Most LBW babies were preterm delivered by low parity parturient aged 25-35 years with short inter-pregnancy intervals. Effective family planning and antenatal services provided particularly for these categories of potential parturient could help to curb the incidence.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the fetal outcome of antepartum and intrapartum eclampsia. All cases of antepartum and intrapartum eclampsia managed at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, Nigeria, between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2007 were retrospectively analysed. Of the women who were delivered in our hospital over the period studied, 0.80% had ante- or intrapartum eclampsia which started mostly outside the hospital: 85.4% were unbooked; 62.5% nulliparous; and 62.5% aged less than 30 years. Forty-eight babies were delivered by the eclamptic mothers. All of the fetuses were delivered in the last trimester: 68.8% of the fetuses were preterm; and 58.7% had a low birthweight. Stillbirths occurred in 60.4%; 8.3% suffered severe birth asphyxia; and 70.9% were delivered vaginally. Sustained education of pregnant women on the need for early booking and regular antenatal visits is recommended.

IntroductionThere is a decline in child mortality rate globally, courtesy of the erstwhile Millennium Development Goals. However, under-five mortality is still high in the African sub-regions. The need to review the morbidity and mortality pattern among children admitted into private health settings, where 60% of the medical conditions of the masses are being attended to in the sub-regions, cannot be overemphasized. This study aimed at documenting the morbidity pattern and outcomes of admissions among children admitted into the Living Word Mission Hospital (LWMH), Aba, Nigeria.MethodsThis was a retrospective descriptive study over a 3 year period. The study population comprised of all children aged 1 month to 15 years that were admitted into the pediatric wards of the Living Word Mission Hospital, Aba, Nigeria. The age, gender, diagnoses and disease outcome of these patients, were all retrieved from the pediatric ward registers and hospital medical records. The data were analyzed using SPSS, version 20.0.ResultsThere were 2278 pediatric medical cases admitted over the study period. Males were 1364 and females were 914, giving a male: female ratio of 1.5:1. More than 90% of these patients were aged < less than 5 years. Severe malaria (31.1%), septicaemia (16.6%), bronchopneumonia (15.4%), uncomplicated malaria (11.9%), acute watery diarrhea (10.5%) and meningitis (3.7%) were the leading causes of admission. Mortality rate was 5.7%, with 87.5% of these deaths occurring in under-fives. Septicaemia (34.6%) and Severe malaria (23.2%) were the leading causes of death.ConclusionThere is a high rate of paediatric admissions at Living Word Hospital, Aba. The under-five population remains a vulnerable group to both childhood morbidity and mortality. Septicaemia, malaria, bronchopnuemonia and acute watery diarrhoea were the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Childhood mortality at LWMH is lower than observed in most government hospitals in Nigeria.

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Background: Diarrhea is a major cause of childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly in low resource nations. To achieve the Sustainable Developmental Goal 3.2, effective steps should be taken to stem the tide of childhood diarrhea and its associated mortality. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of diarrhea and its associated risk factors in children aged 1-60 months presenting to our health facility. Materials and Methods: In the present retrospective study, we reviewed medical records of children aged 1-60 months with diarrhea admitted to the Children Emergency Room and Pediatric Medical Wards of the