Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic, degenerative disease, requiring a multi-dimensional, multi-professional care by healthcare providers and substantial self-care by the patients, to achieve treatment goals. Objective: To evaluate the impact of pharmacist-led care on glycaemic control in patients with uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes Methods: In a parallel group, single-blind randomised controlled study; type 2 diabetic patients, with greater than 7% glycated haemoglobin (A1C) were randomised into intervention and usual care groups and followed for six months. Glycated haemoglobin analyzer, lipid analyzer and blood pressure monitor/apparatus were used to measure patients’ laboratory parameters at baseline and six months. Intervention group patients received pharmacist-structured care, made up of patient education and phone calls, in addition to usual care. In an intention to treat analysis, Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare median change at six months in the primary (A1C) and secondary outcome measures. Effect size was computed and proportion of patients that reached target laboratory parameters were compared in both arms. Results: All enrolled participants (108) completed the study, 54 in each arm. Mean age was 51 (SD 11.75) and majority were females (68.5%). Participants in the intervention group had significant reduction in A1C of -0.75%, compared with an increase of 0.15% in the usual care group (p<0.001; eta-square= 0.144). The proportion of those that achieved target A1C of <7% at 6 months in the intervention and usual care group was 42.6% vs 20.8% (p=0.02). Furthermore, intervention patients were about 3 times more likely to have better glucose control; A1C<7% (aOR 2.72, 95%CI: 1.14-6.46) compared to usual care group, adjusted for sex, age, and duration of diabetes. Conclusions: Pharmacist-led care significantly improved glycaemic control in patients with uncontrolled T2DM.

COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly infectious disease declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The risks of getting infected with the novel coronavirus in Nigeria is high as evident by the increase in the daily number of confirmed cases. Objective: The objectives of this study were to assess the knowledge and risk perception of adult Nigerian population regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic. Methods: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey in which five hundred and ten (510) adult participants consented and filled the questionnaire. The questionnaire is divided in to four sections: the first part was directed at the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, the second was dedicated to the assessment of knowledge, the third part assessed risk perception and the fourth section assessed preventive measures. Results: Almost all of the participants (95.9%) claimed to be aware of COVID-19 with majority through the traditional media (55.3%), and social media (41%) while only a small percentage (3.7%) gained the awareness through health officials. Knowledge of COVID-19 was significantly poor among participants with lower level of formal education, (p=0.0001). participants with higher income were found to have a good knowledge of the disease (p<0.00001). being a health worker was not associated with good knowledge of COVID-19 (p=0.00001). Risk perception was significantly high among the females (p=0.044), young adult participants (p=0.039) and healthcare workers (p=0.001). Preventive measures like avoiding eating out (p=0.001) and traveling to high risk areas (p=0.017), wearing face mask (p=0.01) and eating balanced diet (p=0.014) were statistically significant across gender. Conclusion: In general, participants were aware of COVID-19 with a low proportion having a good knowledge about the disease and preventive measures. The findings from this online survey could guide information campaigns by public health authorities, clinicians, and the media. Keywords: Knowledge; Risk perception; Public health; Pandemic; COVID-19; Nigeria.

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This chapter focuses on a press conference organized by Women of the Storm on the occasion of a visit by John McCain and Lindsey Graham. It documents in detail the scene of the press conference, which took place at the 17th Street Canal breach in Lakeview. The chapter also narrates a chance encounter between Women of the Storm and schoolgirls from the Academy of the Sacred Heart School. The chapter concludes by outlining some of the educational outreach that Women of the Storm members participated in and suggests that models of civic activism and philanthropy were being shared across generations.