Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic heralded an unprecedented race to the development of several vaccine candidates at record speeds never seen in global health. Within nine months, Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the United States FDA. Unfortunately, while these advances were ongoing, there was a burgeoning epidemic of disinformation about the virus and the vaccines that affected the willingness of people, especially minority groups, to get vaccinated. In Nigeria, this wave of vaccine hesitancy was happening against the backdrop of landmark pharmaceutical litigations such as the 2007 Pfizer trovafloxacin lawsuit in the country. Aim: To assess the determinants of the COVID-19 vaccine's acceptability among Nigerians. Materials and methods: Following ethical approval, a population-based cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2020 to January 2021 using an adapted pretested, self-administered questionnaire originally designed by Amyn Malik and colleagues who conducted a similar study at Yale University School of Public Health. The participants were recruited through simple random sampling using a list of community and corporate sites obtained from Google Maps in the three regional zones of Nigeria (north, east, and west) in diverse occupational and residential settings. Information obtained includes socio-demographics, medical history related to COVID-19, level of knowledge, risk perception, and attitudes toward COVID-19 and the vaccines. Descriptive and inferential statistics were done, and results were summarized into percentages and associations. The level of statistical significance was set at a p-value of <0.05. Using the open EpiR package (Emory), we determined a minimum of 340 participants for a statistical power of 80%. Results: A total of 358 responses were obtained out of the 120 questionnaires distributed in each of the three regions, of which 189 (53%) were females. The mean age of respondents was 32 years (±11.2 SD). About 75% of the participants had at least a college education. The majority (66.2%) of the participants were willing to accept the approved vaccine. The mean risk perception score for COVID-19 was 5.1 (±2.2 SD) out of 10, while the mean COVID-19 symptom knowledge score was 8.6 (±4.1 SD) out of 19. Variables such as being male, identifying as Christian, Hausa ethnicity, and living in northern Nigeria had a statistically significant relationship with the willingness to get vaccinated. Conclusion: Over 60% of Nigerians are willing to take the COVID-19 vaccines if recommended by health workers. We found male gender, religion, ethnicity, and geographical location to positively influence the willingness of Nigerians to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Health workers should be supported to go beyond the confines of the hospital to educate the general public in schools, marketplaces, churches, and corporate organizations on the efficacy and safety of the approved vaccines.
Oral sex, a risky sexual behaviour, is now a common sexual behaviour in Nigeria. Nigerian clinicians play crucial roles in the promotion of healthy sexual behaviours among the lay public. This study seeks to identify those factors that determine the willingness of Nigerian clinicians to recommend protected oral sex to patients with history of oral sex practice. This study surveyed 330 clinicians in Nigeria, using an e-questionnaire circulated via WhatsApp. The collected data were analysed using SPSS version 21 software. The majority (89.1%) of the respondents were willing to recommend protected oral sex for patients engaging in oral sex. Amidst all of the factors (sociodemographic factors, sexual history, etc.) investigated, only one factor (which was the uncertainty about the risk level of oral sex) was found to predict the willingness to recommend protective measures to patients on oral sex (OR = 3.06, p = 0.036). In conclusion, only few factors were found to influence Nigerian clinicians in engaging in patient education on safer oral sex practices.
HIV/AIDS is associated with systemic immune dysfunction which makes the body susceptible to certain opportunistic infections and tumours. The advent of HAART his know to provide some desired improvement leading to altered patterns of clinical finding which includes the ocular manifestations Objective: To determine the socio-demographic association, frequency and types of ocular manifestations of HIV/AIDS in adult HIV positive patients in Enugu. Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional descriptive study. It comprised 331 randomly selected and consenting adult HIV positive patients on Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) at the retroviral disease clinic of UNTH Enugu, Nigeria. They had slit lamp examination of the anterior and posterior segment. Data was obtained using an interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was with SPSS version 21. Their demographic data, frequency and pattern of ocular manifestations were presented in frequency and percentages. A p-value of < 0.05 was used to define statistical significance at 95% confidence interval. Results: The hospital prevalence of HIV related ocular manifestations was 18.4%. HIV microangiopathy was the commonest (18.8%). Posterior segment ocular manifestations were the commonest (37.7%) observed class of HIV ocular manifestations. Of those with HIV related ocular manifestations, only 33.3% had a previous history of eye problem. There was no statistically significant association between the socio-demographic variables and the ocular findings. Conclusion: Pharmacotherapy has altered the overall clinical course of HIV/AIDS. However, HIV related ocular manifestations are still common, though no association was found between the demographic variables of the population and the ocular findings. We recommend that all patients on follow up in for HIV/AIDS should continue to adhere strictly to recommended HAART regimen.
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