: Management of solid waste involves collection, transportation, treatment and safe disposal to landfills. These activities create a lot of impacts to the environment and most of the time impose social and financial burden on authorities handling solid waste management as well as the community. Local authorities managing waste are confronted with problems, protests and resistance from the public because of difference of views and perceptions on impacts created by waste management plans. This paper assesses some environmental, social and economical impacts viewed by stakeholders in the city of Johor Bahru Malaysia. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP), a multi-criteria decision making analysis tool is used to evaluate the views of the stakeholders with the aid of super decision software. Stream ecology, flora and fauna, habitat depletion, land use and air quality are ranked higher for environmental factors/impacts. Public awareness health and safety, population size and cooperation from the public dominate the social factors. Regulation, landfill capacity, operation and maintenance cost and capital cost dominate economic factors/impacts. Four alternative disposal plans (landfilling, recycling, incineration, composting) were proposed and ranked according to the priorities of the stakeholders. Incineration and recycling were preferred to landfilling and composting disposal options.

Background Over 80% of new cervical cancer cases occur in women living in low- and middle-income countries. It is the second highest cause of female cancer deaths in Nigeria. School based vaccination programs are an effective strategy for delivering the HPV vaccine to adolescent girls. This study aims to understand the challenges to implementing school-based HPV vaccination programs, particularly in a remote rural setting where vaccine hesitancy is high. Methods A 22- item interviewer administered questionnaire was used to evaluate HPV knowledge and willingness to get the HPV vaccinate among 100 female secondary school students as part of an HPV vaccination pilot in a rural community in Kebbi State, Nigeria. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were used to assess community knowledge and attitudes on cervical cancer and HPV vaccination. Data collected were analyzed thematically to understand challenges and generate lessons for vaccine delivery in the study setting. Results Knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer among junior secondary school aged girls was fair with a mean score of 66.05%. For senior secondary school aged girls, the knowledge score ranged from 70 to 100% with a mean of 96.25% indicating good knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer. All participants (n = 100) received the first vaccine dose but due to COVID-19, 33 participants were not able to complete the vaccine dosage within the recommended 6-month schedule. Of the parents who provided consent, none could afford the vaccine out of pocket. Challenges to vaccine delivery included operational costs exacerbated by lack of adequate health workforce and infrastructure in the study setting. Conclusion An exploration of sociocultural perspectives and contextual realities is crucial to understanding the complexities of HPV vaccine introduction from the perspective of the target audience, and the local community. Strategies for introducing the HPV vaccine should address community concerns through effective communication, appropriate delivery, and targeted advocacy to make the vaccination program locally relevant. While school-based HPV immunization programs have been shown to be successful, adequate design, planning and monitoring is important. Additionally, considerations must be made to account for the high operational cost of vaccine delivery in rural, hard to reach areas where human resources and infrastructure are limited.

Parvovirus is an erythrovirus that infects red cell precursors in individuals with conditions characterised by a high red cell turnover like sickle cell anaemia and thalassaemia. Arthritis, vasculitis, carditis, bone marrow failure, and the slapped cheek appearance have been associated with Parvovirus B19 infection. Recurrent blood transfusion is a risk factor for the B19 serotype of Parvovirus infection, with the P antigen as the mediator for erythroid invasion presenting as transient erythroblastopaenia (TEB). Although TEB is self-limiting a few cases may progress to aplastic anaemia. Previous studies report seroprevalence rates of between 44 and 71%, but the dearth of data on the seroprevalence of B19 parvovirus strain in our region prompted this study. Venous blood samples from 239 children aged 1to 15 years of consenting parents and guardians were screened for Parvovirus B19 IgG antibodies using the ELISA technique and antibody titer assessed spectrophotometrically. All the participants have sickle cell anaemia, but were in the steady state. Of this serum samples from 204 (85.4%) participants were positive for IgG antibodies against Parvovirus B19 while 35 (14.6%) were negative for the IgG antibodies.). The age-group with the highest prevalence is 10-12year group with seroprevalence rate of 88.9%. The overall seroprevalence of Parvovirus B19 antibodies is 85.4 %. The seroprevalence of Parvovirus B19 antibodies is high in all socioeconomic groups. Antibody prevalence is higher in the non-transfused group suggesting that other factors than transfusion play a role in the spread of the B19 strain of Parvovirus B19.

There was no association between the presence of cough and catarrh/running nose with seropositivity (P >0.05). The results also showed that there was no association between the presence of sickle cell disease and parental smoking with seropositivity (P >0.05). Preventive programs against HPIV -2 infection should be promoted especially in younger children and research why reinfection occurs even in the presence of neutralizing antibodies should be undertaken.

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