Antimalarial drug failures have been reported anecdotally in Nigeria, and malarial self-treatment practices could be a contributing factor. This study was designed to assess the pattern of drug use practices and self-treatment options among caregivers in Ibadan, Nigeria. We carried out a descriptive cross-sectional study among 283 study participant pairs (children under 5 years of age with suspected malaria and their caregivers). Structured questionnaires were used as research instruments. The results indicated that most caregivers were mothers (88.8%), 69% of caregivers self-prescribed and self-managed malaria for children under 5 years old without immediate hospital visits, and 76.4% of the caregivers believed most recommended and available antimalarial drugs were ineffective. Generally, 44.2% of respondents preferred and used antibiotics as a treatment strategy for malaria, 13.2% used agbo (a locally made liquid extract of plants and roots), 12.5% used prayers, and 19.6% used antimalarial drugs. Overall, only 57.1% of respondents stated that they always complete the standard antimalarial dosage regimen. The choice of malaria self-treatment options was significantly linked to the level of education. The findings identified antibiotics, agbo, and prayers as the immediate choices for self-treating malaria disease in Ibadan. Furthermore, incomplete adherence to antimalarial drugs is a general practice in Ibadan. Malaria self-treatment policy and continuous education on antimalarial drug use tailored to the different literacy and education levels of the general public is hereby recommended to reduce the risk of development of parasite resistance to effective anti-malarial drugs.
Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease that represents a major public health problem, it is the most common cancer and leading cause of cancer deaths among Nigerian women, a condition that may be predicated upon by inadequate knowledge about fundamental regimen necessary for cancer prevention, early detection and unavailability of necessary health requirement. Immunohistochemistry is now a standard methodology in pathology laboratories used in providing substantial information with regard to diagnosis, therapeutic prediction and prognosis of breast cancer. Little is known about the biology, molecular profile and optimal treatment of African Nigerian breast cancer. This article discusses the immunohistochemical and prognostic markers of breast cancer in Nigeria. Literature was reviewed mainly through Public Medline search with the terms "immunohistochemical, prognosis markers of breast cancer in Nigeria", hard copies of journal pages and conference paper on prognostic markers of breast cancer in Nigeria. There are many markers that characterizes breast cancer and provide information about choice of therapy and prognosis, but as a developing country, the need for effective enlightenment and screening programs at an earlier age is required to boost the fight against the dreaded disease called breast cancer ravaging our women.
Malaria remains a disease of public health importance globally, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria deaths reduced globally steadily between 2000-2019, however there was a 10% increase in 2020 due to disruptions in medical service during the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, about 96% of malaria deaths occurred in 29 countries; out of which, four countries (Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Niger, and the United Republic of Tanzania) accounted for just over half of the malaria deaths. Nigeria leads the four countries with the highest malaria deaths (accounting for 31% globally). Parallelly, sub-Saharan Africa is faced with a rise in the incidence of Type 2 diabetes (T2D). Until recently, T2D was a disease of adulthood and old age. However, this is changing as T2D in children and adolescents is becoming an increasingly important public health problem. Nigeria has been reported to have the highest burden of diabetes in Africa with a prevalence of 5.77% in the country. Several studies conducted in the last decade investigating the interaction between malaria and T2D in developing countries have led to the emergence of the intra-uterine hypothesis. The hypothesis has arisen as a possible explanation for the rise of T2D in malaria endemic areas; malaria in pregnancy could lead to intra-uterine stress which could contribute to low birth weight and may be a potential cause of T2D later in life. Hence, previous, and continuous exposure to malaria infection leads to a higher risk of T2D. Current and emerging evidence suggests that an inflammation-mediated link exists between malaria and eventual T2D emergence. The inflammatory process thus, is an important link for the co-existence of malaria and T2D because these two diseases are inflammatory-related. A key feature of T2D is systemic inflammation, characterized by the upregulation of inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) which leads to impaired insulin signaling. Malaria infection is an inflammatory disease in which TNF-α also plays a major role. TNF-α plays an important role in the pathogenesis and development of malaria and T2D. We therefore hypothesize that TNF-α is an important link in the increasing co-existence of T2D.
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