Background and Objective: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is widespread mainly in low and middle-income countries. Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest prevalence of FGM, accounting for about one of every four cases globally. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of FGM amongthree generations in Abuja, the federal capital city of Nigeria. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study among women of reproductive age (15-49 years) within two area councils of Abuja (Bwari and Abuja Municipal) and Nyanya suburban district adjoining the federal capital territory in Nigeria. The respondents are pregnant women attending antenatal care at four selected health facilities. Data were collected using Google Forms and were analyzed with SPSS for Windows version 25. Results: This study comprised data from 634 females (who had an average age of 33±6.0 years) from four major healthcare facilities in Abuja. The most common age group was 30 – 34 years (29.2%). The prevalence of FGM in the first generation (37.7%) was significantly higher than in the second (28.5%) and the third generations (8.7%) (p<0.01). The prevalence of FGM in the second generation was also significantly higher than in the third (p<0.01). The predictors of women circumcising their daughters include primary/no-education AOR 1.48 (95% CI: 0.41-5.31; p<0.05), being a traditionalist 4.94 (95% CI: 0.29-84.56; p<0.05), or Muslim 2.27 (95% CI: 0.94-5.49; p<0.05), respondent’s mother being circumcised 1.69 (95% CI: 0.26-10.85, p<0.05) or mother’s circumcision unknown 5.41 (95% CI: 0.78-37.34; p<0.05), respondents being circumcised 54.71 (95% CI: 0.78-37.34; p<0.001), culture 2.48 (95% CI: 1.00-6.19; p<0.05), and ignorance of adverse psycho-social/emotional effects of FGM 4.39 (95% CI: 1.46-13.17; p<0.05). Conclusion and Global Health Implications: Although there is a decline in FGM prevalence from the first generation to the third generation in Nigeria, the current prevalence of 8.7% remains a public health concern. Nigerian women’s ongoing experience of FGM requires both individual and stakeholders’ involvement to eradicate health-related problems such as tissue damage, infection, scarring, infertility, and pains during sexual intercourse, urination, and menstruation.   Copyright © 2022 Anyanwu et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0.

The objective of this study is to assess the knowledge and perception of Automobile workers on the occupational hazards in their workplaces and to identify their attitudes and safety practices towards protecting themselves from these hazards. A descriptive cross-sectional design and stratified sampling technique were utilized to identify the automobile workers/respondents. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection and it covered areas like social demographics, knowledge and perception of potential hazards, attitude and safety practices employed by both Automobile Mechanics (AMs) and Automobile Spray Painters (ASPs) to avoid hazards. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 21. Findings showed that there was statistically significant association between level of knowledge, attitude, perception of spray painters and mechanics based on their level of education. Also there was statistically significant association between level of knowledge, attitude, perception of spray painters and mechanics based on their work experience in relation to safety measures (p<0.05). However, there was no statistical significant difference in the knowledge of spray painters and mechanics about PPE as it can be generally rated poor (<50%), P>0.05). The p value for each of the tested parameter (>0.05) also shows clearly that there was no significant difference in the knowledge of both the Automobile spray printer and the Mechanics. There is need for regular training on safety guidelines and enforcement of standard/universal safety practices by automobile workers so as to reduce potential occupational hazards.

Background and objective: Children in the developing world are vulnerable to iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) because they grow fast and consume diets low in iron. Thus, this study assessed anemia in children aged 6 - 12 years in rural Nigeria, using hematological indices and serum ferritin as diagnostic tools. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in two primary schools in Kumin Masara Kataf village in Kaduna state, Nigeria. School children aged 6 - 12 years were enrolled. Personal information and laboratory data were collected. Hemoglobin and serum ferritin concentration was estimated to determine anemia and iron status. Data analysis was done using IBM-SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA, version-25.0. Results: A total of 191 school-age children aged 6 - 12 years were enrolled in the study. The overall serum ferritin was 16.51±5.20 mg/L, but the children aged 6 - 9 years had significantly (p<0.05) higher serum ferritin (17.23±5.57 mg/L), compared to children aged 10-12 years (15.62±4.62). The mean hemoglobin concentration and serum ferritin were significantly (p<0.05) more elevated among males (11.17±2.53g/dl and 19.01±5.06 mg/L, respectively) than females (10.18±2.46 g/dl and 14.03±4.02 mg/L respectively).The overall rate of anemia was 51.3%, while IDA was 70.4% (69/98). Iron deficiency was present in 47.3% (44/93) children. Also, anemia was significantly (p<0.001) more prevalent among females (66.7%), than males (35.8%), and a higher proportion of females (87.5%) than males (26.2%) were iron deficient (p<0.05), but more males (44.1%) had IDA, p<0.05. Conclusion: This study found a high prevalence of IDA and ID among rural school children in Nigeria. It is recommended that healthcare providers focus more on preventing IDA right before childhood. IMC J Med Sci. 2023. 17(1): 006. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55010/imcjms.17.006 *Correspondence: Andrew Nuhu Yashim, Haematology and Blood Transfusion Department, National Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria. Email: yashimnuhuandrew@gmail.com