IntroductionImmunization is the world’s most successful and cost-effective public health intervention as it prevents over 2 million deaths annually. However, over 2 million deaths still occur yearly from Vaccine preventable diseases, the majority of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria is a major contributor of global childhood deaths from VPDs. Till date, Nigeria still has wild polio virus in circulation. The objective of this study was to identify the individual and socioeconomic factors associated with immunization coverage in Nigeria through a secondary dataset analysis of Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), 2013.MethodsA quantitative analysis of the 2013 NDHS dataset was performed. Ethical approvals were obtained from Walden University IRB and the National Health Research Ethics Committee of Nigeria. The dataset was downloaded, validated for completeness and analyzed using univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistics.ResultsOf 27,571 children aged 0 to 59 months, 22.1% had full vaccination, and 29% never received any vaccination. Immunization coverage was significantly associated with childbirth order, delivery place, child number, and presence or absence of a child health card. Maternal age, geographical location, education, religion, literacy, wealth index, marital status, and occupation were significantly associated with immunization coverage. Paternal education, occupation, and age were also significantly associated with coverage. Respondent's age, educational attainment and wealth index remained significantly related to immunization coverage at 95% confidence interval in multivariate analysis.ConclusionThe study highlights child, parental and socioeconomic barriers to successful immunization programs in Nigeria. These findings need urgent attention, given the re-emergence of wild poliovirus in Nigeria. An effective, efficient, sustainable, accessible, and acceptable immunization program for children should be designed, developed and undertaken in Nigeria with adequate strategies put in place to implement them.

The number and percentage of older individuals in contemporary American society has risen dramatically during the past century. This has mandated that increased attention be given to older individuals and to developing strategies for improving the quality of life in their later years. Maintaining independence while growing older is a concern for individuals, families and society. Independent living frequently becomes a concern as health-related issues impact on individuals. Understanding how types of injuries and factors associated with their causes may help to reduce the risks associated with accidents in homes. In turn, this may help individuals to maintain their independence for as long as possible. Data are presented from a questionnaire study of 300 randomly selected older persons from Ohio. Accidents were found to be commonplace in homes. More women reported accidents than did men. Individuals living alone reported more accidents than did those living with others. Good health, gender and living status are factors that tend to prevent accidents or minimize their impact.

The advent of the novel H1N1 virus prompted the Houston Department of Health and Human services (HDHHS) to use the existing sentinel surveillance system to effectively monitor the situation of novel H1N1 virus in the Houston metropolitan area. The objective of this study was to evaluate the demographic characteristics and common symptoms associated with confirmed cases of seasonal influenza and Novel H1N1 virus reported to HDHHS between October 2008 and October 2009. A total of 30 providers were randomly selected using the probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling technique to participate in a sentinel surveillance system. The system was used to effectively monitor both seasonal and novel H1N1 virus in the Houston metropolitan area. These providers collected and submitted specimens for testing at HDHHS laboratory from patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms who visited their clinics during the period, October 2008 and October 2009. These data formed the basis of the current study. Data obtained were subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistical analyses using SAS software version 9.1.3. Overall a total of 1,122 ILI cases were reported to HDHHS by sentinel providers and tested by HDHHS laboratory. Of this number 296 (67.5%) specimens tested positive for influenza A; 140 (32.0%) for influenza B, and 2 (0.46%) for influenza A/B. Two hundred and fifty-nine (59%) were confirmed cases of seasonal influenza and 179 (41%) were novel H1N1 subtype, respectively. The median ages for seasonal influenza and novel H1N1 virus were 7 and 8 years, with majority of the cases reported among children of age 5-9 years. Fever was the most common symptom reported among patients with seasonal flu and novel H1N1 virus, followed by cough. Twenty-three percent (23%) of patients who were vaccinated against seasonal flu prior to the epidemic were infected with seasonal flu virus. The sentinel surveillance system provided timely data on the circulating ILI that assisted in making decisions regarding response activities for both seasonal and novel H1N1 influenza.

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