Background: Index testing is a voluntary process whereby HIV seropositive clients are counselled and, after obtaining consent, their sexual and needle sharing partners are offered HIV testing services. Index testing has been associated with high HIV positivity yield. The aim of this study is to determine the positivity yield and identify factors influencing the yield from index testing strategy in selected healthcare facilities in Ondo State, southwest Nigeria. Methodology: Six public hospitals in Ondo State with the highest HIV clients currently on treatment were selected. Records of all clients newly diagnosed to be HIV positive at the selected facilities from June 2018 to September 2019, and who had an outcome for index testing services were reviewed. Data were collected using a chart abstraction template from the index testing registers. Information collected included age and gender of the index clients and their partners, method of referral and notification of partners, HIV test results of partners and linkage status of new HIVpositive partners. Data analyses were done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 24.0. Chi-square was used to test association between variables at a significance level of p<0.01. Results: The records of a total of 904 index clients and their partners were reviewed with partner elicitation ratio of 1:1. The mean ages of index clients and their partners were 38.52±10.96 and 38.98±10.79 years respectively, and majority of the index clients (34.6%) and partners (35.5%) were in the 35-44 years age group. A total of 548 index clients were females (60.6%) while 528 of their partners were males (58.4%), indicating  predominantly heterosexual (96.4%) and few homosexual (lesbian) relationships (3.6%). One-fifth (20%) of partners tested positive for HIV andwere all (100%) linked to antiretroviral therapy (ART). The HIV positivity rate in partners of male index clients (26.9%) was significantly higher than in partners of female index clients (15.5%) (p<0.01). Partner referral method was mostly through assisted referral (56%) and most (82%) were contacted by the index clients through phone. Conclusion: Due to its high positivity yield, index testing is a veritable strategy to increase HIV case detection and linkage to ART. Hence, proper deployment of index testing will be critical to improving ART coverage and achieving epidemiological control. Keywords: HIV, client; partner; index testing; ART; southwest Nigeria

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Background: Breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer affecting women worldwide. It comprises 22.9% of invasive cancers in women and 16% of all female cancers.   It affects about 12% of the women population worldwide. In Nigeria, about one breast cancer death is reported in every 25 cases identified and the practice of breast self-examination has been reported to range from 19% to 43.2%. This cross sectional study assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice of breast self-examination (BSE) among female secondary school students in Osogbo Metropolis. Methods: A total of 400 respondents were selected using multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using pre-tested self-administered semi structured questionnaire, analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and presented using appropriate tables and charts. Level of significance set at < 0.05. Results: The mean age ± SD is 14.77 ± 1.46 years.  390 (97.5%) respondents reported that they have heard of breast cancer while 235 (58.8%) respondents stated that they have heard of breast self-examination (BSE). 15 (3.8%) respondents said the procedures is time wasting while 82 (20.5%) respondents said the procedures were strenuous. 199 (49.8%)  strongly disagree that performing breast self-examination may expose them to breast cancer. Individuals with poor knowledge are one time less likely to do breast self-examination (OR = 1.245, CI = 0.647 - 2.394) while in terms of attitude, those with unfavorable attitude are one time less likely to do breast self-examination (OR = 1.025 CI = 0.949 -1.107). Conclusion: This study revealed a larger proportion of respondents have heard about breast cancer and breast self-examination but with inadequate knowledge of the correct procedures of breast self-examination (BSE) thereby resulting into poor attitude & practice of breast self-examination (BSE). This challenge therefore indicates an urgent need for continuous awareness and sensitization programs in the communities.

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Background: Patient waiting time has been recognized as an important indicator for determining the quality of healthcare services offered by health facilities. Waiting time is strongly related to patients’ satisfaction with the care received at the hospital in general. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in February 2018 among new patients attending general out-patient department (GOPD) of randomly selected hospitals in South-Western Nigeria. A structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to elicit information from 223 patients who were recruited into the study using a convenience sampling method. Results: The average total clinic waiting time (TCWT) from entry to seeing a medical doctor was 137.02 ± 53.64 minutes. Only 6 (2.7%) met the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendation of having at least 90% of patients seen within 30 minutes of their scheduled appointment in contrast to 193 (86.5%) of respondents desiring to wait not more than 30 minutes for whatever reason before been attended to by the doctor. Although, the level of satisfaction was high (81.2%) in this study, patients who waited longer (>180 min) are more likely to be dissatisfied with services rendered in the OPDs (χ² = 20.104, df = 1, P = 0.001). Factors such as few health personnel (81/120) and having an insurance cover contributed significantly to the waiting time (χ² = 19.54, df = 1, P = 0.001). Conclusion: In a competitively managed health care environment, patient waiting time play an increasingly important role in a clinic’s ability to attract new business. Efforts therefore, should be made not only to reduce the patient waiting time, but health managers should invest in resources and activities that ensure a productive use of the time patients spend in the process of seeking healthcare services.