Background: This study was conducted in Bekwarra Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria, to determine the public health implication of solid waste generated by households.
Methods: A cross sectional descriptive design was employed, using a semi-structured questionnaire together with an obser- vation checklist to elicit information from the respondents. Proportionate sampling was used to select 400 respondents of 18 years and above for the study area. Data collected were analysed using the Microsoft Excel 2007 and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20.
Results: Respondents knowledge concerning solid waste disposal was assessed and the results showed that majority of the respondents 193 (63.7%) had high level of knowledge of solid waste disposal, while 170 (42.5%) had average level of knowl- edge of solid waste disposal. Wastes produced by households in the study include vegetables (95.5%), ash (94%), clothing/ rag (94.2%), wood (95%), and animal waste (86.2%) had the highest abundance. Diseases associated with these wastes pro- duced by households include cholera (18.2%), malaria (47.2%), lassa fever (10.7%) and diarrhea (23.9%) with malaria been the most prevalence infection.
Conclusion: The result shows solid waste posed a serious health hazard and lead to the spread of infectious diseases. These issues can be addressed through health education and enlightenment of the people on waste disposal.
Keywords: Municipal waste; public health; infection; health hazard; environmental pollution.
Background: The primary aim of Community Pharmacists’ participation in immunization is to contribute towards mitigating deaths associated with vaccine preventable diseases as well as expanding access to immunisation services. However, with the increasing Nigerian population, the global targets of reducing child mortality can significantly be achieved by periodically reviewing health systems performance to identify and address existing gaps.
Objective: The general objective of the study is to identify the challenges encountered by Community Pharmacists in providing immunisation services in Calabar Metropolis of Cross River State.
Method: A descriptive cross sectional study design was adopted for the study. Data were collected using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire from 68 community pharmacists which were selected using the purposive sampling technique. Data generated were synthesised and analysed using SPSS (version 20.0) and results were presented in frequency tables and charts. Fisher Exact test was used to test for association between variables at 0.05 alpha level.
Results: Results showed that most community pharmacies have the resources to participate in immunization, only a few however had immunization administration record sheets 7(11.3%) and immunization record cards for patients 4 (6.5%). The finding also showed that lack of training 55 (88.7%); low awareness by the public of immunization services provided by the community pharmacist 44 (70.9%) and storage of vaccines 39 (62.9%) were the prominent perceived challenges to providing immunization in the community pharmacy. The association between lack of time (p =1.000, Fisher’s Exact test) and provision of immunization services was statistically not significant.
Conclusion: Addressing identified challenges is pivotal to increasing and expanding accessibility and utilisation of immunisation services especially amongst the populace in resource limited settings.
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