Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the Perception and Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM) among the undergraduate Students of Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka.-Nigeria. Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were distributed randomly to the participants. Result: Out of 450 students that voluntarily participated in the study, 368 (81.78%) had used or were currently using at least one of the various CAM modalities; Family members (282, 37.15%) appeared to be the most common source of information and knowledge about CAM while Herbal medicine (250, 37.71%) was the most commonly used and perceived to be the most effective CAM method, and the most popular ailment effectively treated with CAM was Malaria (142, 34.22%). Pharmacists (98, 45.80%) played a major role in influencing their perceptions towards CAM use and the major reason for CAM use was that CAM is Cheaper (159, 27.09%) than Conventional medicine, however, lack of scientific evidence to support CAM practices (340, 31.66%) was obtained as the most prevailing barrier to CAM use. Conclusion: Majority of undergraduate Students of DELSU used CAM and possessed positive perceptions of Complementary and Alternative medicine. Concerted efforts should therefore be made by members of the healthcare team to ensure the safety of these modalities.

Nausea and vomiting (NVP) of pregnancy are common among women. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy and the self- care measures adopted by women attending a maternal clinic.  A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out utilizing an interviewer-administered questionnaire to consenting pregnant women attending the maternal clinic of Central Hospital, Agbor; Delta state – Nigeria.  Of the 521 gravid women included in the study, 221 (42.4%) were within the age group of 27 and 32 years and had secondary level of education 238(45.7%).The mean gravidity of the participants was 2.68±1.54, mean gestational age at the time of the study was 24.68 weeks ± 7.40 and the mean gestational age at which nausea and vomiting were observed, and was 6.30 weeks ± 3.82. Three hundred and fifteen (60.5%) of the women experienced the symptoms of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. Taking “bitterkola” (Garcinia kola) (22.9%) either alone or in combination with other substances was the most frequently occurring measure to control nausea and vomiting. Other measures taken included taking “native chalk” (18.8%), Ginger (5.6%) bitter leaves (Amygdala vernonia) (7.6%), fruits (19.9%), chewing gum (4.7%), taking sweets (9.4%), taking drugs (3.7%) and  rest (4.7%).Over 20% of the study population with nausea and vomiting opined that nausea and vomiting had a negative impact on their lives; however only 7.5%  are discouraged from getting pregnant as a result of nausea and vomiting. Use of self-care measures was associated with educational level of the respondents (P=0.004).  The rate of nausea and vomiting was high in the studied participants and Bitterkola (Garcinia kola) was the most commonly used agent for its prevention. The respondents who experienced nausea and vomiting reported its huge negative impact on their lives.

Although highly active antiretroviral therapy has proved to be very effective in the management of patients with HIV, CAMs are still much in use.

Background: Ensuring the right drug for the right clinical condition in children under five years of age will dramatically reduce morbidity and mortality rates in developing countries where these values are alarmingly high. This study evaluated prescribing in children under the age of five attending pediatric outpatient clinics at three Central hospitals in Delta State, Nigeria, using the Pediatics: Omission of Prescriptions and Inappropriate Prescription (POPI) tool. Methods:  This was a prospective descriptive study of prescriptions made to children from 0 to 59 months who attended the  clinics  between August and November 2018.Prescriptions were evaluated using the POPI tool, occurrence of potentially  inappropriate prescriptions and prescribing omissions were reported as percentages and inappropriate prescription types and prescription omissions were also reported as frequencies. Relationship between inappropriate prescriptions, omissions of prescriptions, and categorical variables of age group and sex, p <.05 were considered significant. Results: A total of 1,327 prescriptions from the three centers were analyzed. There was a preponderance of infants (> 1 month-12 months of age) in the study (43.0%) and a somewhat even gender distribution. Exactly 29.8% of all the prescriptions studied had at least one occurrence of inappropriate prescription. The use of H1 antagonists with sedative or atropine-like effects accounted for the majority of inappropriate prescriptions (49.5%), while the prescription of drinkable amoxicillin or other antibiotics in doses other than mg was the most frequent omission of prescription (97.2%). There was a significant relationship between the occurrence of inappropriate prescription and age group (p> 0.001). Conclusion: The occurrence of inappropriate prescriptions and omissions of prescriptions was high and effectively detected by the POPI tool. Measures should be taken to improve prescribing in order to reduce morbidity and mortality in children below five years.

Background. The extent of mothers’ knowledge about antibiotics largely determines their use in children. Objectives. This study assessed knowledge of antibiotics among mothers’ of under-fives and the immediate impact of a pharmacist-led educational intervention on knowledge scores Methods. A prospective interventional study was conducted among mothers of under-five children. The pre-intervention knowledge scores were determined with the aid of an antibiotic knowledge questionnaire which was interviewer-administered. An educational intervention which focused on all aspects of knowledge of antibiotic use covered by the questionnaire was administered by a pharmacist; thereafter the post intervention knowledge scores were determined using the same knowledge questionnaire. Overall knowledge scores were categorized into poor, moderate and good. The percentage change in the proportions of mothers who had good scores was determined, Chi square test were performed to determine the relationship between knowledge scores and having a family member as a healthcare professional and paired t-test was done to determine impact of the intervention on the mean scores on each knowledge question. P values ≤ 0.05 were statistically significant.Results. A total of 253 mothers participated in the study from two centres. Twenty-one mothers (7.7%) had good knowledge on antibiotics at baseline which increased to 138 (50.6%) after an educational intervention. Knowledge scores for each item also improved post-intervention with least pre-intervention mean scores increasing from 0.25(SD=0.44) to 0.67(SD=0.47), p<0.0001 and 0.18(SD=0.39) to 0.73 (SD=0.44),p<0.0001 at the Warri and Ughelli centres respectively post-intervention. The knowledge questions with the highest scores also increased from mean score of 0.79 (SD= 0.41) to 0.90 (SD= 0.30) at p=0.0041 in the Warri centre and 0.83 (SD= 0.26) to 0.93 (SD=0.26) at p=0.0448 in the Ughelli centre post- intervention. Other items such as knowledge of diarrhoea being a side effect of some antibiotics, completing full course of antibiotics for a child if symptoms improved also improved significantly. Conclusion. This study found out that a pharmacist-led educational intervention had a measurable impact on mothers’ knowledge of antibiotics use in children.