Suchergebnisse

AbstractBackgroundArmed conflicts are associated with an increased risk of food insecurity, the leading cause of malnutrition in low-and-middle-income countries. Multiple studies have uncovered significant influences of childhood malnutrition on children's overall health and development. As a result, it is increasingly important to understand how childhood experience of armed conflict intersects with childhood malnutrition in conflict-prone countries like Nigeria. This study examined the association between different measures of childhood experiences of armed conflicts and the nutritional health outcomes of children aged 36–59 months.MethodsWe used data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey linked with Uppsala Conflict Data Program Geo-Referenced Events Dataset using geographic identifiers. Multilevel regression models were fitted on a sample of 4226 children aged 36–59 months.ResultsThe prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting was 35%, 20% and 3%, respectively. Armed conflicts were mostly recorded in the North-eastern states of Borno (222 episodes) and Adamawa (24 episodes). Exposure to armed conflicts ranged from 0 (no experience of armed conflict) to 3.75 conflicts per month since the child's birth. An increase in the frequency of armed conflicts is associated with increased odds of childhood stunting [AOR = 2.52, 95%CI: 1.96–3.25] and underweight [AOR = 2.33, 95%CI: 1.19–4.59] but not wasting. The intensity of armed conflict was only marginally associated with stunting and underweight but not wasting. Longer conflicts that occurred in the last year were also associated with the odds of stunting [AOR = 1.25, 95%CI: 1.17–1.33] and underweight [AOR = 1.19, 95%CI: 1.11–1.26] but not wasting.ConclusionChildhood exposure to armed conflict is associated with long-term malnutrition in children aged 36–59 months in Nigeria. Strategies that aim to end childhood malnutrition could target children exposed to armed conflicts.

PurposeAchieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is the fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). This continues the effort of the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which was "to promote gender equality and empower all women". In Nigeria, a Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill had been under consideration in the Nigerian Senate since 2010 to be enacted as a Nigerian law as part of effort toward MDG 3. After six years, the Bill was voted out for "lack of merit". The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of the outcome.Design/methodology/approachA review of this Bill and the authors' perceptions of reasons for the decline are subsequently presented.FindingsThere were concerns based on the content of the Bill. It was agreed by members of the Nigerian Senate that the content of the Bill was not in line with the religious and cultural beliefs of most of the Nigerian population and thus, unworthy to be enacted as a Nigerian law.Social implicationsThe review herein provides important analysis of the content of the declined Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill. It reflects the continued patriarchal norms and perception of the superiority of men over women in Nigeria.Originality/valueThe paper provides a bird-view analysis of an unsuccessful Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill in Nigeria. This information is needed for a review of the Bill ahead of possible re-presentation following modifications for discussion.

Aim: To describe the process adopted to review the academic curriculum for training health information management professionals in Nigeria. Context: Health information management professionals are responsible for managing patients' health service records and hospital information systems across health facilities in Nigeria. An assessment found many are inadequately skilled in information and communications technology (ICT) skills believed to be needed for them to play leadership roles in hospital information systems and function effectively. This was traced to a dearth of relevant ICT courses in their academic training curriculum. Case study: A review of the curriculum for training health information management professionals was instituted following an agreed need to address these issues. Lessons learned: Health records management is evolving across the world including the developing countries. This advancement requires evolution of training programs to meet the increasing application of ICT in this sector. Conclusion: After several sessions, a new curriculum that addresses all the identified educational deficiencies has been developed. It is believed that this step will help improve the quality of training programs.

Death registration provides an opportunity for the legal documentation of death of persons. Documentation of deaths has several implications including its use in the recovery of inheritance and insurance benefits. It is also an important input for construction of life tables which are crucial for national planning. However, the registration of deaths is poor in several countries including Nigeria. This paper describes the performance of death registration in Nigeria and factors that may affect its performance. We conducted a systematic literature review of death registration completeness in Nigeria to identify, characterize issues as well as challenges associated with realizing completeness in death registration. Only 13.5% of deaths in Nigeria were registered in 2007 which regressed to 10% in 2017. There was no data reported for Nigeria in the World Health Organization database between 2008 and 2017. The country scored less than 0.1 (out of a maximum of 1) on the Vital Statistics Performance Index. There are multiple institutions with parallel constitutional and legal responsibilities for death registration in Nigeria including the National Population Commission, National Identity Management Commission and Local Government Authorities, which may be contributing to its overall poor performance.