Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life is a natural, cost effective and feasible intervention that promotes child survival. Exclusive breastfeeding has been promoted severally but its practice has remained poor in Nigeria. This study aims to determine the knowledge and practice of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers who bring their children to the department of Paediatrics University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. This was a descriptive cross-sectional hospital based study carried out from January 2012 to December 2013. A total of three hundred mothers presenting with their children for treatment at the Department of Paediatrics outpatient clinics, emergency and children medical wards were consecutively recruited into the study. Data on demographics, marital status, socioeconomic characteristics, knowledge and practice of breastfeeding were obtained using a structured self-administered questionnaire. The respondents were aged between 18 and 55years with a mean age of 31.59+6.6years. Most of the women were between 26-35years, majority (39%) were aged 25-30years and majority(89.3%) were married. Thirteen percent had no formal education while majority (63.8%) had tertiary education. Ninety eight percent of the respondents had heard about EBF. Knowledge of the correct meaning of EBF was 91.3% while awareness of the benefits of EBF was 69.3%. Thirty five (11.7%) practiced EBF for the first 6months. More than half (57.7%) of the respondents initiated breastfeeding within 1hour of delivery while 24.7% did so after 1hour but within 24hours of delivery. One hundred and twenty seven (42.3%) of the mothers had given prelacteal feeds to their babies. Of those who gave prelacteal feeds, 8.6% gave plain water, 6.3% glucose water, and 0.3% infant formula and herbs. In conclusion, the practice of exclusive breastfeeding in this study is very low and therefore there is an urgent need to scale up programmes that will promote exclusive breastfeeding in our region.

Background: Tetanus has remained a major public health problem worldwide although it is a vaccine preventable disease. It is a major contributor to under-five morbidity and mortality globally. Its effect is worse in developing countries such as Nigeria. Aims and Objectives: To highlight the socioeconomic challenges in the management of Post neonatal tetanus at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Study Design: A Retrospective Descriptive study. Place of Study: University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. Methods: Report of the socioeconomic challenges in the management of three consecutive cases of Post neonatal tetanus at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital from February to April 2015 was studied. Data on socioeconomic variables were retrieved from case notes of the patients. Results: These were three patients, two females and a male. Their ages were 11 years old of the two females and 14 years old of the male. None was immunized with tetanus toxoid in infancy. All three children survived. They were all from low socioeconomic class, two mothers were petty traders while one was unemployed, only one mother had complete secondary education. One mother was immunized in pregnancy, while one mother was married. Conclusions: The socioeconomic challenges of tetanus are immense, but could be prevented by simple measures such as education of the girl child, immunization of all school children, raising community awareness among other measures, and strengthening the school health program.

Malaria is a serious public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa, where it affects entire populations especially children. Indeed over 80% of the worldwide cases of malaria occur in Africa. Anemia secondary to malaria is much more common in younger children, with high mortality rates. Malaria is endemic throughout Sierra Leone and it is often associated with haemoglobin level below 8.0 grams per decilitre in malaria-endemic regions such as Sierra Leone. Sixteen percent of children age 6-59 months in Sierra Leone had a haemoglobin count lower than 8.0 g/dl. The aim of this study was to describe the burden of malaria in children aged one to five years presenting with Anaemia at Ola During children's Hospital (ODCH) in Freetown Sierra Leone. This study was a hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study, carried out over a period of two months. Data obtained from the study was analyzed using descriptive statistics, where discrete variables were summarized using frequencies and percentages; continuous variables were summarized using measures of central tendency such as mean, median, mode and standard deviation; while measures of association were analyzed using chi square. Eighty-eight percent of the children in this study had anaemia, mean hemoglobin concentration of enrolled children was 6.9g/dl Fifty-seven-point two percent of the study population had positive blood slide for malaria and the only plasmodium specie detected was plasmodium falciparum. Only 53% of the study population slept under insecticide treated bed nets Parents and caregivers with no formal education were as much as 11.8%. A little over a quarter of the parents/caregivers earned less than 200,000leones which is equivalent to < 50USD.

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