Background: Breastfeeding is a basic human activity, vital to infant and maternal health. A good breastfeeding advice from health professionals can influence a mother's decision to initiate and maintain breastfeeding positively. This study is aimed at assessing clinical medical students' knowledge, attitudes and intending practice towards breastfeeding. Method: Consecutive sampling method was used. Results: Knowledge on the definition of the term EBF was correct in 120 (69.4%) of the students, 47 (27.2%) of them got it wrong while 6 (3.45) did not known the definition of EBF. The early advantages of EBF was known by over 70% of the students and the contraindications to BF was gotten by over 60% of the students. The students' knowledge about some false notion on not giving EBM to sick babies, cause of nipple crack and inadequacy of BF for twin deliveries were good with over 70% of them knowing the right thing concerning these. The attitude of the students towards BF was very good with over 80% of them having good attitude towards BF, however 16 (9.3%) will not BF for two years because they believe that it will make their breast to sag, while 23 (13.3) did not know if that is true and 62 (77.5%) disagree with the statement. The intending practice of BF was generally good among the students with over 90% agreeing to do initiate BF within 6 hours of delivery and practicing EBF for 6 months. The intending practice of BF was generally good among the students with over 90% agreeing to initiate BF within 6 hours of delivery and practicing EBF for 6 months. The major factors influencing decisions for EBF includes WHO recommendations 108 (48.6%) out of 222 multiple responses, closely followed by mothers who are still in school for further studies 59 (26.6%). Family advice was the least factor with only 2 (0.9%). The major factors influencing decisions for termination of breastfeeding includes WHO recommendations 75 (35.0%) out of 222 multiple responses, closely followed by mothers who are still in school for further studies 44 (20.6%. Family advice was the least factor with only 4 (1.9%). Conclusion. The knowledge, attitude and intending practice on BF by the students were good, but more needs to be done in the area of knowledge because they are the future doctors who will play an important role in educating the society on breastfeeding.

Background: Neonatal jaundice is one of the major causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality in Nigeria. There is the need therefore to equip our young upcoming doctors about the disease. Aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of clinical medical students of Bingham University Teaching hospital on Neonatal Jaundice (NNJ).Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried on clinical medical students of Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical committee of the Hospital. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from 400-600L students using convenience sampling method for all those that consented to the study.Results: A total of 181 students were assessed with a M: F ratio of 1:1.2, age ranged of 18-30 years. About 98% of the students got the definition of jaundice correctly. There was no significant correlation between the definition of NNJ with age, sex educational level and tribe of the students. The major source of information was from their lectures and seminars accounting for 80% of sources. The assessment of the knowledge on the cause of NNJ was good with 145(80%) knowing that hematological/hereditary disease is a cause, 4(2.2%) did not know the cause of NNJ. The highest score for danger signs of NNJ was 98(54%) which was high pitch cry. About 60% of the students knew that blue light is the best colour of light for effective phototherapy, while 42(23%) did not know the answer. There was correlation between the intending practice and the educational level of the students p=0.016.Conclusions: The knowledge of some of the causes and the treatment of NNJ among the BHUTH was good and others were poor, therefore, more teachings and exposures need to be done.

Background: Mobile phones are one of the most common information access devices with almost 31% of the global population having access. Mobile phones are now in the hands of 2 billion people out of the 6.47 billion people on this planet. The knowledge on the pattern of use of mobile phones among students will shed more light on the advantages and disadvantages of the use of mobile phones so as to find ways of channeling the usage into being more beneficial and useful to the students. The aim is to determine the pattern of use of smartphones among clinical medical students in Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos. The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study among medical clinical students of BHUTH, Jos. The sampling method was consecutive sampling of all the students until sample size was obtained. A total of 134 questionnaires were distributed and all 134 were duly filled and returned. Results: The analyses of the pattern showed that majority of the students spend more than three hours on their phones per day. The commonest applications in use by the students include; Google play store, word documents and blogging applications. Thirteen (10.2% spends >20 hours) on academic sites, while (6.0% spends > 20hrs) on chatting sites, and (5.7% spends >20hrs) on social networking sites per week. A lot of students put their phone on vibration during lectures and there is a gender difference in the use of mobile phone. About one third of the students use their phones at night and most agreed that it is a form of distraction. The study concludes by recommending seminars on the appropriate use of mobile phone in the university.

Background: COVID-19 which was first reported in Wuhan China is now a global pandemic. Healthcare workers play a significant role in fighting this pandemic. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of COVID-19 among healthcare professionals in Jos. Methodology: The study population are all the health workers in Bingham University Teaching Hospital (BHUTH), Plateau State Specialist Hospital (PSSH) and ECWA comprehensive health care center (ECHC) in Jos who consented to the study. Consecutive sampling was employed in selecting eligible workers who consented to the study. Data generated was subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics as appropriate. Results: There were 446 HCWs, in comparing the overall mean knowledge score regarding COVID-19 between the different cadre of clinical HCWs, the difference was significant (F= 5.23, p= 0.002). The overall mean knowledge score between the different cadre of non-clinical HCW was not statistically significant (F= 1.38, p= 0.26). There was no significant difference between the mean scores of KAP of the doctors in the different hospitals in Plateau State (F= 0.46, p= 0.63; F= 0.34, p= 0.71; F=0.41, p= 0.66) respectively. The result showed a significant association between job cadre with KAP. Conclusion: The KAP of the HCW was good, however, there was a significant difference between the knowledge scores of the different cadre of clinical HCW in Plateau State. There was also a significant association between the different job cadre with KAP of the HCW.

Introduction: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) pandemic has a significant impact on global health systems, not only in terms of the number of people infected with the disease, but also in terms of patients with other diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the measures taken to combat it, such as complete lockdown, has a significant impact on health seeking behaviour and the health care-delivery system. Studies have shown that while COVID-19 confirmed cases have gradually increased, visits to hospitals for non-COVID infections have steadily decreased. Concerns are arising about the potential harmful impact of COVID-19 response strategies on the management of other medical disorders. Objective: To assess the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on admissions into the Department of Paediatrics Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Plateau State. Methodology: We retrospectively analyzed the hospital out-patients and admission records into the Paediatrics department of Bingham University Teaching Hospital from April 2019 to March 2021. The records from one year pre-COVID and one year COVID period were compared. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: The total number of pediatric patients seen at the Paediatrics department (POPD/EPU/SCBU/PMW) decreased by 28 percent, from 5657 in 2019/2020 to 4079 in 2020/2021 (P <0.001). The number of patients hospitalized in the Paediatrics medical ward (PMW) declined by 19 percent, while the number of admissions in the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) declined by 10 percent. The overall number of consultations in the emergency department unit (EPU) decreased by 23 percent. The total number of patients seen and admitted in the various units of the paediatric department decreased during the lockdown period by 60 percent compared to the pre-lockdown period.  Conclusion: The pandemic and the precautions taken in response to COVID-19 have resulted in a significant reduction in pediatric admissions for diseases other than COVID-19.