Background: Patient satisfaction is an essential parameter in the assessment of quality of care and healthcare facility performance. Objective: To investigate patients’ satisfaction with quality of care in general hospitals in Ebonyi State, South East, Nigeria, using the SERVQUAL. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was employed on a sample of 400 patients using a 27-item structured open-ended patients’ satisfaction questionnaire with a multi-stage cluster sampling technique. Patients included in the study were those who must have come for an outpatient clinic within the period, be 18 years and above, and those who gave consent to participate. Of 400 questionnaires administered, 396 (99%) were retrieved. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics, such as frequencies, percentages, mean score ( x), and standard deviation, were employed for interpretation. Results: Out of 396 patients, 156 (39.4%) were male and 240 (60.6%) were females. Most patients were 18–39 years (233 (58.8%)), had secondary education (139 (35.1%)), married (221 (55.8%)), earned <18,000 (170(42.9%)), and were traders (136 (34.3%)). Patients were satisfied with tangibility (2.57 ± 0.99) and reliability (2.84 ± 0.95) and very satisfied with responsiveness (3.06 ± 0.63), assurance (3.07 ± 0.63), and empathy (3.12 ± 0.57). Conclusions: Patients were satisfied with the quality of care. However, satisfaction was highest with empathy and lowest with tangibility. Thus, managers should focus their quality improvement efforts on areas of the neat appearance of health workers, waiting facilities for attendants and patients, and hygienic conditions at the hospital. Also, biannual assessment of patients’ satisfaction should be done and the results generated use judiciously to provide a platform for health sector reform.

Purpose. To investigate factors associated with immunization incompletion of children under 5 years in Ebonyi state, Southeastern part of Nigeria. Method. A cross-sectional and a cluster sampling design were implemented; 400 women of childbearing age in families with children between 0 to 59 months of age were interviewed in Ebonyi state. Demographic characteristics of the child and mother, the child’s immunization history, and reasons for partial immunization were obtained with the use of a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation, t-test and ANOVA with SPSS version 23 and hypothesis tested at P < .05. Results. Findings revealed that 180 (48.1%) females, and 194 (51.9%) males’ children were immunized; Less than half 155 (41.9%) of the children had 1 missed dose, considered as partial immunization cases indicating low coverage. Of the reasons given for incomplete immunization mothers, mothers agreed that immunization centers are far from home (x̄ = 2.55 ± 0.92). This reason significantly affects mothers who were young (≤20 years) ( x = 2.86 ± 0.94; P = .018), single ( x = 2.84 ± 1.05; 0.037), had secondary education ( x = 2.65 ± 1.08;0.000), students (2.89 ± 1.08; P = .000), poor ( x = 2.63 ± 1.05; P = .009), and primiparous ( x = 2.50 ± 1.08; P = .036) are more affected and they agreed (grand mean >2.50). Conclusion. Immunization coverage was low, and far location from health facility was indicted thus policy implementers should locate health facilities close to homes. also health education on the importance of immunization should be given to mothers especially those who are young and has low socio-economic status.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of the study was to assess sociodemographic determinants of patients&#39; satisfaction with the quality of care in the General Hospitals in Ebonyi State. Four hypotheses were formulated for the study. Demographic characteristics of age, level of education, marital status, and income level on patients&#39; satisfaction were ascertained. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised 1, 363, 633 (18 years and above) who attended general out-patient clinics in the General Hospitals using a sample of 400. Data were analyzed using mean ( ), t-test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to answer the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The SPSS version 20 was employed for the analysis. RESULTS: Findings showed that patients who were 40&ndash;60 years ( = 2.96), had tertiary education ( = 2.97), earned income of N40, 000 &ndash; N59, 000 ( = 2.96) and were married ( = 3.09) were most satisfied. Besides, age, marital status, and income were not significantly associated (p&gt;0.05) with patients&rsquo; satisfaction while the level of education was significant (p&lt;0.05). CONCLUSION: The study revealed that older age, more educated, middle-class income earners, being married were more satisfied with the quality of care received. Efforts should be made by Health workers to ensure that all patients are satisfied irrespective of their demographic characteristics.

The purpose of the study was to determine the perception of pupils on the Home Grown School Feeding Programme in Ebonyi State, South-East Nigeria. The research utilized a cross-sectional survey research design on a population of 66591 pupils in the selected public primary schools. A sample of 540 pupils was used for the study. The instrument for data collection is a 30-item &ldquo;Questionnaire on Perception of Pupils on Home Grown School Feeding Programme (QPPHGSFP).&rdquo; Four hundred and eighty-six (486) copies of each questionnaire were administered and 483 (99.4%) were retrieved. Data were analyzed using frequencies and percentages. Chi-square statistic was used to test the null hypothesis at a p&lt;0.05 level of significance. Result showed that HGSFP makes the pupils to enroll, attend, remain in school. Pupils like the quality and the size of the food served, and it was locally produced. Age, sex, and class level was not significant (p&gt;0.05) while the location was significant (p&lt;0.05). Conclusively pupils&rsquo; perception was good on HGSFP. We recommend that the government and other stakeholders in charge of the programme should remain committed to providing the needed resources for the smooth running of the programme to improve the educational infrastructure of rural communities.

Yellow fever is a vaccine-preventable acute viral disease that can rapidly spread and cause serious public health impact. Delay in seeking health care from health facilities is a potential risk of prolonged disease spread. Therefore, this study assessed the delay in health-seeking behaviour and implications for yellow fever outcomes in the 2019 outbreak in Nigeria. Furthermore, the study examined the factors associated with delayed yellow fever vaccine uptake. A retrospective study was conducted from January to December 2019 using 137 cases recorded in the WHO database. The data were analysed using descriptive (frequency and percentages) and the Chi-square test.The results were significant at p < 0.05. Results showed a low uptake of yellow fever vaccine (24.1%) among patients and a median total health-seeking delay of 7 [IQR 7, 9] days. The delay was more among the older age ≥40 years (12 [IQR 12, 29]), females (8 [IQR 8, 11], and rural inhabitants 7 [IQR7, 9], particularly in Izzi LGA (9 [IQR 9, 16] than the other subgroups. Patients' location or place of residence was significantly associated with the yellow fever vaccine uptake (p < 0.000*), and delay (p = 0.003*).Conclusively, the low vaccine uptake was due to the delay in health-seeking behaviour. Thus, the healthcare system in Nigeria needs to intensify mass participation in immunisation programmes. Interventions that promote behavioural change towards immunisation are required. Also, health promotion campaigns to educate rural people on desirable health-seeking behaviour are needed.