Case series of retinopathy of prematurity blindness in Nigeria: A wakeup call to policy makers, hospitals, ophthalmologists and paediatricians.

BACKGROUND STATEMENT: Inadequate retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) screening coverage portends a high risk for increasing the cases of ROP blindness. This study aims to report the clinical profile of pre-term babies who developed ROP blindness, highlight the usefulness in determining screening criteria and the role of private hospitals in ROP blindness prevention. CASE SERIES REPORT: Online Google form and telephone survey was conducted from May to December 2020 among paediatric ophthalmologists who provided the clinical details of ROP blind children seen between 2016 and 2020. The main outcome measured included type of the hospital of birth, gestational age, birth weight, ROP Screening and treatment, and blinding ROP Stage among children born premature. The SPSS-IBM version 26 was used for the analysis. Eighteen children blind from ROP with an equal male-to-female ratio were reported. Mean gestational age was 28.4 ± 2.2 weeks (range 26 - 34 weeks, median was 28.0 weeks). Mean birth weight was 1173.7 ± 317.9 grams (range 776 - 2100 grams, median 1125 grams). Six (33.3%) babies were born in private hospitals between 28 and 32 weeks. Sixteen (88.9%) children never had ROP screening. Fifteen (83.3%) were blind in both eyes. Six (33.3%) had Stage IVb and 12 (66.7%) Stage V. CONCLUSION: About 90% of the babies who became blind did not undergo ROP screening. It is crucial that all babies born at 34 weeks or earlier and have birth weight of < 1500 grams in public/private hospitals be screened for ROP to prevent this avoidable blindness in Nigeria.

Should They Also Have Babies? Community Attitudes Toward Sexual and Reproductive Rights of People Living With HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: People living with HIV have the right to healthy, satisfying sex lives and to appropriate services to ensure their sexual and reproductive health, including having healthy children. The reproductive rights of people living with HIV/AIDS are, however, often met with skepticism and discrimination, despite recent advances in HIV treatment. OBJECTIVE: To assess the attitudes of community members in Kano, Nigeria, toward the right of persons living with HIV/AIDS to have healthy sexual relationships and bear children. METHODS: A cross-section of 399 adults was interviewed using pretested structured questionnaires. Logistic regression analysis was used to obtain adjusted estimates for predictors of agreement with the rights of persons with HIV/AIDS to bear children. FINDINGS: A substantial proportion of respondents (28.6%) strongly agreed and agreed (10.5%) that persons with HIV/AIDS should not be allowed to marry. More than a fifth of the respondents disagreed (16.0%) and strongly disagreed (8.0%) with the rights of HIV-infected persons to bear children. Agreement with the statement "HIV-infected persons should have biological children" was independently associated with higher educational status (adjusted odds ratio: 2.26, 95% confidence interval: 1.82-6.73) and awareness of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission effectiveness (adjusted odds ratio: 2.53, 95% confidence interval: 1.92-5.37). Of those who agreed that HIV-infected persons should have children (n = 253), 17.8% and 26.1% strongly agreed and agreed, respectively, that persons living with HIV/AIDS should be restricted to having fewer children. Further, 11.5% and 4.8% of respondents disagreed and strongly disagreed, respectively, that infertile HIV-infected couples should receive fertility treatment. CONCLUSIONS: People living with HIV/AIDS face discriminatory attitudes to their reproductive rights in northern Nigeria. There is a need for effective, culturally appropriate information, education, and communication approaches to improving community perceptions of sexual and reproductive rights of people living with HIV/AIDS.