scholarly journals Unsafe abortion among secondary school girls in a local authority in South-South Nigeria

Author(s):  
Matthias G. Abah ◽  
Emem E. Bassey ◽  
Emmanuel B. Edu ◽  
Okupa D. Ovie

Background: Voluntary abortion for social reasons is illegal in Nigeria; however, the practice remains mostly clandestine and unsafe with varying consequences and determinants yet to be studied in all settings.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to assess the prevalence, practice and determinants of termination of pregnancy amongst 119 female Secondary School students in South-South Nigeria.Results: The prevalence of abortion was 57.1%. Most of the students were above 18years (58.8%), Christian (95.8%) and of rural residence (66.4%). While 58.8% had experienced an unwanted pregnancy, 61.4% had used some form of contraceptive with condom being the commonest (39.5%). Most (89.1%) have heard of abortions while 67.6% and 16.2% have had abortions once and twice respectively with the top reasons for abortion being that they were still in school (33.8%), too young (25.9%) and to avoid shame or stigma associated with the pregnancy (11.7%). Dilation and curettage was the predominant method employed (40.2%) mainly by medical doctors (34.1% and pharmacists (35.6%) while 51 (75%) had post-abortal complaints such as pain (41.2%) and bleeding (21.6%). There was a significant association between having an abortion and place of residence (rural more than urban), (p=0.04), being pregnant more than once (p<0.001), mothers` level of education (p=0.03), fathers` level of education (p=0.02) and mothers occupation (p=0.04).Conclusions: The prevalence of abortion is high and complicated by high morbidity rate despite a higher contraceptive prevalence rate whose major determinants were the socio-demographic characteristics of the parents. There is a need for early sex education from parents as this can influence abortion perception and practice in later years.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Rusyan ◽  
Agnieszka Mielczarek ◽  
Agnieszka Kapała ◽  
Kamil Adamczyk ◽  
Robert Piec ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The early information on both the speed and high morbidity rate and, above all, mortality, triggered the symptoms of COVID-19-related panic and anxiety. Dentists were listed in the top five professions with the highest risk of transmission of the virus. The paper aimed to assess the level of anxiety among dentists in Poland. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted via an online survey questionnaire. The study used a tool developed by the team of Ahorsu et al. The COVID-19 Fear Scale (FCV-19S) translated into the Polish language. The online questionnaire was completed by 356 dentists. Results: In the studied population of dentists, the perceived level of anxiety associated with COVID -19 should be considered relatively low. Both gender and work experience had no significant impact on their level. When the respondents had children, lived with the elderly, or looked after them the observed level of anxiety was higher and physical symptoms such as sweating palms and increased heart rate occurred.Conclusion: Despite the high risk of infection, the tested low level of anxiety among dentists is a positive predictor of the appropriate level of medical services provided by this group of doctors.


2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 563-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Baltazar Guatura ◽  
Aripuana Sakurada Aranha Watanabe ◽  
Clarice Neves Camargo ◽  
Ana Maria Passos ◽  
Sheila Negrini Parmezan ◽  
...  

INTRODUCTION: Influenza A H1N1 2009 is associated with a high morbidity rate among children around the world, including Brazil. This survey was conducted on samples of symptomatic children (< 12 years) to investigate the influenza virus as the etiological agent of respiratory infections in a day care school in a health facility during the first and second pandemic wave of H1N1 (2009-2010) in São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: Influenza infections were determined by real-time PCR in 34% (47/137) of children with a median age of 5 years (8 months - 12 years), from June to October 2009 and in 16% (14/85) of those with median age of 6 years (1-12 years), from March to November 2010. RESULTS: In general, most positive cases (64%) occurred in children aged 5-12 years, this age group was significantly the most affected (39.8%, p = 0.001, OR = 8.3, CI 95% 1.9-36.9). Wheezing was reported by 31% (19/61) and dyspnea by 23% (14/61) of the studied patients. An outbreak of influenza H1N1 with an attack rate of 35.7% among children (median age 6 years) was documented in April 2010, before the vaccination campaign against the pandemic virus was extended for children up to 5 years in Brazil. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, the study reinforces the recommendation to immunize school children to reduce the incidence of the disease.


Author(s):  
Funmito Omolola Fehintola ◽  
Akintunde Olusegun Fehintola ◽  
Ayodele Olatayo Aremu ◽  
Ajibola Idowu ◽  
Olumuyiwa A Ogunlaja ◽  
...  

Background: Menstruation has more profound effect on quality of education than other aspect of puberty because it involves a learning component as well as elements affected by the school environment and infrastructure. It is, therefore, imperative to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of Secondary School girls in Ogbomoso on the subject of menstruation and menstrual hygiene.Methods: It was a cross-sectional study carried out between June and August 2016. A total of 447 eligible female adolescent secondary school students were selected by multistage sampling technique. A semi-structured facilitated self- administered questionnaire was used.Results: Majority (96.4%) of the adolescents have heard about menstruation before menarche while 55.9% had good knowledge of menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Despite the high level of knowledge, about 64% of the respondents describe their response to their first menses as scary, discomforting or emotionally disturbing. Also, only 25% of the respondents had good menstrual hygiene practice. Factors that were significantly associated with good knowledge of menstruation and menstrual hygiene in this study were older adolescent age (15-19 years) (χ2=47.68, P<0.0001); adolescents whose mothers have greater than secondary school education (χ2=42.52, P<0.0001); and those living with their parents (χ2=123.9 ,P=0.001)  while only living with parents significantly influenced good practices.Conclusions: The study concluded that majority of the adolescents do not observe good hygienic practice during menstruation despite relatively good knowledge of menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Efforts have to be put into ensuring that adolescents are well educated on the meaning of menstruation, the importance of good hygienic practice both in schools and at home. 


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ifeoma Bridget Udigwe ◽  
Chioma Phyllis Nnamani ◽  
Chioma Chetachukwu Ajator ◽  
Chioma Pauline Mbachu ◽  
Ogochukwu Chioma Ofiaeli ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Gender-based violence (GBV) increases during every type of emergency whether economic crises, conflicts or disease outbreak like in the case of Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and types of GBV among secondary school students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Anambra State, South East, Nigeria.Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study, conducted among 403 secondary school student who were recruited consecutively after consent and assent were gotten. Self-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data was analysed using STATA version 16.0. The level of significance for test of association was set at p-value < 0.05Results: The prevalence of GBV was 63.28%, emotional/verbal abuse were the most prevalent type while sexual abuse was the least type (85.5% vs 8.2%). The highest perpetrator of the emotional/verbal abuse were their fellow students (64.8%). The relationship between GBV and impact of abuse was statistically significant for academic performance, alcohol and tobacco intake (p-values: 0.040, 0.010, 0.029 respectively)Conclusion: The prevalence of GBV is high among students during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the emotional/verbal type being the most prevalent type. GBV has an impact on their academic performance and social lives. We therefore recommend that stakeholders should have target programs to address the diverse effects of GBV on students especially with the pandemic.


Author(s):  
Soe AK ◽  
Aizat AF ◽  
Bellahcene MA ◽  
Atiqah N ◽  
Husna N

Allergic rhinitis (AR) and bronchial asthma (BA) are common inflammatory chronic respiratory diseases, and they are significant public health challenges on a global scale. The prevalence of these diseases are on the rise in all regions of the world, affecting all ages but more commonly among children and adolescences. Both AR and BA affect patients to a different extent with variable restrictions in the physical, emotional, and social aspects of the patient's life. They may be seen as two presentations of the same disease by sharing common epidemiologic, histologic, physiologic, and immunopathologic linkages. To determine the prevalence and impact of allergic rhinitis, asthma and allergic rhinitis with asthma on quality of life among secondary school students in Kinta District, Perak. A cross-sectional study was done among secondary school students from randomly selected three schools in Kinta District, Ipoh, Perak. A well-vetted and validated questionnaire was used to collect the data, and statistical analysis was done to determine the prevalence and impact of AR, BA, or both. A total of 250 secondary school students were involved in this study. Malays were the majority among the participants. The prevalence of AR alone, BA alone, and disease co-occurance were 27.2%, 9.2%, and 8%, respectively. Nearly 20% of the participants were troublesome but low scale in terms of quality of life followed by disturbed sleep, restricted participation in school, and daily activities. Only 6% of the participants experienced sleep disturbance due to asthma, but daily anti-asthmatic medication was essential in only 1.2%. This study showed that although a relatively high prevalence of allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma. There was no significant low quality of life among sufferers.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Nurul ISLAM

Studies on academic achievement worldwide are sporadic, focusing on variables more or less have been taken by the researchers, and provided knowledge. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine how the school effect influences secondary school students' academic achievements by two important significant (study habits and self-esteem). With a covenient sampling method, 400 students from eight secondary schools in Bangladesh were selected for the study. Though the students were equally divided regarding gender (Boys, 200; Girls, 200), they were different regarding school types (Public, 188; Private, 212). Their ages range from 14 to 17, with an average of 14.8. They provided responses on two Bangla version scales: Study Habit Scale and Self-Esteem Scale. Academic achievement was significantly positively correlated with both study habits (r=.268, p<.01) and self-esteem (r=.291,p<.01). Two predictors of the study were also correlated with each other (r=.283, p<.01). Public and private school students were not varied significantly in studying habits and academic achievement, but they were significantly different in self-esteem. The study habits and self-esteem jointly explained 12.3% for public school students' academic achievement whileit explained 7.5% variance for the private school students. The discussion implies that how students’ study habits and self-esteem facilitates their academic achievement.Further studies will reflect more factors influencing academic achievement.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document