Shuaibu Musa

Despite the high burden of household air pollution from biomass fuel in sub-Saharan Africa, the association of prenatal biomass fuel exposure and birth weight as a continuous variable among term births has not been extensively studied. In this study, our primary aim is to estimate the association between biomass cooking fuel and birth weight among term births in Kaduna, northwestern Nigeria. For replication, we also evaluated this association in a larger and nationally representative sample from the 2018 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Our primary analysis included 1,514 mother-child pairs recruited from Kaduna, in northwestern Nigeria, using the Child Electronic Growth Monitoring System (CEGROMS). Replication analysis was conducted using data from 6,975 mother-child pairs enrolled in 2018 Nigerian DHS. The outcome variable was birth weight, and the exposure was cooking fuel type, categorized in CEGROMS as liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene, or biomass fuel, and in the ...

Background: Telemedicine has the potential to revolutionize healthcare delivery, particularly in underserved and remote areas. It can help bridge the gap in access to care by using telecommunication technology to connect patients with healthcare providers. However, establishing a telemedicine centre is a complex process, particularly in lowresource settings. Objective: To describe the experience of and challenges faced in establishing a telemedicine centre in the Paediatric Department of Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital (BDTH) in Kaduna, Nigeria. Method: The process of setting up the telemedicine centre and the challenges faced by the hospital are described. Results: The hospital faced several challenges, including a lack of infrastructure, dearth of resources and a lack of trained personnel. Despite these challenges, the hospital was able to establish a telemedicine centre and begin providing services to patients. The telemedicine centre had a positive impact on patient care by increa...

Background: Telemedicine has the potential to revolutionize healthcare delivery, particularly in underserved and remote areas. It can help bridge the gap in access to care by using telecommunication technology to connect patients with healthcare providers. However, establishing a telemedicine centre is a complex process, particularly in lowresource settings. Objective: To describe the experience of and challenges faced in establishing a telemedicine centre in the Paediatric Department of Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital (BDTH) in Kaduna, Nigeria. Method: The process of setting up the telemedicine centre and the challenges faced by the hospital are described. Results: The hospital faced several challenges, including a lack of infrastructure, dearth of resources and a lack of trained personnel. Despite these challenges, the hospital was able to establish a telemedicine centre and begin providing services to patients. The telemedicine centre had a positive impact on patient care by increasing access to care for those in remote areas or to those not able to travel to the hospital. It also allowed the hospital to expand its reach and utilize its resources more efficiently. Conclusions: The establishment of a telemedicine centre at the Paediatric Department of BDTH, Kaduna, Nigeria, has had a significant impact on patient care, particularly for children who may not have had access to specialist care otherwise. Lack of infrastructure, dearth of resources and a lack of _________________________________________

Traditional and cultural practices related to newborn care have been passed down through generations in various cultures worldwide, often with the belief that they are effective in improving the health and well-being of newborns. These practices can differ significantly between cultures. The aim of this study was to assess the traditional and cultural newborn care practices in the Dakace and Tsibiri communities of Nigeria, and to identify potential opportunities for the integration of these practices into modern healthcare approaches. An ethnographic study was conducted in the Dakace and Tsibiri communities of Nigeria, which involved observing 54 deliveries and traditional rituals surrounding newborn care through participant observation. A total of 30 participants, including traditional birth attendants, community health workers, traditional leaders, and mothers who had given birth within the past year, were included in the study, and participated in in-depth interviews and focus gr...

Background  Although the HIV epidemic has mostly stabilized worldwide, the steady rise in the number of children orphaned by AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa currently accounts for an increase in the total population of orphans. The quality of alternative care will depend on the caregiver and the setting. Information on caregivers and the care settings for orphans could provide a basis for the formulation of appropriate strategic responses for their support. The aim of the article is to describe the demographic characteristics and alternative care profiles of orphans among children attending a pediatric antiretroviral treatment facility. Methods  This was a cross-sectional study of consecutive children attending the antiretroviral therapy clinic of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria in Northern Nigeria. Demographic characteristics, HIV status, and caregiver information were obtained and recorded into a standardized structured proforma. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20 (IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States), and results presented as means, percentages, contingency tables and charts, with p values of  Results  Out of 441 children (mean age 73.5 ± 37.1 months), 53.3% were females, with 160 orphans and an orphan prevalence of 36.3%. Overall, 90 (56.3%) were paternal, 38 (23.8%) maternal, and 32 (20.0%) double orphans. Orphans were younger, with 59.4% also being HIV infected. Nearly half of these orphans (49.4%) were under the care of paternal relatives, with 39 (24.3%) being under the care of a grandmother. Conclusion  Family kinship network constitutes a vital secondary alternative for orphan care next to care by surviving parents. The need for priority support directed at alternative caregivers cannot be overemphasized.

BACKGROUND The prevalence of neurologic dysfunction in untreated vertically acquired HIV infection ranges between 30-60% and 90% for progressive and static encephalopathy respectively. Features typically appear from infancy to 5 years with one or more signs that include failure to attain/loss of developmental milestones, loss of intellect, microcephaly and symmetrical motor deficit. Alteration of sensorium is uncommon and reports of prolonged coma are rather scanty. OBJECTIVE To report a rare occurrence of prolonged coma associated with HIV encephalopathy. METHODOLOGY Case report. RESULTS GJ, an 11 year old AIDS orphan, presented with cough of 1 month, convulsions and loss of consciousness of 3 days. He had a progressive deterioration of intellect in the preceding month, with aggression and irrational talk. He was diagnosed to have HIV/AIDS 12 months earlier at the referring hospital and was receiving ART and anti TB therapy. He was comatosed with features of upper motor neurone les...

Background: Medical schools use different evaluation methods after students undergo a period of instruction for certification of acquisition of requisite skills and competencies required for registration. Despite a global trend towards adoption of OSCE format to test competencies, its adoption in medical schools in Nigeria has been relatively slow and local experiences with its use are limited. We describe the development and administration of OSCE for the formative assessment of undergraduate medical students of Kaduna state university at the end of paediatrics clinical rotation. Methodology: OSCE was developed and conducted to assess clinical skills of 20 undergraduate medical students at the end of clinical posting in paediatrics. Students rotated through a series of clinical encounters arranged in ten stations in a circuit, each for a short duration of five minutes. Clinical tasks were carefully chosen to reflect learning objectives of the posting using standardized patients while scoring was done using task-specific and validated checklists by the same assessors. Results: A range of clinical com-petencies in different clinical scenarios , including history taking, physical examination and basic clinical skills was examined using this format. The conduct was resource intensive with much time spent during the selection of the competencies and appropriate standardized patients to be tested, standardization of checklists, briefing assessors and choosing appropriate venue as well as preparation of stations. Unfamiliarity with OSCE by both some students and assessors was a major challenge. Conclusions: OSCE is a feasible way of assessing a wide range of clinical competencies of medical students during paediatric rotation in our setting.

Assessment of patterns of drug to detect performance problems and compliance with standards facilitates objective comparisons and impact evaluation. Children are at higher risk of consequences of irrational prescribing and antibiotic misuse. The objective of the study was to evaluate the prescribing pattern and utilization of antibiotics for children using standard prescribing indicators and indices of rational drug prescribing. This was a retrospective study of prescriptions for pediatric inpatients at a teaching hospital in Northern Nigeria. Information was obtained from eligible prescriptions received over 24-month period using a modified WHO prescribing indicator form. The WHO prescribing indicators and the Index of Rational Drug Prescribing (IRDP) were used to evaluate prescriptions. Data were analyzed and presented as proportions, means, tables, and charts, comparing with WHO standards and with findings of similar studies. There were 3908 eligible prescription orders, with a m...

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Background: Medical schools use different evaluation methods after students undergo a period of instruction for certification of acquisition of requisite skills and competencies required for registration. Despite a global trend towards adoption of OSCE format to test competencies, its adoption in medical schools in Nigeria has been relatively slow and local experiences with its use are limited. We describe the development and administration of OSCE for the formative assessment of undergraduate medical students of Kaduna state university at the end of paediatrics clinical rotation. Methodology: OSCE was developed and conducted to assess clinical skills of 20 undergraduate medical students at the end of clinical posting in paediatrics. Students rotated through a series of clinical encounters arranged in ten stations in a circuit, each for a short duration of five minutes. Clinical tasks were carefully chosen to reflect learning objectives of the posting using standardized patients while scoring was done using task-specific and validated checklists by the same assessors. Results: A range of clinical com-petencies in different clinical scenarios , including history taking, physical examination and basic clinical skills was examined using this format. The conduct was resource intensive with much time spent during the selection of the competencies and appropriate standardized patients to be tested, standardization of checklists, briefing assessors and choosing appropriate venue as well as preparation of stations. Unfamiliarity with OSCE by both some students and assessors was a major challenge. Conclusions: OSCE is a feasible way of assessing a wide range of clinical competencies of medical students during paediatric rotation in our setting.

Background: Assessment of patterns of drug to detect performance problems and compliance with standards facilitates objective comparisons and impact evaluation. Children are at higher risk of consequences of irrational prescribing and antibiotic misuse. Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the prescribing pattern and utilization of antibiotics for children using standard prescribing indicators and indices of rational drug prescribing. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study of prescriptions for pediatric inpatients at a teaching hospital in Northern Nigeria. Information was obtained from eligible prescriptions received over 24-month period using a modified WHO prescribing indicator form. The WHO prescribing indicators and the Index of Rational Drug Prescribing (IRDP) were used to evaluate prescriptions. Data were analyzed and presented as proportions, means, tables, and charts, comparing with WHO standards and with findings of similar studies. Results: There were 3908 eligible prescription orders, with a mean patient age of 3.1 (±2.7) years. With an average of 2.1 drugs per prescription, 66.8% were written with generic names, whereas a single antibiotic was included among 63% of prescriptions with antibiotics.
Antibiotics and injections were contained in 49.5% and 67.7% of prescriptions, respectively. Medications were available in the Essential
Medicines List in 95.5% of cases. The IRDP obtained is 2.99, against a standard of 5. Aminoglycosides, cephalosporins, and penicillins were the most common choices, whereas ampicillin/cloxacillin was the most common combination. Conclusion: Drug prescribing and antibiotic use were generally inappropriate compared with ideal standards. Continuous training/retraining on rational drug use, periodic monitoring, and use of treatment protocols in tertiary hospitals are recommended.

Background Sexual assault is an elusive but widespread form of abuse for which a lot more remains unknown. It often leaves child victims physically traumatised with unpleasant memory that tends to affect psychosocial development. Objective To study the demographic features of individuals involved in sexual abuse and the pattern of presentation of cases seen at the General Hospital Minna over a 12 month period. Methods We did a retrospective study of case notes with diagnosis of sexual assault, sexual abuse or rape who presented in this Hospital from 1st January to 31st December 2008. Demographic features of victims and assailants were collected and analysed and results presented as means, percentages, contingency tables and charts. Results Out of 32 records identified, 90.1% were of victims aged <17 years (75% aged 6-15). All were of penile penetration of victims (vaginal in girls and anal in boys) by assailants. Out of 21 victims whose records had time documentation, 43% present...

Background Childhood tuberculosis (TB) remains largely neglected and underreported globally despite efforts towards realising the MDG targets for reduction of its prevalence. While Nigeria ranks among the 22 highest burden countries, the challenges of management of childhood TB pose serious threats to the country’s progress. We report the pattern and challenges of management of childhood TB in our facility. Methods A retrospective study of cases of TB in children 0 – 15 years seen at various points of care between January 1st and December 31st, 2012 was undertaken. The aim was to determine the prevalent forms and challenges in the management of childhood TB. Results A total of 149 children were seen with mean age of 4.8 (±1.9) years, with 82 (55.1%) being under-five, while the male:female ratio was 1.3:1. Majority (91, or 61.0%) were seen at the children’s Cardio-pulmonary Clinic while 12 (8.0%) were managed at the Antiretroviral Therapy Clinic and 46 (31.0%) were admitted with seve...