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Background: Eating habits are a major concern among university students especially due to the transition from home environment where parents determine what to be eaten, to new environments where they or their peers choose the diet. Eating habits are considered determinants of health conditions and has been linked to death from Noncommunicable diseases. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in school of Health Sciences at Mount Kenya University. A total of 630 students from entire school of health science constituted the target population for the study. Sample size of 245 students was established. Stratified sampling technique was used to select students from department of Medical laboratory science, Nursing, Pharmacy and Public health who formed sample size for the study. Close-ended questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. Results: The study found that majority of students had normal weight (65%) but there is a fairly high occurrence of overweight (20%) among the students. Further, female students skipped the three main meals i.e. breakfast, lunch and supper more frequently than male students. In addition, this study found that, the P-values of the chi-square test were greater than 0.05 hence there was not conclusive evidence of a statistical significant relationship between frequency of taking breakfast (P = 0.070), lunch (P = 0.167), or supper (P = 0.217) and body mass index of the students. Further the study found that food availability (61%), friends (6%), cost (1%) and accessibility of food (32%) were the factors that influenced students eating behaviors. The finding showed no statistical relationship between eating home cooked food (P = 0.114), eating self-cooked food (P = 0.056), frequency of taking sweet beverages per week (P = 0.567). However there was statistically significant relationship between frequency of taking fast food per week (P = 0.000), frequency of consuming snacks per week (P = 0.001), frequency of consuming vegetables per week (P = 0.000), frequency of consuming fruits per week (P = 0.033), frequency of consuming deep fried food per week (P = 0.026), frequency of consuming chicken per week (P = 0.008) and body mass index of the students. Additionally the study found out that students considered either the cost of food 29%, availability of food for purchase, 22%, favorite meals 15% or balanced diet when making food choices. A significant relationship between meals planning and BMI (P = 0.000) was realized as well as between living arrangement of the students and body mass index (P = 0.000). Conclusions:The study concluded that the frequency of taking breakfast, lunch and supper has no relationship with body mass index of the students. However, frequency of taking fast food, frequency of consuming snacks, frequency of consuming vegetables, frequency of consuming fruits, frequency of consuming deep fried food and frequency of consuming chicken per week is statistically related to body mass index of students. The study also concluded that meal planning and l...

Acute malnutrition affects nearly 52 million of under five years children globally, 75% of them live in low to middle income countries. The treatment of acute malnutrition using supplement foods could help children recovering and could reduce the risk of sickness. The present study investigated the factors associated with recovery among children with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) under a follow-up program at health facilities. A prospective study was conducted in 16 health centers of Kirehe District of Rwanda and included 200 children from 6 to 59 months. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. All children enrolled in the study spent three months in nutrition program at health centers. The results show that after 3 months in the program 77.5% recovered from MAM. Children aged above 36 to 59 months were recovered at 90% whereas children aged from 24-35 months were recovered at 73.5%. Micronutrients and deworming provided at health facility were contributed to the recovery as children who received them were recovered at 89.1% and for those who didn’t were recovery at 72.1%. The findings demonstrated that boys were 16 times more likely to recover from MAM in three months of intervention than girls (AOR=16.19, p<0.001, 95% CI: 5.39- 48.63). Children from moderate income families were 3 more likely to recover than those from very low income families (AOR=2.8, p=0.029, 95% CI: 1.11-7.51). Male gender, receiving micronutrients and deworming from health facilities and family income status were factors associated with MAM recovery status

Background Diarrhoea remains one of the leading of causes of deaths in children under five years old globally. Children under five years are more vulnerable to diarrhea especially those from low and middle countries. The aim of this study was to explore the environmental and nuttitional factors associated with diarrhea among children underfive years in Rwanda. Methods A secondary data analysis of the  Rwanda Demographic and Heralth Survey 2014-2015 (RDHS 2014-2015) was used. A total sample of  7,558 children under five years old was included. The data were analysed using Stata 13. Bivariate with Chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression analysis were performed to assess the relashionship of factors associsted with diarreha. A 95% confidence interval and a significance level of 0.05 were set. Results Two environmental factors (Source of drinking water and shared toilets facilities with other households) were associated with child diarrhea. P-values: 0.029, OR:1.79, CI [1.06-3.01]; 0.019, OR:1.26, CI: [1.04-1.53] respectively. None of the selected nutritional factors was associated with childhood diarrhea. Conclusion Based on the findings, drinking borehole water and shared toilet facilities were associated with diarrhea. The study therefore recommends the provision of potable water and supporting/enabling the households to own toilets. Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2020;3(3):280-290

Social media use has gained prominence in the public as well as in the work environment as a way of quickly and widely sharing information and its crucial role in management has been elevated even more by the covid-19 pandemic which has severely limited human physical interaction. This study was carried out to explore the sociodemographic factors and adoption of social media as a management tool among managers and administrators in selected Non-Governmental Organizations in Kigali Rwanda. The study focused on the popular social media applications that can be of use in management namely, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, video-conferencing applications, and YouTube. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional design with an online survey questionnaire administered to a sample size of 217 respondents purposively sampled from six selected NGOs in Kigali Rwanda. Findings indicated that the overall social media adoption was quite high with WhatsApp being the most popular app. Several respondents’ characteristics such as age, education and job level showed statistically significant association with adoption of particular social media applications. Findings, however, revealed no structured approach to social media use in most of the surveyed NGOs. The study concluded that the overall adoption rate of social media was quite high but with a huge disparity in usage rates of specific social media applications and that certain sociodemographic factors such as education level and training appeared as strong predictors of social media adoption. This study recommended therefore, that NGOs should determine the applications that support their business model and provide comprehensive policies and support to encourage the employees to adopt the chosen social media applications in their managerial functions. The policy makers should also promote the modifiable sociodemographic factors that influence social media adoption such as education level and training.