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Background: Breast cancer is the commonest cancer among women globally. Early screening remains a critical approach to reducing morbidity and mortality. Mammography, one of such screening tools, is vital in improving outcomes and survival. However, poor knowledge and ignorance have been touted as major barriers to health services uptake in Low/Middle-income countries. This study therefore determined breast cancer knowledge and mammography uptake among women aged ≥40 years in Calabar Municipality. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to elicit information from 365 women that were randomly selected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS version 20. The results were descriptively presented by frequencies and percentages. Pearson Chi-Square (ꭓ2) analysis was performed to detect the association between variables at 5% level of significance (p-value of ≤ 0.05). Results: Majority of the 365 study participants 121 (33.3%) were aged between 40 – 44 years and had attained tertiary level of education 231 (63.2%). Most of the respondents had low knowledge score 214 (58.6%) of breast cancer and mammography. Only 36 (9.9%) of the respondents have had mammography out of which most 22 (61.0%) used it only once. Knowledge level of breast cancer and mammography was statistically significantly associated with uptake (p = .00001). Conversely knowledge of breast cancer and mammography was not statistically significantly associated with educational attainment (p = .54). Conclusions: Knowledge level of breast cancer and uptake of mammography among women aged ≥40 in Calabar Municipality was very poor. The need to increase awareness about breast cancer and breast cancer screening are highly advocated.

Introduction After the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, a hand full of cases and deaths have been recorded globally, Nigeria inclusive. Methods A retrospective analysis of the COVID-19 weekly disease update report by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) covering February 29, 2020 (Week 9) and March 28, 2021 (Week 12) was adopted for this study. Data were curated from the NCDC database. Results As of March 28, 2021, Nigeria is the 5 th most affected African country and the 77 th most affected country globally with 162,593 COVID-19 cases and 2,048 COVID-19 related deaths. COVID-19 has been reported in all 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory. However, Lagos has remained the epicenter of the pandemic accounting for 35.4% of the pandemic in Nigeria while Kogi State is the least affected State (0.003%). The trend showed male predilection while the age bracket 35-39 years was the most affected. The attack rate was found to be 78.8 per 100,000 of the population while the cumulative death per 100,000 of the population was found to be 1.0. The case fatality rate was found to be 1.30. Approximately 1,778,105 COVID-19 tests have been performed while 923,623 doses of vaccine have been administered. Conclusions COVID-19 has been reported in all states in Nigeria as well as the Federal Capital Territory with many of the cases involving males. The case trend showed a bimodal form indicating a second wave occurrence. Nigeria government has initiated some combative measures as well as vaccine initiation.

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) continues to rank high in contributing to the global disability adjusted life years with 10 million new cases yearly worldwide. Having effective control of TB particularly in endemic communities should be predicated on understanding factors that drive its upsurge. Objectives: This study assessed the association between socio-demographic factors and nutritional status among adults with pulmonary TB in Calabar, Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive analysis of a randomized controlled study that enrolled 81 clinically diagnosed pulmonary TB patients that met the eligibility criteria. Data assessed were, socio-demographic, clinical, dietary, anthropometric, haematological and serum concentration of micronutrients. Results were presented in frequencies, percentages, tables and chart. Chi-square (ꭕ2) test was used to determine existence of associations between variables at 5% level, while, Pearson Correlation test was applied to determine the correlation between variables. P-value was used to determine significance of tests. Results: Using body mass index (BMI) as a proxy of nutritional status, results indicate that 33.4% of patients were undernourished with no discernible gender differences (p=0.254). Income level classification was observed to be statistically significantly associated with undernutrition (p=0.021), with those in the low-income category most at risk. Correlation analysis of key variables indicated that low serum ascorbate, zinc and retinol were independently associated with low BMI. These associations were statistically significant (p<0.05).Singleness was identified as a risk factor for undernutrition (p=0.060). Low functional status proxied by Karnofsky score <50% tended to align more with patients in the low income level category. Conclusion: Results consistently indicate that patients in the low income category had higher proportion of lower ranges of haemoglobin, protein parameters, serum ascorbate, zinc and retinol concentrations considered deficient. Thus, poverty alleviation strategies should be highly prioritized in TB programming for effective control.

Background Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an acquired defect of the cellular immunity associated with the infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The disease has reached pandemic proportion and has been considered a public health concern. This study is aimed at analyzing the trend of HIV/AIDS research in Nigeria. Method We used the PUBMED database to a conduct bibliometric analysis of HIV/AIDS-related research in Nigeria from 1986 to 2021 employing “HIV”, “AIDS”, “acquired immunodeficiency syndrome”, “Human immunodeficiency virus”, and “Nigeria” as search description. The most common bibliometric indicators were applied for the selected publications. Result The number of scientific research articles retrieved for HIV/AIDS-related research in Nigeria was 2796. Original research was the predominant article type. Articles authored by 4 authors consisted majority of the papers. The University of Ibadan was found to be the most productive institution. Institutions in the United States dominated external production with the University of Maryland at the top. The most utilized journal was PLoS ONE. While Iliyasu Z. was the most productive principal author, Crowel TA. was the overall most productive author with the highest collaborative strength. The keyword analysis using overlay visualization showed a gradual shift from disease characteristics to diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Trend in HIV/AIDS research in Nigeria is increasing yet evolving. Four articles were retracted while two had an expression of concern. Conclusion The growth of scientific literature in HIV/AIDS-related research in Nigeria was found to be high and increasing. However, the hotspot analysis still shows more unexplored grey areas in future.

Introduction mammography has the potential for identifying high risk women with breast cancer. Early detection is important in reducing mortality and morbidity, and crucial for better prognosis. Mammography is poorly practiced in Nigeria. This study assessed the association between socio-demographic characteristics and uptake of mammography among women ≥40 years. Methods a cross-sectional descriptive study design was employed and data was collected from 365 consenting participants in Calabar, Nigeria, using pre-tested questionnaire. SPSS Version 20 was used for data entry and analysis. The results were descriptively presented by frequencies and percentages. Pearson Chi-Square (χ 2 ) analysis was performed to detect the association between variables at 5% level of significance (p-value of ≤0.05). Results only 9.9% of participants had a mammography, majority 90.1% never had. Uptake was highest among respondents with tertiary education, married, Civil/Public Servants, and those in the high income level categorization. Educational status, marital status, occupation and age were not statistically significantly associated with mammography uptake (p>0.05). Only religious denominational affiliation (p = 0.02) and income level (p = 0.002) were statistically significantly associated with uptake. Barriers to uptake were poor knowledge about mammography (49.8%), psychosocial (37.8%), economic (17.1%) and health systems (11.5%). Key facilitators to uptake were encouragement/counselling by health workers (44.0%) and presence of breast problems (37.4%). Conclusion mammography uptake in Calabar, Nigeria was extremely low. Therefore, regular awareness campaigns targeting women at faith-based settings, and provision of mammography screening services at subsidized rates will enhance knowledge level and uptake of mammography.

Background: Onchocerciasis a disease of poverty continues to place huge health, economic and social burden on communities at risk. Understanding critical factors that impact on access to treatment, acceptance and overall control measures are pivotal to the march towards its elimination. Objective: To assess Onchocerciasis perception and treatment experiences in a rural community in Cross River State, Nigeria. Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study using mixed method was undertaken. Data were collected using pretested questionnaire and in-depth interview guide. Quantitative data were Ejemot-Nwadiaro et al.; AJMAH, 16(2): 1-14, 2019; Article no.AJMAH.50720 2 analysed using SPSS while the in-depth interviews were audio taped, transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis done. Findings were presented in frequencies, charts, percentages, tables and quotes. Tests of significance were determined using Chi-square ( 2 ) at significance level of 5%. Results: Ignorance, myths and negative perception about the cause of Onchocerciasisas pervade in 64 (31.2%) of the respondents that did not know that the bite of infected Blackfly is the cause. Some attributed the disease to curse from the gods (45.3%) and witchcraft (23.4%). This poor knowledge is associated with lower highest attained level of education (p =0.01). Non-availability of drugs (23.9%) and lack of knowledge on where to access ivermectin (9.8%) were the major challenges to ivermectin uptake. Inequity in treatment access was identified from the thematic analysis. Conclusion: Poor knowledge of the cause of the disease, non-availability of ivermectin and misconceptions about cause of onchocerciasis had negative influence on health-seeking behaviors, discriminatory practices and treatment coverage. By integrating contextual knowledge awareness creation about Onchocerciasis into the design of control strategies will facilitate the vantage march towards achieving elimination target. Original Research Article

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