by Mahendra Pal, Mati Roba Bulcha and Wakuma Mitiku Bune
Original Research
Zoonoses are primarily recognized as animal diseases that are transmitted to human beings through various routes. These diseases have a serious impact on public health as well as economy throughout the world. Leptospirosis is an emerging and re-emerging infectious zoonotic disease with global public health implications in terms of morbidity and mortality of humans and livestock. The disease can occur in sporadic as well as in epidemic forms. The source of infection is exogenous. Leptospirosis is a life threatening disease that causes 10.3 million cases and 58900 deaths each year worldwide. Rodents are considered the main reservoir of Leptospira. The contact of the skin with moist soil, water, and vegetation contaminated with urine of the infected animals and penetration of the organism to the skin, mucous membrane through abrasion, cut, and injury help in the transmission of the infection. Leptospirosis presents most important public health crisis that exists at the animals-humans-ecosystem interface. A strategic break in the relationship between the host-pathogen and their ecosystem could provide effective control of several possible zoonoses including leptospirosis. Global strategy to broaden interdisciplinary partnerships and coordination in all areas of health care for humans, livestock and the community is required.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2021, 9(4), 180-183. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-9-4-9
Pub. Date: July 01, 2021
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by Qazi Hena Ferdousi, Selim Reza, Rafia Akhter, Mahibun Nahar, Nawaz Mohsin Ismail Yousuf and Md. Abdullah Yusuf
Original Research
Background: The clinical outcomes are very important for different pattern of diseases among the hospital admitted patients. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to see the pattern of diseases with their clinical outcomes of hospital admitted patients in the medicine ward at a tertiary care hospital in Dhaka city. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Medicine at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh from March 2003 to June 2003 over a period of 16 weeks. The study population comprised of all patients admitted in the selected Medicine wards during the study period irrespective of age and sex. All admitted patients in the selected wards irrespective of age and sex carefully screened out by examining the patients’ daily hospital records and discharge certificate at the time of their discharge. The different disease pattern of the admitted patients were recorded. Clinical outcome of diseases were categorized cured, referred or deceased. Result: A total number of 124 patients were recruited for this study. Various types of diseases were categorized into 8 groups. Out of 124 respondents 35 (28.2%) patients were suffering from Gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary diseases that topped the list followed by patients with cardiovascular diseases (21.8%). Majority (59.7%) were cured and 15.3% were found to be referred. One fourth of the patients admitted were deceased. Most of the patients (94.4%) had investigations done whereas only a small fraction (5.6%) did not under go any laboratory investigations. Conclusion: In conclusion most of the admitted patients in the medicine unit of hospital are suffering from gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary diseases and majority are cured before discharge from the hospital.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2021, 9(4), 176-179. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-9-4-8
Pub. Date: July 01, 2021
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by Nwangwu Chukwuemeka Chijoke, Amadi Emmanuel Chike, Imanyikwa Olaedo Eucharia, Ezema James Nnabuike and Chukwuma Stella Tochukwu
Original Research
Background: Both hepatitis B and coronavirus vaccines are important requirement for all health science student because of their potential exposure to hepatitis B and coronavirus diseases during their clinical experience. Vaccine uptake has recently been affected by lack of confidence to their efficacy and safety. This attitude is vaccine dependent and understanding of the determinants will help to prevent vaccine hesitancy. This study was designed to compare the attitude of health science student toward hepatitis B vaccine and coronavirus vaccine. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among students of one of the colleges of health sciences in Enugu Nigeria. The students comprised of medical students, medical laboratory students and nursing students who visit the hospital for their clinical postings and experiences. Three, two and two classes in the departments of medicine, medical laboratory science and nursing science respectively met the inclusion criteria for the study. They are six hundred and two students in the three departments of the college. Two classes were selected from the department of medicine and one class each from the department of medical laboratory science and nursing science respectively using simple random sampling method. A total of 303 (135; medicine students, 85; medical laboratory and 83; nursing students) students were in the selected classes and all of them participated in the study. The questionaries were distributed to all the students in the selected classes during their lectures. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge, attitude and vaccine status, and beliefs concerning Hepatitis B vaccines and coronavirus vaccine. The questions on knowledge were adopted from related literatures while questions on attitude were adopted from Parental Attitude on Childhood Vaccine (PACV) questions and Global Vaccine Confidence (GVC) survey. The findings and scores were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistic software for windows (SPSS statistical software V.21 (IBM Corp. 2019). Total of 11 responses were incomplete in either one or more questions and they were all removed bringing the total number of valid participants to 292. The age of the respondents was grouped, and the simple mean obtained. Scores on knowledge were calculated by scoring correct response as 1 and scoring incorrect as 0. All ‘I don’t know’ responses were regarded as negative answer. A score of less than 50% correct responses was regarded as ‘less than average’, and 50% or more correct responses was regarded as ‘above average’. The attitude of the students towards hepatitis B vaccine and coronavirus vaccine were compared using chi-square and the p-value less than 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant. Results: Out of 303 students, 292 responded to all the questions while 11 were incomplete. Two hundred and four participants (69.9) were females while 88(30.1) were males with the mean age of 22.6 SD 2.6. The medical students, nursing students and medical laboratory students contributed to 134(45.9), 81(27.7) and 77(26.4) respectively. On the general knowledge, 282(96.6%) had knowledge above average. Although the responses to the question ‘Upon discovery of vaccine for a particular disease, the “efficacy” of the vaccine will be considered before approval by the appropriate organizations’ were little above average, 161(55.1).
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2021, 9(4), 165-175. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-9-4-7
Pub. Date: July 01, 2021
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by Shakeel Mahmood
Commentary
The preliminary confusion that acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was a sickness of men, which can be recognized, possibly to historical misfortune [1]. The AIDS disease first categorized in the United States of America (USA), nevertheless, this deadly disease mainly contracted men [1]. However, from the beginning of the worldwide pandemic, it was visible that women were also susceptible to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS, and, within in a year, there were statistics to recommend that women were no less than as likely to become infected as men [2].
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2021, 9(4), 161-164. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-9-4-6
Pub. Date: June 20, 2021
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by Francis Shiynsa Kanjo, Bonaventure Tientche, Smith Asaah and Henri Lucien Fouamno Kamga
Original Research
Mass drug administration is the cornerstone for the control of infection with intestinal parasites, but it does not prevent reinfection and is unlikely to interrupt transmission as a stand-alone intervention. The study, therefore, aimed to determine the role of health education in the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections (IPI) among primary school children in Douala, Cameroon. The study was intervention case-control, and prospective longitudinal, conducted in two primary schools in Douala, Littoral Region, Cameroon. The study population consisted of 300 students for both sexes, enrolled from the 1st and 6th grade. For comparison, we used the independent sample t-test. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 22 software. The prevalence of IPI has increased significantly (t=-2.606; P=0.01) in GBPS Ndobo (Control) 6 months after the first phase. The prevalence of intestinal parasites decreased significantly (t =4.093; P<0.0001) in GS Nkonjibe (Experimental) after the intervention. A significant difference in the prevalence of salmonella was found in GS Nkonjibe (Experimental arm) after the intervention (t=2.787; P=0.006). Ascaris lumbricoides was found to be predominant parasites to cause parasitic infection in both schools. The decrease in the prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides was observed to be associated (P=0.021) with the intervention in GS Nkonjibe (Experimental). Health education intervention increased school children knowledge of IPI that resulted in the reduction of the prevalence of IPI.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2021, 9(4), 153-160. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-9-4-5
Pub. Date: June 06, 2021
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by R D Ramesh Naidu, Asis De, K Vijaya, G. Srinivasa Rao, J.S. Surya Prabha, P. Kiran and A.V. Suresh
Original Research
Modern days mobile phones have become an indispensable tool for communication. Recent literature shows the existence of co-morbidity between the use of smartphone, internet addiction, and psychiatric disorders. A study was conducted on the usage pattern and dependence on mobile phones among the students of professional colleges. A cross-sectional study among 100 medical & 100 engineering students, was conducted at Anil Neerukonda Educational Society (ANES), Visakhapatnam, India. Data were collected using a pre-designed & pre-tested questionnaire from October to November 2018. SAS-SV Scale was used to assess the mobile phone dependence. Collation of data was done using inferential statistical methods. Majority of respondents were females (52.5%) and in the age group of 19 years. Medical group included 32% males & 68% females and engineering group included 63% males & 37% females. 75% of students in both the groups were using mobile phone for a duration of 1-6 hours a day. While 32% students had addiction scale of more than 31 another 33% students were in the addiction scale range of between 22 and 30. An increased dependence of mobile phone usage among medical & engineering students had a negative effect on physical and mental health resulting in poor academic performance.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2021, 9(4), 149-152. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-9-4-4
Pub. Date: May 25, 2021
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by Agbo Adouko Edith Chiakoun, Bléyéré Nahounou Matthieu, Allico Jean Maurel, Méité Souleymane, Bredou Atta Georges, Brou Kouakou, Djaman Allico Joseph and Kouamé Christophe
Original Research
In underdeveloped countries a great number of school-age children suffered of malnutrition and anemia. This is due to a less diversified diet and had an impact on their intellectual capacities. A study was conducted in four schools in Nawa region of Côte d’Ivoire with the aim to evaluate the impact of selected foods on anemic children nutritional status. One meal was proposed by school: rice with tomato sauce and meat, sweet potatoes stew with soya, sweet potatoes stew with cowpea and sweet potatoes stew with soya and cowpea. A total of 75 children aged from 6 to 15 years old participate, and they ate the meals twice in a week for 3 months. Anthropometric measurements (weight and height) and blood sampling were taken at 3 periods: at the beginning, middle and end of the study. The results showed that hemoglobin values were under normal rate for all children except in Petit-Bondoukou and Takoreagui in period 1 (11.67 and 11.82 g/dl respectively). There was an increase of anemia prevalence from 18.18 % to 40.91 % for children who ate rice with tomato sauce and meat and from 43.75 % to 50.00 % for children who ate potatoes stew with cowpea. But there was a decrease of anemia rate from 61.54 % to 53.83 % for children who ate potatoes stew with soya. Nutritional status according to anthropometric measurement increased for children of Gnaboya and Petit-Bondoukou. Albumin (33.25 g/l) and orosomucoid (0.69 mg/l) value of children who ate tomato sauce and meat were lower in period 1 than that of children of the other villages. According to prognostic inflammatory nutritional index, children present a low malnutrition risk which varied between 7.69 to 43.75 %. Diet diversification should be applied for a long period to better appreciate their impact on nutritional and anemia status improvement.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2021, 9(4), 142-148. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-9-4-3
Pub. Date: May 20, 2021
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by Ramesh Prasad Tharu and Shirya Rawal
Original Research
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a group of disorders of heart and blood vessels. It is the leading cause of death globally. With the growing epidemic of Cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Nepal, population knowledge and attitude regarding CVD is important for any such interventions. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the level of knowledge and attitude regarding risk factors of cardiovascular disease among general people residing in Nepalgunj, Banke; Nepal. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted and 150 respondents were selected using non-probability convenience sampling technique. The descriptive analysis was performed using frequencies, percentage, mean ± SD. Multinomial logistic regression (MNLR) model was used to identify the statistically significant factors associated with knowledge and attitude. Results: Of total 150 subjects, mean age was 35.73±10.83 years, ranging from 20 to 60 years. Overall, 35(23.3%), 61(40.7%) and 54 (36.0%) of the respondents respectively had good, average and poor knowledge. Likewise, 77(51.3%) respondents had unfavourable, 54 (36.0%) neutral and 19 (12.7%) favourable attitude towards risk factors of CVD. MNLR analysis revealed that education and profession were significant predictor variables in association with the level of CVD knowledge: illiterates were 80.5% less likely (AOR = 0.195, 95% CI: 0.074 – 0514, P = 0.001 < 0.05) to have average knowledge and 67% less likely (AOR = 0.330, 95% CI: 0.117–0.929, P = 0.036 < 0.05) to have good knowledge about risk factors of CVD compared with literates relative to poor knowledge; participants having government jobs were 10.389 times more likely (AOR = 10.389, 95% CI: 2.015–53.560, P = 0.005 < 0.05) to have average knowledge and 12.673 times more likely (AOR = 12.673, 95% CI: 1.475–108.884, P = 0.021 < 0.05) to have good knowledge compared to those participants involving agriculture as reference to poor knowledge. Gender and education were significant predictor variables in association with the level of CVD attitude category; males were 69.9% less likely (AOR = 0.301, 95% CI: 0.140–0.648, P = 0.002 < 0.05) to have unfavourable attitude in comparison to female over neutral attitude and illiterates were 4.158 times more likely (AOR = 4.158, 95% CI: 1.707–10.128, P = 0.002< 0.05) to have unfavourable attitude more than literates relative to neutral attitude. Conclusion: The findings of the study conclude that, even though the knowledge was adequate, the attitude was unfavourable towards risk factors of CVD among general people. Thus, health education needs to be provided about risk factors of CVD in order to increase knowledge among illiterate groups as well as participants involving in agriculture, and to improve attitude among male participants and groups involving in agriculture as well. For this, health working sectors under government body should make planning, and implement of promoting and intervening majors against all risk factors of CVD to reduce its future burden in general people of Nepal from the organizations of various health awareness campaigns.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2021, 9(4), 130-141. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-9-4-2
Pub. Date: May 11, 2021
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by Dursun BALKAN
Original Research
Measuring and comparing efficiency of healthcare organizations is critical for improved and uninterrupted service quality. The main objective of the study is to compare technical efficiency between affiliated and non-affiliated hospitals of Turkey. Totally, 25 affiliated hospitals and 53 non-affiliated hospitals were analyzed using input-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model under variable return to scale assumptions. There are six output variables and four input variables to evaluate hospitals efficiencies using with Ministry of Health (MoH) data from 2013 to 2017. The study results that, affiliated hospitals efficiency scores are higher than non-affiliated training and research hospitals. These results showed us the application of the affiliation system is successful in Turkey. Furthermore, this is the first study which has been performing whole affiliated and non-affiliated hospital efficiency measures together in Turkey and it offers an original contribution to literature with this direction.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2021, 9(4), 120-129. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-9-4-1
Pub. Date: May 10, 2021
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