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Summary.-Forty Africans from Nigeria and 89 American negroes with colorectal polyps were analysed by age, sex and type of polyp. The Nigerians were much the younger group (mostly under 20 years of age, whereas most of the American negroes were over 50) and 'far fewer of their polyps were truly neoplastic (7.5% compared with 87% of the Americans). These differences may be partly due to the American negro population being older than the Nigerian, and partly to environmental factors like those previously postulated to account for the difference in colon cancer incidence between these populations.

BackgroundLow utilization of health facilities for delivery by pregnant women poses a public health challenge in Nigeria.AimTo determine the factors that influence the choice of birth place among antenatal clinic attendees.MethodologyThis was a cross-sectional study of the eligible antenatal clinic attendees recruited at Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Afikpo and Saint Vincent Hospital, Ndubia in Ebonyi State from February 1, 2016 to June 30, 2016. Analysis was done using EPI Info 7.21 software (CDC Atlanta Georgia).ResultsA total of 397(99.3%) completely filled questionnaires were collated and analysed. Approximately 71% of the health facilities closest to the respondents had maternity services. It took at least 1 hour for 80.9% of the respondents to access health facilities with maternity services. Most (60.2%) of the respondents had at least one antenatal clinic attendance and majority of them did so at public hospitals. Approximately 43.8% of the respondents were delivered by the skilled birth attendants. The respondents’ age and the couple’s educational level, history of antenatal clinic attendance, distance of the health facility and availability of transport fare had a significant effect on delivery by skilled birth attendants. The common determinants of birth place were nearness of the health facilities, familiarity of healthcare providers, improved services, sudden labour onset and cost. Also 61.7% of the respondents chose to deliver in public health facilities due to favourable reasons but this could be hampered by the rudeness of some healthcare providers at such facilities. A significant proportion of private health facilities had unskilled manpower and shortage of drugs.ConclusionA greater proportion of women will prefer to deliver in health facilities. However there are barriers to utilization of these facilities hence the need to address such barriers.

Background:Infection with human papilloma virus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer, but the local risk factors have not been sufficiently assessed.Aim:The study is aimed at determining the prevalence and to evaluate the local risk factors of HPV infection in cervical smears at the Imo State University Teaching Hospital, Orlu, Nigeria.Subjects and Methods:The participants involved 445 randomly selected sexually active women attending the antenatal, postnatal, gynecology and family planning clinics in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the university between April 2004 and May 2012. A questionnaire assessing various socio-demographic characteristics of the participants was administered. The pap smears of the participants were examined microscopically for evidence of HPV infection. The SPSS version 17.0 (Chicago, Illinois, USA) was used to compute and analyze the results. The results were presented in tables as simple percentages. Tests of significance using the Chi-square and fisher exact tests were applied where appropriate.Results:The prevalence rate of HPV was 10.3%. The peak age-specific prevalence of 11.7% occurred in the 15-19 years age group. There were significant associations between the occurrence of HPV and multiple sexual partners, coital frequency, multiparity, contraceptive use, marital status, low socio-economic status, abnormal vaginal discharge, irregular menstruation, post-coital and post-menopausal bleeding, (P < 0.05).Conclusion:All sexually active women including teenagers should be screened for cervical HPV infection in an organized systematic program equipped with a good call and recall system. There is, therefore, a need to move emphasis from the current practice of opportunistic screening to a systematic screening of the whole population at risk despite cost implications.