Background:Available evidence shows that only a small proportion of Nigerian women access postnatal care and practice exclusive breastfeeding. Given that both interventions are critical to the survival of both the mother and the new born, it is important to identify factors that militate against an effective postnatal care and exclusive breastfeeding in the country, in order to scale up services. The aim was to determine the major barriers to postnatal care and exclusive breastfeeding among urban women in southeastern Nigeria.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional survey of 400 urban market women using semistructured questionnaires and focus group discussions.Results:Out of 400 women interviewed, 365 (91.7%) attended postnatal clinic. Lack of knowledge about postnatal care services (42.2%; n = 14), distant location of the hospitals (36.4%; n = 12) and feeling that postnatal visits was not necessary (21.1%; n = 7) were the main reasons for non-attendance to postnatal clinic. With respect to exclusive breastfeeding, 143 (35.9%) of the women practiced EBF. The main reasons for nonpractice of EBF were that EBF was very stressful (26.2%; n = 67), mother's refusal (23.5%; n = 60), and the feeling that EBF was not necessary (18.1%; n = 46). Thirty five (13.7%) of the women were constrained by time while the husband's refusal accounted for 1.5% (n = 3) of the reasons for nonpractice of exclusive breastfeeding.Conclusion:Poor knowledge and inaccessibility to health facilities were the main obstacles to postnatal care while the practice of exclusive breastfeeding was limited by the stress and mothers refusal.

ObjectiveTo determine the seroreactivity of pregnant women to syphilis in order to justify the need for routine antenatal syphilis screening.MethodsA multicenter retrospective analysis of routine antenatal venereal disease research laboratory (VDRL) test results between 1 September 2010 and 31 August 2012 at three specialist care hospitals in south-east Nigeria was done. A reactive VDRL result is subjected for confirmation using Treponema pallidum hemagglutination assay test. Analysis was by Epi Info 2008 version 3.5.1 and Stata/IC version 10.ResultsAdequate records were available regarding 2,156 patients and were thus reviewed. The mean age of the women was 27.4 years (±3.34), and mean gestational age was 26.4 weeks (±6.36). Only 15 cases (0.70%) were seropositive to VDRL. Confirmatory T. pallidum hemagglutination assay was positive in 4 of the 15 cases, giving an overall prevalence of 0.19% and a false-positive rate of 73.3%. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of syphilis in relation to maternal age and parity (P>0.05).ConclusionWhile the prevalence of syphilis is extremely low in the antenatal care population at the three specialist care hospitals in south-east Nigeria, false-positive rate is high and prevalence did not significantly vary with maternal age or parity. Because syphilis is still a serious but preventable and curable disease, screening with VDRL alone, without confirmatory tests may not be justified. Because of the increase in the demand for evidence-based medicine and litigation encountered in medical practice, we may advocate that confirmatory test for syphilis is introduced in routine antenatal testing to reduce the problem of false positives. The government should increase the health budget that will include free routine antenatal testing including the T. pallidum hemagglutination assay.

The rate of hospital deaths was generally found not to vary significantly over the weekends and weekdays in the hospital except for the labor ward which had significantly higher weekend to weekday death rates of 1.72:1. There is therefore need for confidential enquiry into the causes of hospital deaths, especially in the labor ward, in order to identify and prevent avoidable deaths.

Background: Epidural labor analgesia has become prevalent in high income countries, but its use in low and middle income countries such as Nigeria is poorly studied. Objectives: To determine the rate of demand, indications, post-dural puncture headache rate and factors affecting demand for epidural analgesia among women in labor. Method: This was a across sectional analytical study of women in labor who were managed at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi, Nigeria from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2017. Data was obtained from women’s case files from Medical record department, labor ward, and Anesthesiology departmental records. Information obtained included total number of deliveries, mode of delivery, those that received epidural: date and time of placement, indication and number of side effects. Univariate analysis models were applied to evaluate the association between patient demographic, socioeconomic factors, clinical and demand for labor epidural analgesia. A p-value of <0.05 was taken as significant. Results: Thirty-six women out of 1,373 women received epidural labor analgesia, giving the epidural labor analgesic rate of 2.6%. The most common indication for epidural labor analgesia was maternal voluntary request which accounted for 24 (66.7%) of the population receiving analgesia. One (2.8%) parturient developed post-dural puncture headache which resolved spontaneously within 24 hours. Parturient who utilized labor epidurals were significantly older than 30 years of age (OR 3.16; 95% CI 1.51-6.62; p=0.002), Multi-parous (OR 26.65; 95% CI 3.64-100.00; p=0.001), and with higher income (OR 9.02; 95% CI 4.38-18.57; p=<0.001), but not with higher level of education (OR 0.56; 95% CI 0.27-1.16; p=0.114). Conclusion: The demand for labor epidural in the study center was low with a demand rate of 2.6% and post-dural puncture headache rate of 2.8%. The significant factors related to a parturient’s request for epidural analgesia during labor included age greater than 30 years, multiparity and higher income. There is a need for an enhanced awareness programs on obstetrics epidural analgesia.