International Journal of Public Health and Safety

Introduction and Aim: The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a Retrovirus which can be transmitted through sexual intercourse, sharing of sharp objects, blood and breast milk thus, has been a massive public health concern over the years. Overtime, when left untreated the, virus would cause AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes) which directly or indirectly leads to the disruption of certain activities of the body, especially the immune system. This study was thus aimed, at determining the prevalence of HIV in some communities in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Design and methods: Whole venous blood was collected from 1000 randomly selected patients visiting the General hospital Isiokpo in Ikwere Local Government Area and the sera obtained after centrifugation was used for the HIV antibody screening test. The Alere Determine Method was used for the assay while the STAT PAK kit was used for the confirmatory test. Results obtained were calculated in percentages and represented in charts.
Results: The results showed that 16.1% of the study population was HIV antibody sero positive from which persons within ages of 22-28 were the most infected (27.9%); females were more infected (55.3%) compared with males (44.7%) and the farmers had a higher prevalence rate of 26%, next was the unemployed with a prevalence of 24.8% when compared with those of other occupations. The unmarried/singles had the highest prevalence rate of 50.9% when compared with the married and widowed.
Discussion and Conclusion: Although the prevalence rate is tricky with huge confounding risk factors, the youths of this area should be encouraged to be engaged in meaningful work to keep them busy, especially the females to prevent them from partaking in unhealthy sexual and risky behaviors. The people should also be enlightened on the means of prevention of HI/AIDS. Provision of antiretroviral drugs for the positive patients will also help to prevent the development among the infected subjects to full blown AIDS.

To investigate the chloride hardness in drinking water, Five samples of drinking water were taken from five different academic institutes of District Vehari, Pakistan which are; sample-1 from University of Education Vehari Campus; sample-2 from Government Post Graduate College for Women Vehari; sample-3 from Government Post Graduate College for Boys Vehari; sample-4 from COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (IIT) Vehari Campus; and sample-5 from BZU Vehari Campus. This project was performed in chemistry Lab of University of Education Vehari Campus. After that, the results obtained from these experiments indicated that sample-3 is very polluted with large amounts of salts which cause its hardness and made it unfit for drinking purposes, because this hardness causes health diseases in humans. The sample-3 contains large amounts of chloride ions which hardened it, as its temperature is also low. Except Sample-3, all other four samples are not much polluted and are fit for drinking. So, author recommended to leave the use the sample-3 of Water of Government Post Graduate College for Boys Vehari.

Moringa oleifera is known for its therapeutic effects as it has been long used in treatment of many diseases. The haematinic effect of this plant was investigated in this work. The work was carried in Madonna University Elele Campus Rivers State. A total of 15 rats were procured and grouped into three groups and allowed to acclimatize for one week. Phenyl hydrazine was used to induce the anaemia in all the groups; the extract was prepared and administered orally using oral gavage. The rats were grouped into three groups. Group A served as control while groups B and C served as test group and were administered with 200 mg per body weight of Moringa oleifera leaf extract and 300 mg per body weight of same extract respectively. Blood samples were collected through ocular puncture after 28 days and analysed for haematological parameters using standard manual methods. Results showed that there was significant (P<0.05) increase in red blood cell count, hemoglobin count, packed cell volume and white blood cell count. Oral administration of Moringa oleifera leaf extract irrespective of the dose has the tendency to increase blood parameters such as WBC, RBC, Hb and PCV in anaemic rats.

Aim: A literature review to study the relationship between psychosocial work environment stress and the incidence of cardiovascular diseases in Europe.
Background: Psychosocial work environment can be defined as the interpersonal and social interactions that affect behavior and development in the workplace. It is known that work-related stress is very common and it has a high cost on employers’ health. In the longer term, stress can lead to different diseases, such as hypertension, which is a risk factor of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). CVDs are a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels. CVDs are the main cause of death globally. In 2015, around 17.7 million people died from CVDs worldwide, representing 31% of all deaths.

Background: Ethiopia has over 21 million young people and they account for approximately 22% of the total population. However, youth often lack basic reproductive health knowledge and access to affordable and confidential health services. This study assesses factors affecting adolescents and youths friendly reproductive health service utilization among high school students in Hadiya zone, Ethiopia.

Methods: Institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed to collect data from a total of eight secondary schools in Hadiya zone by using self-administered questionnaire from a sample of 702 students. Data was coded, cleaned and entered into Epi-info version 3.1 and analysed by using SPSS Version 20.0. Frequency, proportions and percentages was computed to describe the study variables. Binary and multivariate logistic regression analysis with a confidence level of 95% was computed to determine the relationship among variables with a significance level of less than 5%.

Results: The utilization level of adolescents and youth friendly reproductive health service was only 38.5%. Youths with a good knowledge of the type of adolescents and youth friendly reproductive health services were more likely to utilize the service than their counterparts [AOR=1.68 (95% C.I:1.06-2.65)] and those respondents who believed that youth friendly services can improve youth’s health were more likely to utilize the service than their counterparts [AOR=2.02 (95% C.I:1.16-3.52)].

Conclusions: The utilization level of adolescent and youth friendly reproductive health service was very low; and youths unaware of a type of AYFRH services, and those who don't believe that AYFRH services can improve youth’s health were less likely to utilize AYFRH services. Therefore, it needs a great effort and attention of all the concerned bodies to design and implement appropriate adolescents and youth reproductive health information, education and communication strategies in schools to influence the knowledge, attitudes and practice of youths to increase the service utilization.

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of acquiring hepatitis B infection due to occupational exposure. A range of measures can contribute to reduce HBV transmission to HCWs. There is effective vaccine against hepatitis B infection throughout the world. However, many Nurses in resource poor countries remain at risk because they are not vaccinated against hepatitis B Virus (HBV). Therefore, this study is aimed to assess predictors and vaccination status of Nurses against HBV in Addis Ababa.

Methods: Facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among Nurses working in public hospitals in Addis Ababa from March to April 2015. A total of 272 Nurses were included in the study. Data was collected by using self-administered questionnaire. Binary logistic regression technique was used to identify important predictors.

Results: Among the study participants only 67 (24.4%) were vaccinated at least once in their life time. Out of those respondents who were vaccinated, only 35.8% were fully vaccinated. More than half of study participants (51.8%) had poor knowledge about hepatitis B vaccine. Nurses who earn 148-183 $USD was less likely to be vaccinated against HBV. Nurse with history of needle and sharp injuries were 7.78 times more likely to be vaccinated against HBV when compared to those without history of needle and sharp injury. Knowledgeable Nurses about HBV vaccination were 6.3 times vaccinated against HBV when compared to those with poor level of knowledge.

Conclusion: This study determined a low level of HBV vaccination status of Nurses in Ethiopia, which implies higher risk of Nurses to be infected by hepatitis B virus. Monthly income, history of exposure to needle and sharp injury, and level of knowledge towards hepatitis B vaccination were the most important predictors of vaccination status. Each concerned body should give special attention to make available/accessible the vaccine for all professional Nurses.