Malnutrition is estimated to contribute to more than one third of all child deaths, although it is rarely listed as the direct cause. Contributing to more than half of deaths in children worldwide; ...child malnutrition was associated with 54% of deaths in children in developing countries in 2001. Poverty remains the major contributor to this ill. The vicious cycle of poverty, disease and illness aggravates this situation. Grooming undernourished children causes children to start life at mentally sub optimal levels. This becomes a serious developmental threat. Lack of education especially amongst women disadvantages children, especially as far as healthy practices like breastfeeding and child healthy foods are concerned. Adverse climatic conditions have also played significant roles like droughts, poor soils and deforestation. Sociocultural barriers are major hindrances in some communities, with female children usually being the most affected. Corruption and lack of government interest and investment are key players that must be addressed to solve this problem. A multisectorial approach is vital in tackling this problem. Improvement in government policy, fight against corruption, adopting a horizontal approach in implementing programmes at community level must be recognized. Genetically modified foods to increase food production and to survive adverse climatic conditions could be gateways in solving these problems. Socio cultural peculiarities of each community are an essential base line consideration for the implementation of any nutrition health promotion programs.
: The third round of the global pulse survey demonstrated that the abrupt and rapid progression of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted childhood immunization in many countries. Although ...Cameroon has reported over 120,000 COVID-19 cases, the reported national childhood vaccination coverage during the pandemic seems to have increased compared to that during the pre-COVID-19 period. Indeed, the first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis-containing vaccine (DTP-1) coverage increased from 85.4% in 2019 to 87.7% in 2020, and DTP-3 coverage increased from 79.5% in 2019 to 81.2% in 2020. The paucity of literature on the impact of COVID-19 on childhood vaccination in COVID-19 hotspot regions poses a challenge in developing a context-specific immunization recovery plan, hence the need to conduct this study.
: We conducted a cross-sectional study using 2019 (pre-pandemic period) and 2020 (pandemic period) district childhood immunization data from the DHIS-2 database, weighted using completeness for each data entry against regional data completeness in 2020. Based on COVID-19 incidence, two hotspot regions were selected, with all districts (56/56) included in the final analysis. The Chi-square test was used to compare DTP-1 and DTP-3 coverage during the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods.
: In the two hotspot regions, 8247 children missed DTP-1, and 12,896 children did not receive DTP-3 vaccines in the pandemic period compared to the results from the pre-pandemic period. Indeed, there was a significant drop in DTP-1 and DTP-3 coverage of 0.8% (
= 0.0002) and 3.1% (
= 0.0003), respectively, in the Littoral Region. Moreover, the Centre Region reported a 5.7% (
< 0.0001) and 7.6% (
< 0.0001) drop in DTP-1 and DTP-3 coverage, respectively. Most districts in the hotspot regions reported a decline in childhood immunization access (62.5%) and utilization (71.4%). Indeed, in the Littoral Region, 46% (11/24) and 58% (14/24) of districts experienced decreased vaccination access and utilization, respectively. Meanwhile, 75% (24/32) and 81% (26/32) of districts in the Centre Region experienced a drop in vaccination access and utilization, respectively.
: This study reported a situation where the national immunization indicators mask the impact of COVID-19 on childhood immunization in heavily hit regions. Therefore, this study presents valuable information for ensuring continuous vaccination service delivery during public health emergencies. The findings could also contribute to developing an immunization recovery plan and informing policy on future pandemic preparedness and response.
IntroductionAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a chronic mental disorder that is associated with poor productivity, with a significant impact on the quality of life.ObjectivesTo ...determine factors associated with symptoms of ADHD among medical students in Cameroon.DesignA web-based cross-sectional study.SettingParticipants were recruited through a social media platform, WhatsApp, from 24 June to 2 September 2018.ParticipantsMedical students aged 18 years and older from seven medical schools in Cameroon. All non-medical students and all medical residents were excluded.ResultsData from a total of 491 eligible participants were analysed. The median age was 25 (IQR 21–25) years and 54% were of the participants were female. The prevalence of self-reported symptoms of ADHD was 24.4% (95% CI 20.6% to 28.3%). Histories of chronic disease (adjusted OR (AOR) 2.96; 95% CI 1.49 to 5.86, p=0.002), family history of ADHD (AOR 3.38; 95% CI 1.04 to 10.44, p=0.035), severe depression (AOR=3.49; 95% CI 1.82 to 6.77, p<0.001) and anxiety disorder (AOR 2.06; 95% CI 1.25 to 3.36, p=0.004) were found to be independently associated with the symptoms of ADHD.ConclusionADHD may be a highly prevalent mental disorder among medical students, and is associated with severe depression, anxiety disorders and chronic diseases. There is a need to conduct a large-scale prospective cohort study with interviews to estimate the true prevalence and incidence of ADHD among medical students in Cameroon, and to determinant the risk factors associated with the disorder.
: Cameroon's suboptimal access to childhood vaccinations poses a significant challenge to achieving the Immunization Agenda 2030 goal-ranking among the top 15 countries with a high proportion of ...zero-dose (unvaccinated) children worldwide. There are clusters of zero-dose children in pockets of communities that traditionally miss essential healthcare services, including vaccination. The Manoka Health District (MHD) is home to such settlements with consistently low vaccination coverages (DPT-HepB-Hib-1: 19.8% in 2021) and frequent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD). Therefore, the absence of literature on zero-dose children in this context was a clarion call to characterize zero-dose children in fragile settings to inform policy and intervention design.
: This cross-sectional analytical study involved 278 children, 0-24 months of age, selected from a 2020 door-to-door survey conducted in the two most populous health areas in an archipelago rural district, MHD (Cap-Cameroon and Toube). We used R Statistical Software (v4.1.2; R Core Team 2021) to run a multivariable logistic regression to determine zero-dose associated factors.
: The survey revealed a zero-dose proportion of 91.7% (255) in MHD. Children who were delivered in health facilities were less likely to be zero-dose than those born at home (AOR: 0.07, 95% CI: 0.02-0.30,
= 0.0003). Compared to children born of Christian mothers, children born to minority non-Christian mothers had higher odds of being zero-dose (AOR: 6.55, 95% CI: 1.04-41.25,
= 0.0453). Children born to fathers who are immigrants were more likely to be zero-dose children than Cameroonians (AOR: 2.60, 95% CI = 0.65-10.35,
= 0.0016). Younger children were likely to be unvaccinated compared to older peers (AOR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.82-1.00,
= 0.0401).
: In the spirit of "leaving no child behind," the study highlights the need to develop context-specific approaches that consider minority religious groups, immigrants, and younger children, including newborns, often missed during vaccination campaigns and outreaches.
Abstract Purpose: This paper critically examines opportunities and problems confronting the Nigerian local government system. To assess why the practice of complete local government autonomy and ...governance is difficult in Nigeria and suggest measures that may help improve the collaboration between the federal, state, and local government authorities in Nigeria. Research methodology: 300 questionnaires were administered to the staff of the Nkanu-West Local Government Area in Enugu State, and 276 were returned giving a response rate of 92 percent. The Marxist theory was adopted as the theoretical framework. Results: Results show that state interference in local affairs contributes to a lack of local government autonomy and governance, and the constitutional provisions portend intractable inter-government problems which make the local government a whipping child and less autonomous. Limitations: Nkanu-West local government is the only local government covered by the study. Contribution: The outcome of the study will be a contribution to the existing literature in the area of local government autonomy and governance.
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