Economic adversity, scarcity, joblessness and upsurge in the price of oil have dictated the need for people to find alternative means of making a living in respect of domestic cooking energy in Nigeria. Therefore, this work examined charcoal production in both Makurdi and Guma LGAs of Benue state to ascertain its impact, contributions to rural livelihood and efforts in replanting trees felled for charcoal production. Villages involved in charcoal production were identified using snowball sampling techniques. A Multi-stage Sampling Technique was employed to select respondents for data collection as personal interview and semi-structured questionnaire were used. Twelve villages were selected purposively from four Council Wards out of eleven in Makurdi LGA, while six villages were selected from two Council Wards out of ten were ten in Guma LGA. Three charcoal producers and marketers were selected in each village for administration of questionnaire. Results revealed that males (85.4%, 83.7%) were higher than females (14.6%, 16.3%) in Makurdi and Guma LGAs, respectively. Youths between ages of 21-30 years (27.1% and 32.6%) in Makudri and Guma with highest level of secondary education were foremost in the business. Prosopis africana was the most preferred tree species for charcoal production in the area. Despite fewer number of Council Wards chosen in Guma LGA, yet, respondents felled as much as 132 trees per week for charcoal production against 109 trees felled in Makurdi LGA which sum up to 241 trees felled per week. The results also reveal that on weekly bases, 22 charcoal producers in Makurdi earned N25,000, while 18 in Guma LGA earned between N11, 000 - N15, 000 from charcoal business. The result further revealed that, respondents met family needs as feeding, paying school fees and purchase of motorcycle. The major health hazard encountered by respondents in Makurdi and Guma LGAs was fire burn (50% and 25%), respectively. Efforts in replanting trees in the study area was minimal through plantation forestry and agroforestry. In conclusion, charcoal production was observed to improve socio economic benefits to people. However, alternative source of livelihood should be provided for the people to mitigate the adverse effect of deforestation.Key words: Charcoal, deforestation, livelihood, Prosopis africana, wood species, Key words: Charcoal, deforestation, livelihood, Prosopis africana, wood species,

Tetanus infection has remained a major health problem in the third world countries despite the availability and accessibility of effective antibodies as vaccines. The knowledge of women about the diseases may affect their behavior with regards to prevention of the disease. This was a descriptive cross sectional study to assess the knowledge and behavior towards tetanus toxoid immunization by 252 antenatal clinic attendees in two health facilities Uyo metropolis. The majority of respondents had heard about Tetanus infection 247(98.1%) and tetanus toxoid (97.2%), with Health workers being the main source of information 213 (85.9%). Most, 228(90.5%) knew it is for prevention, while only 80 (31.7%) were aware 5 doses confer lifetime immunity.  Most of the women 236 (93.7%) had received at least a dose of TT; 123(52.1%) had up to 5 doses, while 184(78%) claimed they had completed the immunisation schedule. The commonest reason some had not received any was its not being offered to them (31.3%). There was a global positive attitude towards TT immunisation. The level of education but not age of respondents was statistically associated with being immunized (P=0.001).The study showed a fairly good awareness of tetanus infection and immunisation with   misconceptions and a good disposition unmatched by practice. There is therefore the need for proper health education especially on the number of doses, intervals/ schedules, the protection offered, as well as need for the evaluation of the content of health enlightenment information provided by health personnel to mothers attending ANCs

Twinning is the commonest form of multiple pregnancy, and it is associated with increased adverse perinatal and maternal outcomes. A 5-year retrospective observational study of all cases of twin gestations delivered at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital was conducted to determine the prevalence as well as document the maternal and perinatal outcomes associated with it. There were 219 twin deliveries during the study period, accounting for 2.17% of all deliveries. Twinning accounted for 98.65% of all multiple births during the period under review. The majority (62.1%) of the women were between 20 and 29 years of age, their mean age was 28.6 years, multiparous women (69.9%), mean parity was 2.7, and booked status (58.0%). The preterm delivery rate was 32.4%, the caesarean section rate was 42.9% and the perinatal mortality rate (PNMR) was 87 per 1000 births. Maternal complications included a high operative delivery rate of 42.8%, hypertensive disorders (9.6%), anaemia (2.7%) and 4.1% of postpartum haemorrhage. The perinatal morbidity and mortality and maternal morbidity rates were high. A significant percentage of the women with these high risk pregnancies were unbooked thereby reducing the opportunity for early detection and management in our environment. There is need for community education and advocacy on early booking and regular antenatal visits and better resources in our maternity unit to improve foetomaternal outcomes of twin.

Introduction Cervical cancer is the fourth commonest cause of cancer and cancer-related deaths among women worldwide and commonest gynaecological cancer in Nigeria. This study sort to determine the awareness of cervical cancer, its prevention and determine the attitude and practice of these women towards screening. Materials and methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire-based study to assess the knowledge, attitude and utilisation of cervical cancer screening among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in primary health centres in Uyo, South-south Nigeria. Results: The mean age of respondents was 34.7±8.9 years. The majority (76.7%) had post-secondary education, were married (69.6%), had 2 or more lifetime sexual partners (>60%) and had been pregnant twice (25%). Most (87.5%) have heard about cervical cancer, mainly from health workers, 116 (44.8%). The top 2 clinical features known were abnormal vaginal bleeding 177 (59.8%) and foul-smelling vaginal discharge 157 (53.0%) while the commonest risk factors mentioned were sex at early age 145 (49.0%) and multiple sexual partners 135 (45.6%). Preventive strategies known include quitting smoking (53.4%), avoiding early sexual intercourse (49%) and avoiding multiple sexual partners (48.3%). The majority, 186 (62.8%) knew about screening measures but less than a quarter knew that all sexually active women should be screened 46 (15.5%), while only 24.7% were aware of free services, 15.2% had ever been screened. The commonest reasons for nonscreening were not feeling at risk 68 (27.1%) and being unaware of screening 57 (22.7%) while most had a positive attitude towards screening for cervical cancer. 167 (56.4%). Conclusion: The good knowledge of cervical cancer and attitude towards its screening was not matched by action as only a few had ever been screened despite their high lifetime risk for it. There is therefore the need for further awareness creation on cervical cancer prevention with the aim of increasing their uptake of available screening services in the state.

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