Research
Factors Associated With the Completion of Hepatitis B Vaccine among University Students in Nigeria
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been identified by WHO as one of the deadliest viral diseases in Africa due to its high prevalence and complications. Thus urgent research and policy attention is needed to stem its spread. The study assessed factors associated with the completion of hepatitis B vaccine among Babcock University students, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 360 students to participate in the study after completing all requirements for ethical clearance. Data gathered from the respondents were subjected to descriptive analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Ver. 17). Most of the respondents are adults above 20 years and were aware of the HBV (89%). Despite serious efforts made by the University at educating the students about Hepatitis B, more than 40 % of the students still do not know the causative organism and are totally oblivious of the importance of vaccination. Also, 73% of the students had not completed the recommended 3 dosage vaccines. The findings also showed that despite the high level of awareness up to 44 percent of the students were not sure of their status or have not been previously immunized, indicating that their knowledge did not motivate their actions or practice. Factors which positively influenced completion of immunization dosage were the students’ perceived need to be protected from HBV, the availability of vaccine, their knowledge of the fact that the monetary cost of vaccine had already been included in the school bills, their opinion that immunization is part of the criteria for complete registration, their knowledge of the effectiveness of the vaccine to protect against HBV, and their perceived susceptibility to HBV infection. Conversely, factors constraining respondents’ completion of immunization dosage were their forgetting the date for next appointment, their perception that the vaccine was not necessary, their lack of knowledge about the total number of doses to be take
Factors Influencing Pregnant Womens Utilization of Maternal Health Care Services for Delivery in Ogun State, Nigeria
The study assessed the factors influencing the utilization of Maternal Healthcare Centers (MHC) for delivery among pregnant women attending ante-natal care in Ikenne, Ogun state, Nigeria. A total of 96 respondents were selected from 5 MHC for the study using the multistage sampling procedure. All the women were monitored till delivery. Furthermore, 48 (50%) of the respondents were randomly chosen and exposed to motivational telephone calls for 6 weeks preceding delivery dates. Structured questionnaire was used to gather data which were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. All analyses were measured at p≤0.05 level of significance. Results showed that most of the women were between 30 and 34 years old, had up to secondary education, recorded parity of 1-2 while timing of first visit was between 20 and 24 weeks of gestation and number of Ante-natal visits were ≥ 4. Monthly income was generally less than N16,000 (~$80). Some 52% of the women gave fair rating for the services received from the healthcare workers and 58% used the MHC for delivery. However, 84% of those who received telephone calls used MHC for delivery while 59% of those who did not received telephone calls used MHC for delivery.
Influence of Clinic-Based Health Education on Pregnant Womens Knowledge and Attitudes in Relation to Pregnancy Management: Evidence from Ogun State, Nigeria
The study assessed the influence of clinic-based health education on women’s knowledge and attitudes in relation to pregnancy management in Ogun State. Stratified sampling method was used to allocate 48 pregnant women each to experimental and control groups, making a total of 96 respondents. Structured questionnaire was used to gather data from the respondents. The women in the experimental group were exposed to two hours of health education discussion addressing pertinent maternal health issues weekly for five weeks. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent t-test. All tests were measured at p≤0.05 level of significance.
An Analysis of Credit Utilization and Farm Income of Arable Crop Farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria
This article assessed credit utilization among arable farmers in Kwara state, Nigeria and its influence on farm income. The data analyzed were collected from 100 farmers purposively sampled. Despite an average of 11years experience, 47% of the farmers have not benefited from agricultural credit. Average income per hectare for farmers who were able to access funds for their farm business was higher (N52,000/$325) than for those who did not (N35,430/$221) however, average loan granted (N55,550/$347)was lower than applied for (N77,900/$486). Lack of collateral was a major limitation for sourcing for credit. Factors determining farmers’ decision to use credit included household size, use of hired labour, cooperatives participation, awareness of credit sources, past loan size, possession of collateral and proximity to the credit lending institution. Policies and programmes directed at enhancing these factors will increase farmers’ decision to use agricultural credit.
