Throughout the world, socio-economic status differentials of individuals have a lot of influence on privileges and opportunities enjoyed by society members. The different social and economic positions of individuals and income levels oftentimes hinder them from effective use of health care facilities. It is against this background, that the study was designed to investigate income differentials and its influence on utilization of healthcare services among the people of Calabar Metropolis in Cross River State, Nigeria. Relevant body of literature were reviewed and survey design method was adopted. The instruments used were the questionnaire, interview and Focus Group Discussions (FGD). A sample of 360 respondents was selected using a multi-stage sampling procedure for the study. Data was presented using simple percentage calculation while Chi-Square and ANOVA statistical tool was used to test and ascertain the relationship between income level and healthcare services usage at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that level of income and occupational status of individual influence health care service utilization among people in Calabar Metropolis. At the end of the study, several recommendations were made among which were a general improvement of socio-economic status of the people in areas of availability and compulsory education, employment opportunities as well as equitable distribution of income and minimizing cost of health care services for effective and equal utilization.

Nigerian children under prolonged suffering because of loss of parents are faced with several challenges such as dropping out of school; in some cases, they may even be taken out of school to care for the home.  In this study, we determined the challenges (financial, emotional and psychological) to the education of orphaned and vulnerable children in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. All the 396 orphans in orphanages in the study Area constituted the study population. A Questionnaire captioned “the challenges to the education of orphans and vulnerable children, a case study of Eleme Local Government Areas of Rivers State”, was developed for the study. Whether male or female, the children held that financial situations and emotional stress, to a high extent affected their education. The children attempt to cope with these challenges by being frugal, seeking company among themselves, and trying to develop the ability to manage their emotions. Clearly, the provision of access to finance (e.g., through special bursaries and grants) and guidance and counselling professionals will enhance the continuity and performance of orphans and vulnerable children in the schools.   Received: 2 May 2021 / Accepted: 15 June 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021

The provision of information on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria’s secondary schools is often considered inadequate to prevent or limit the scourge among teenagers. In this study, we examined the sources of information for secondary school students on prevalence of the disease in the southern senatorial district of Cross River State, Nigeria. The sources examined included parents, teachers, the social media, health care professionals and the mass media. Eight hundred students in five randomly selected secondary schools were sampled for questionnaire administration, of which 789 were retrieved for analysis.  Majority of the students had some knowledge of the causes, mode of transmission, and preventive measures of HIV/AIDS, but they lacked adequate access to the various sources of more specific information available on the subject matter. Only 187 respondents (23.7%) agreed that their parents taught them about sex education in connection with HIV/AIDS. Our data showed low parental knowledge of the spread of the disease, hence the inadequate education of their wards. About 78% of the respondents agreed that the social media provided more information on HIV/AIDS. However, nearly all the respondents (about 92%) did not use social media sites because they had no access to browsing phones or computers. Many of the respondents heard about HIV/AIDS from health counselors and community health workers in their areas of residence. The overall results indicated that prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the study area could be moderated by knowledge of the disease facilitated by adequate information and increased awareness. There is need to intensify the awareness through the mass media and other outlets considered in this study, starting from the home.   Received: 16 November 2021 / Accepted: 3 February 2022 / Published: 5 May 2022

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The study investigates the relationship between sexual behavior and domestic violence among teenage girls in Yakurr Local Government Area, Cross River State, Nigeria. The study used one research objective and hypothesis to guide the study. Literature was reviewed in accordance with the research variables. Population of the study was basically teenage girls, between ages 13-17 years from the study area. The research instrument used to elicit information from respondents was the questionnaire. The study adopted a survey research design while a sample of 215 respondents was randomly sampled from thirteen council wards that constitute Yakurr. Stratified and simple random sampling technique were adopted. The Pearson product moment correlation analysis was used to test research hypothesis. The results revealed that there is high rate of sexual immorality including premarital sex, illicit sex, rape and homosexuality among teenage girls, leading to high rate of teenage pregnancy, rampant school drop-out and restiveness. Based on these findings, it was recommended that social work intervention measures such as counseling, awareness creation, sensitization, behavioral change process and vigorous campaigns should be organized for teenage girls in the area, so that they would be aware of the dangers of immoral sexual behavior and to avoid the consequences that attend it. Besides, sex education should be vigorously embarked upon to effect behavior modification among the teen girls.