One hundred forty‐five Nigerian women die in childbirth every day. This review was conducted to evaluate the influences on maternal mortality in Nigeria. It is an analysis and synthesis of the professional literature surrounding maternal mortality in Nigeria and a review of articles in CINAHL, Health Source, Medline in EBSCO, including PubMed, ProQuest Health and Medical Complete, 2000–2015, analyzed and sorted into themes. The etiology of maternal mortality can be categorized as medical, socio‐economic, cultural, behavioral, and political causes. While some of the occurrences are predicted during routine prenatal care, most occur spontaneously without warning signs. Only one‐third of births in Nigeria occur in a health facility. To provide Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC) in Nigeria, the community health centers and referral hospitals need to be upgraded to provide supplies, equipment, essential drugs, and blood transfusions delivered by knowledgeable staff at all hours. The vision of is that all pregnant women in Nigeria regardless of their income have access to woman‐centered obstetric care that provides a safety net in case of obstetric emergency.

The dearth of evidence highlights the need for increased focus on clinical and community-based interventions that are feasible in sub-Saharan Africa. This cannot be accomplished without a stronger commitment to reducing maternal mortality by global health practitioners and researchers.

IntroductionMental disorders and chronic diseases have been reported to independently affect half of the US population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the comorbid nature of these conditions.MethodsWe analyzed data from 39,954 participants from the 2009 California Health Interview Survey who reported both psychological distress and impairment, on the basis of the Kessler 6 and the Sheehan Disability Scale, and 1 or more of 4 chronic diseases (type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, heart disease). Weighted and nonweighted multivariable logistic regression were used to investigate the association between psychological distress and impairment and chronic disease, after adjusting for sex, age, race, current smoking, binge drinking in the previous year, moderate physical activity, and body mass index.ResultsAfter controlling for covariates in the model, we found a significant dose–response relationship between reported chronic diseases and psychiatric distress and impairment that ranged from 1.50 for 1 reported chronic disease to 4.68 for 4 reported chronic diseases.ConclusionThe growing chronic disease burden should be understood clinically in the context of mental health conditions. Further research is needed to identify ways to integrate mental health and chronic disease prevention in primary care.

24% of 917 students at California State University Long Beach who completed an alcohol use survey in 2002 (73% response) identified themselves as Latino. Because measures of acculturation reported in most adult studies positively correlated with alcohol use and sex, it was hypothesized that these associations might also apply to Latino college students. With increasing levels of acculturation, women but not men in this Latino college sample reported significantly greater occurrence of heavy drinking, positive attitudes about drinking, and perception that most of their friends use alcoholic beverages.

The use and effectiveness of contingency contracting and systematic desensitization with heroin addicts being treated in methadone maintenance programs are discussed. Both behavior therapies can be practically implemented in methadone maintenance programs to supplement methadone pharmacotherapy. Contingency contracting has been effectively employed to reduce illicit drug use and to manage patients in the clinic. Systematic desensitization has less effect on actual heroin usage yet effectively reduces the fear of withdrawal and general anxiety, while improving self-image, assertiveness, and adjustment in the community. A clinic protocol that incorporates all three therapies-methadone maintenance, contingency contracting, and systematic desensitization-is proposed.