Introduction The increased access to antiretroviral therapy has changed the once deadly infection to a chronic medical condition, resulting in a dramatic change in causes of morbidity and mortality among HIV infected individuals. Obesity and its cardiovascular sequelae are increasingly reported in the literature. However, data on the burden, trends and risk factors for obesity are sparse in countries worst hit by the epidemic.Objectives To investigate the trend and risk factors for obesity among a cohort of HIV infected adults on antiretroviral therapy. MethodsWe analysed prospectively collected data in an ongoing longitudinal observational study conducted at the HIV treatment centre, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria. Patients who started treatment between June 2004 and December 2009, and completed a five year follow up were included in the analysis. Multivariate analysis was used to determine the risk factors for obesity among the cohort.Results A total of 12 585 adults were enrolled in the treatment programme during the study period. Of which, 8819 (70.1%) met the inclusion criteria. At the start of treatment, 27.0% were either overweight (19.6%) or obese (7.4%) compared to 62.2% that were either overweight (35.7%) or obese (26.5%) at the end of 5 years. The observed differences were statistically significant (p<0.01). Female gender (aOR: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.81-2.67), low baseline BMI less than 20 (aOR: 1.9; 95% CI: 1.3-2.2) and baseline CD4 count less than 350/μl (aOR: 2.51; 95% CI: 2.13 -3.09) were associated with the development of obesity at multivariate analysis. Type of antiretroviral drug, age, marital status, viral load and haemoglobin level were not associated with obesity after controlling for confounding variables.Conclusions Obesity is common among HIV infected Nigerians on antiretroviral therapy and is associated with

The study determined the nutritional challenges of persons with disability in special needs centers in mainland, Lagos State. Three research questions guided the study. Survey research design was adopted. The population of the study was 57. No sampling was done since the population was a manageable size. Validated questionnaire was used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. Findings showed that the types of disabilities among children in special need centers in Lagos State included among others: physical disability, learning disability, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and speech and language disorder. Findings also revealed that the nutritional needs of children with disability included feeding on different foods, drinking water regularly, taking fruits daily, and ensuring that their nutrient requirements are met daily. Findings indicated that the nutritional challenges of children with disability included among others: excessive salivation, frequent constipation, inability to feed oneself, depending on care givers for feeding, food dropping from the mouth while being fed and difficulty in chewing and swallowing foods. Conclusion was made. Among recommendations made was that children with disabilities should be provided with variety of foods daily to meet their nutritional needs and parents/caregivers should devote more feeding time to the disabled child.

Background: Excusive breastfeeding practice in Nigeria is reportedly dwindling, yet the current breastfeeding practices and challenges remain largely unknown. To use the Iowa infant feeding attitude scale (IIFAS) to assess the breastfeeding knowledge and attitude of recently delivered mothers in Lagos Nigeria.Methods: A community-based survey. Study-related data were obtained from 636 mothers selected through multistage sampling, using IIFAS. The scale was validated for our environment before use in the study. The study data were managed with SPSS version 22.0.Results: The prevalence of any breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months and timely initiation of breastfeeding was 99.5%, 22.2% and 47.4% respectively. While the mothers had some knowledge of breastfeeding, their overall knowledge and attitudes about breastfeeding were positive towards infant formula than breastfeeding. More than half of the mothers in our study stated that infant formula was as healthy for infants as breastmilk (62.3%), formula feeding is the better choice if the mother plans to go back to work (80.7%), and that formula feeding was more convenient than breastfeeding (56.9%). Previous exclusive breastfeeding experience (OR 2.7, 95% CI: 1.15, 8.41), being a housewife (OR 1.6, 95% CI: 1.14, 10.9), and having a positive attitude to breastfeeding (OR 1.9, 95% CI: 1.3, 11.6) were found to be associated with exclusive breastfeeding.Conclusions: Although breastfeeding was almost universal in the study area (99.5%), the knowledge and attitude to exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) were suboptimal. Public health education on breastfeeding should be intensified before, during and after pregnancy to improve mother’s EBF knowledge and attitude.