheme. Majority of the respondents opined that both the public (94.6%) and the health care providers (89.3%) have not been adequately mobilized for the scheme. Also worthy of note was the fact that even though 43.9% of the respondents had reservations on the Scheme as presently packaged, majority of them (66.1%) were willing to participate in it. It is, therefore, suggested that efforts should be made to improve the level of information and mobilization on the Scheme using the media of newspapers and scientific meetings.

KEY WORDS: NHIS, knowledge, attitude, doctors.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

Sexual Behaviour in the Era of Hiv/Aids Among in – School Female Adolescents in Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

*K Sabitu and GC Udoh

Department of Community Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria.

Summary

The objective of the study was to determine the level of knowledge of in-school female adolescents in Sabon Gari Local Government Area about HIV/AIDS and the influence of such knowledge on their sexual behaviour.

The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study of 400 in-school female adolescents randomly selected using a 2-stage stratified sampling with equal allocation in different schools. Questionnaires and Focus Group Discussions were used to collect data. Chi square was used to test the association between variables at p<0.05 significant.

The study setting was Sabon Gari, the headquarter of Sabon Local Government Area in Kaduna State which in an urban settlement. The town has mixed ethnic and religious population. It has a permissive social setting and poor socio-economic conditions. The subjects for the study were in-school female adolescents currently attending, Senior Secondary Schools in the area.

The result of the study shows that 93.3% of the respondents were aware of HIV/AIDS. Only 33.7% of the respondents were sexually exposed. Twenty eight percent of the sexually exposed used condom regularly. Knowledge on condom’s protective effect against sexually transmission of HIV/AIDS virus was significantly associated with regular use of condom. It was, therefore, concluded that Public Health measures are needed to educate in-school adolescents in Sabon Gari Local Government Area about the regular use as well as the protective effect of condoms.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

Aspiration Pneumonia in Acute Stroke

A K SALAMI

Department of Medicine

University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, PMB 1459, Ilorin, Kwara State.

Summary

This was a prospective study that was conducted between July 2000 and September 2001. It was designed to determine the incidence and the risk factor(s) of aspiration pneumonia in patients with acute cerebrovascular accident.

Aspiration pneumonia was recorded in 23.5% of the 68 patients that were recruited. The major predisposing factors identified were disorder of swallowing which increased the risk of aspiration pneumonia by more than 4 times. The relative risk (RR) was 4.5 and the 95% confidence interval (95%Cl) was 1.25-16.25. Abnormal voluntary cough increased the risk by 3 folds. RR was 3 and (95%Cl) was 0.85-10.63. And depressed level of consciousness had 2.3 times risk with RR of 2.33 and (95%Cl) of 0.83-6.54. Combination of abnormal gag reflex and facial palsy was another significant risk factor; the RR was 2 and (95%Cl) was 0.71 – 5.62.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

Childhood Fall from Heights in Sokoto, Nigeria.

I A MUNGADI, FWACS,

Department of Surgery, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital,

Sokoto, Nigeria.

Summary

A prospective study of childhood fall from heights at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto from January 1999 to December 2000 is presented. A total of 59 children aged 14 years and below were seen. Thirty five (59.3%) were males and twenty four (40.6%) were females. Fall from multistory buildings was the commonest cause of accident (35.6%) followed by fall from trees (27.1%). The commonest trauma was head injury seen in 36 patients (55.4%) and was responsible for the overall mortality of 6.8% (4 cases). Extremity fractures occurred in 18 patients (27.7%) and limb lost was recorded in 5 patients (8.5%). The biomechanics of fall, the peculiarities of fall from height in this environment and preventive measures are discussed.