Although nationwide efforts to promote exclusive breastfeeding began in Nigeria in 1992, data on this type of infant feeding are still generally scarce. Current status breastfeeding data were obtained from 2794 mothers, enrolled from randomly selected infant welfare clinics in Ibadan, Nigeria, to evaluate factors that are associated with exclusive breastfeeding. The exclusive breastfeeding rate dropped from 57.4% at 1 month to 23.4% at 6 months. Using multiple regression analysis, younger age of infant (P < .0001), higher maternal occupation (P < .05), and delivery in tertiary (P < .0001) or secondary (P < .0001) health facility were predictive of exclusive breastfeeding. Mothers 24 years or younger and primiparous mothers were less likely to breastfeed their babies exclusively (P < .01 and P < .05, respectively). Additional programs are needed to meet the needs of at-risk mothers, who should be identified and counseled.

No abstract

This community-based study was carried out to determine parental role on adolescents' sexual initiation practice in Ibadan, Nigeria. A random sample of 274 adolescents was selected from the community. Information on socio-demographic characteristics and sexual behaviors were collected using a structured close-ended self-administered questionnaire. A total of 40.5% of the adolescents in the sample were sexually experienced. Early exposure to sex education by mothers was found to encourage early sexual initiation ( p < 0.001). Significantly more adolescents (43.2%) who sought sexual information from their peers were sexually experienced compared with 25.2%, 14.4%, and 17.1% of those who sought information from parents, teachers, and other sources such as media, religious centers, etc., respectively ( p = 0.004). Mothers were more involved in sexuality communication with these adolescents than fathers (40.9% vs. 16.8%). The higher the level of education of the parents, the less likely the adolescents were sexually initiated ( p = 0.004). Furthermore, polygamous family background and loss of one or more parents were found to be associated with early sexual initiation practice ( p = 0.008 and 0.009, respectively). The study shows an increased sexual initiation with parental illiteracy, polygamy, and parental deaths among adolescents in Ibadan, Nigeria.

The results further support recommendations that physical exertion in paid and domestic work should be reduced during pregnancy.

This case-control study identified risk factors for neonatal tetanus in this population and indicates that the problem has not yet received adequate attention. The incidence of neonatal tetanus can be greatly reduced by providing the masses with appropriate health education as well as formal education especially at the grass roots level; ensuring access to antenatal services, improving the quality of such services, and extending efforts to provide tetanus immunisation to mothers.Tetanus, listed among the major causes of neonatal death in many tropical countries including Nigeria, is a major public health problem. Although neonatal tetanus (NNT) death toll has reduced by a third in the last decade worldwide, there is a noticeable surge in deaths from this killer disease in Nigeria, giving the country the largest absolute increase worldwide, up by 62% [5,6]. This study sought to obtain more recent information on major risk factors associated with NNT in this community and to make suggestions for reducing its incidence.The study was conducted in all secondary and tertiary hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria, a city with a projected population of over 4 million [1]. All NNT cases diagnosed by standard criteria were admitted into the study until the total required sample size was met and matched 1:1 with controls. The minimum sample size was calculated after correcting for design effect. The instrument used was a pre-tested structured questionnaire administered to mothers of cases and controls.Subjects enrolled in the study were140 cases and 140 controls with a male/female ratio of 1.4:1 and 1.1:1 respectively. All 19 neonates with onset of illness within the first 4 days of life died, giving a case fatality of 100%. The younger the babies at onset of illness the more likely they were to die (x 2 =41.7, P <0.0001). The overall case fatality rate was 79.4% with a male/female death ratio of 1.3:1. Teenage mothers, fathers with no education, primiparity, low socio-economic class, late antenatal (ANC) booking, none/incomplete maternal tetanus immunisation, delivery outside the health facility, untrained personnel at delivery, use of non-sterile cord-cutting tool, and the presence of animals within the residence were significantly associated with NNT (Table 1). ANC was attended by 86.4% of mothers of cases but only 25.6% of these mothers received full immunisation. Three out of four mothers of cases who attended ANC did so with a frequency of 5 to 20 times indicating missed opportunities for immunisation. The main reason for failure to receive full immunisation was ignorance on the mothers' part, which reflects inadequate health education by the system.The study identified major risk factors associated with the occurrence of NNT in Ibadan and the surrounding district and indicated that NNT continues to be a common and serious problem in this community because NNT constituted more than one third (38.5%) of the total neonatal admissions in the study sites during the study period. In this study, 40% of the NNT cases were delivered i...