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Background: In developing countries, school age children continue to bear the greatest burden of intestinal parasites and schistosomiasis. This study determined the prevalence, knowledge, attitude and practice of preventive measures of intestinal and urinary parasitic infections among primary school children in Ebonyi, Nigeria Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among 120 pupils in two primary schools in Igbeagu community in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The pupils were purposively selected based on willingness to participate. Data were collected using questionnaires and stool and urine analyses. IBM-SPSS software version 20 was used for data analysis. Chi square test was done at 5% level of significance and 95% confidence interval. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed. Results: Mean age of respondents was 11.33±2.46, with majority between 6-13 years (102, 85.0%). There were 66 (55.0%) females and 104 (86.7%) respondents had good knowledge about intestinal parasites. Drinking contaminated water (104, 86.7%), using clean toilets (102, 85.9%) and diarrhea (105, 87.5%), were the most identified ways of transmission, prevention and symptomatology respectively. Overall, 117 (97.5%) had good attitude towards prevention and control of intestinal and urinary parasites. Respondents had good preventive practices against intestinal and urinary parasites with majority washing their hands with soap after defecation (100, 83.3%), and before eating (101, 84.2%). Conclusion: This study reported high levels of knowledge, good attitude and preventive practices against intestinal and urinary parasites. No parasites were found. We recommend that caregivers be targeted for behaviour change interventions as this will augment the positive results already being reported.

Background: Family planning has been adopted as one of the strategies for improving maternal and child health. Family planning is beneficial in reducing maternal and child mortality and therefore, a vital strategy to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This study determined the knowledge, attitude, perceived partner and socio-cultural support for family planning among women of reproductive age in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 113 respondents attending antenatal clinic in a Primary health care facility in Nwezenyi village of Izzi Local Government Area. Data collection was in January 2019 over a 4-week period using interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22 and 95% confidence interval was used with a p-value of < 0.05 considered statistically significant. Chi square statistics was used to determine the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and family planning knowledge. Predictors of family planning knowledge were determined with binary logistic regression using odds ratio as the measure of effect. Results: More than half of the respondents (65.5%) had good knowledge while almost all respondents (93.8%) had good attitude towards family planning. Few of the respondents reported that their doctrine/religion and culture supported family planning (23.9% and 23% respectively). Increasing age (AOR: 5.84, 95%CI: 1.85-18.46) and higher education (AOR: 16.69, 95%CI: 4.63-60.20) were predictors of family planning knowledge. Conclusion: There was good knowledge and positive attitude towards family planning among respondents, but cultural and doctrinal support of family planning were poor. Higher education and older age were predictors of family planning knowledge.

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Background: Teachers play an important role in delivering health education to empower students with skills for healthy living pertinent to prevent the development of non-communicable diseases. The development of non-communicable disease like hypertension, diabetes, obesity and cancers is highly associated with modifiable lifestyle. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of self-reported Diabetes Mellitus, knowledge of its risk factors as well as risk factors among secondary school teachers in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 282 secondary school teachers selected through multistage sampling technique using a self-administered pre-tested questionnaire for data collection. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21 to determine associations between socio-demographic variables and knowledge of the risk factors for diabetes mellitus. Results: The prevalence of self-reported diabetes mellitus among the teachers was 3.5%. The knowledge of Diabetes Mellitus was generally poor as about 60% of respondents were categorized as having poor knowledge and 4.9% of them had glycosuria while majority 172 (61.0%) reported family history of Diabetes Mellitus. More than half (58.5%) reported not engaging in any form of physical exercise and more than half were considered overweight/obese. There was statistically significant relationship between family history and general knowledge of diabetes mellitus risk factors, (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Knowledge of risk factors of diabetes mellitus was poor among the teachers, and there is urgent need for orientation towards routine screening for diabetes mellitus for this group of professionals who are strategic for education of teenagers.