Background: Although there is considerable public concern about the environmental impacts of oil pollution in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, actual evidence on the pathological and psychological effects in the health of local communities is minimally known. We sought to associate the perspective measures of exposure to oil pollution with health outcomes (inventory of health symptoms and functional capacity limitations) and determine how emotional reactions to environmental risks moderate these health outcomes. Method: The study was conducted with 600 participants selected from five local government areas in Akwa Ibom State where oil pollution is rampant. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data on the respondents’ exposure to oil pollution, self-rated health and disease symptoms, perception of risk of exposure and emotional reactions to local oil pollution. Results: Most of the participants lived in areas with visible oil pollution and/or near gas flaring facilities and regularly suffered direct exposure to oil in their environment. High level of emotional distress was a part of everyone's life for the study population. Risk perception in the study area was mediated, to a large extent, by dreaded hazards (catastrophic fears of pipeline explosions and oil spill fire), visual cues (gas flares and smoke stacks) and chemosensory cues (off-flavor in drinking water). The exposure metrics were found to be significant predictors of the health effects and influencing factors (emotional reactions). Multi-levels models suggest that at the individual level, the demographic variables and direct contact with oil pollution were important mediators of functional capacity limitation. At the community level, emotional distress from fear of the sources of exposure was an important mediator of the health symptoms. Conclusions: This study documents high levels of disease symptoms and environmental distress (worry, annoyance and intolerance) associated with oil pollution in the Niger Delta areas of Nigeria. It highlights the need for some intervention to ameliorate the psychological distress associated with living under such environmental adversity.

Inadequate environmental sanitation has been recognized as a public health hazard worldwide. In some Nigerian cities, living with waste as part of the natural environment has become a way of life. This study examined the sanitary condition of an urban community in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. It used a cross sectional survey design for a population of 123,033 inhabitants of four villages in North Eastern Akwa Ibom. Multi-stage sampling was used in selecting 237 inhabitants in this community and structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages, Chisquare test and multiple logistic regressions. Results showed that tap water was the major source of water, usually disinfected by boiling. Results of multiple logistic regression showed a significant association between gender and their participation in environmental sanitation (p<0.05) with males showing 9 times more odds of participation than females (OR =9.84, C.I =1.225-79.018). Unwholesome practices like open refuse dumping and building of pit latrines close to the house were prevalent in this community. Therefore, to enhance the sanitary condition in this community, government should establish and enforce a more robust environmental sanitation approach and health education.

Background: This study is a comparative interventional study which examined the effect of Information Education and Communication (IEC) on the perception of menstruation among adolescence secondary school girls in Akwa Ibom State, South-South, Nigeria. Adolescent perception of menstruation was assessed based on how they perceive the importance of menstrual knowledge, attitude to menstrual problems and menstrual problems that require treatment. Methodology: Sample size of 600 adolescent females, 300 from rural and 300 from urban areas were selected from a population of 431,293 adolescent females by multi-stage sampling technique. Randomization was done with the use of table of random numbers. Frequencies and percentages were used to analyse categorical variables and descriptive statistics were computed for continuous variables. Chi-square test was used to determine association between sociodemographics of the respondents and their perception of menstruation. The effect of this intervention was evaluated after three months and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 20.0) was used to enhance data analysis. Statistical significance was tested at 0.05 level. Results: Of the 600 copies of the questionnaire administered, 559(93.2%), 286 from urban and 273 from rural were retrieved. Results showed some statistically significant difference in the perception of menstruation between rural and urban school girls (p<0.05). There was also a significant improvement among rural and urban respondents after intervention (p<0.05). Conclusion: As a result, health education on menstruation should be started early enough in secondary schools and this should be done on a regular basis for reinforcement of the messages.

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