Of 4651 admissions between February 1995 and February 1996, 1043 had a presumed diagnosis of malaria. Six hundred and twenty-seven cases were confirmed by thick blood film examinations. The highest prevalence was in October (124/480 admissions) and the lowest in March (12/303). Sixty-five children died while 562 survived, 12 with defects. The first treatment in 422 children was chloroquine, in 143 quinine, in 59 halofantrin, and in three pyrimethamine with sulfadoxine (Fansidar). 23/422 patients started on chloroquine were switched to halofantrine, two to quinine. A higher mortality was associated with coma, convulsions, hepatosplenomegaly, pulmonary congestion, jaundice, haemoglobinuria, bladder paralysis, anuria. Anaemia and fever were more severe and hypoglycaemia more frequent in children who died than in children who survived (packed cell volume 18.5 +/- 7.1 per cent vs. 25.6 +/- 7.6 per cent, p < 0.001; temperature 39 +/- 1.1 degrees C vs. 38.7 +/- 0.9 degrees C, p < 0.05; random blood sugar < 40 mg/100 ml; 76 vs. 22 per cent, p < 0.01). There was no difference in the median age, pretreatment duration, and prevalence of diarrhoea and sickle cell disease. The male to female ratio was 1.5:1 in the surviving children vs. 1:1.03 in the dead.

Neonatal tetanus (NNT) remains among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Nigeria and a huge challenge in achieving the fourth goal of the Millennium Development Goals. We reviewed the morbidity and mortality pattern among neonates with NNT admitted to the District General Hospital in north-east Nigeria from 2006 to 2009. Half of the patients were from rural areas and were delivered at home by untrained traditional birth attendants with no prior antenatal health care. Razor blades and scissors were the instruments used to cut the cord in nonhygienic conditions. Spasticity, lack of sucking, trismus, fever, omphalitis, risus sardonicus and opisthotonus were the most common presenting signs and symptoms. Overall, mortality was 56%. Health education of mothers and traditional birth attendants, the promotion of hospital delivery and antenatal tetanus immunization of all pregnant women, particularly in rural areas, are recommended if NNT is to be prevented.

Projects are required to meet the stakeholders’ requirements on the stipulated time, quality and budget. The achievement of such requirements is related to team effectiveness. However, there is poor project time and cost performance in Nigeria such that the constructions initiated mostly escalate beyond the cost and time budgeted. The construction project teams in Nigeria are shrouded with dysfunctions leading to undesirable project outcomes. This study aims to examine the influence of project team effectiveness on project performance of higher educational institutions’ construction in Nigeria. A quantitative survey design was employed where 150 questionnaires were administered to construction projects team members in four higher educational institutions in Bauchi state, Nigeria. The result indicated that the team effectiveness factors of communication, role and responsibility as well as team relationships have a substantial influence on project performance. However, goal and objectives, leadership, as well as trust and values factors, do not have significant influence. Overall, the result shows that the variation in the project performance can be explained substantially by changes in the construction project team effectiveness (Adj. R2 =.585). The implication of this finding is that project performance in Nigerian higher educational institutions can be significantly improved by strengthening communications, roles and responsibilities as well as relationships among team members. Thus, this research contributed to the existing body of knowledge on the linkage between team effectiveness and project performance in the Nigeria higher educational institutions' construction projects. The study, therefore, recommended the improvement of team effectiveness factors of the industry by all projects’ stakeholders and participants.