Nutritional status of school age children in Abakaliki metropolis, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Malnutrition is a major public health problem with short and long-term adverse effects on children particularly in middle and low-income countries. Three out of every ten under-five children are said to be stunted and 19.4% underweight in Nigeria. In Ebonyi State, between 2013 and 2015, the proportion of preschool children with chronic undernutrition rose from 16.2 to 20.6%. Little is documented about the nutritional status of school-age children in Ebonyi State and Nigeria. METHODS: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study among 780 children aged 6 to 12 years from 10 primary schools in Abakaliki metropolis. A multistage sampling method was used to select the participants. A pre-tested interviewer-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect information from the children and their parents. Body Mass Index (BMI), Z scores of the weight for age, BMI for age and height for age were obtained using the WHO AnthroPlus software. We estimated the prevalence of undernutrition, over-nutrition, underweight, thinness, stunting, overweight and obesity. RESULT: Out of 751 pupils that participated, 397 (52.9%) were females and 595 (79.2%) were in public schools. The overall prevalence of undernutrition was 15.7% and that of over-nutrition was 2.1%. The prevalence of underweight, thinness and stunting, overweight and obesity were 8, 7.2, 9.9, 1.4 and 0.7% respectively. The proportion of pupils who were thin was higher among males (8.7%), those attending public schools (8.6%) and those dwelling in rural parts of the metropolis (14.3%) compared to females (5.8%) private school attendees (1.9%) and urban dwellers (4.6%). Stunting was found to be higher among pupils attending public schools (11.8%) compared to those attending private schools (2.5%). The prevalence of stunting was 19.3% among the pupils residing in rural areas and 5% among the pupils living in urban areas of the metropolis. No pupil in private schools was underweight. Over-nutrition was not found among the pupils in rural areas. CONCLUSION: Both under and over nutrition exist in Abakaliki metropolis. Undernutrition is the more prevalent form of malnutrition among school age children in the metropolis.

The Prevalence and Case-Fatality Rates of Post-Neonatal Tetanus in a Population of Hospitalized Nigerian Children: An 8-Year Retrospective Review.

BACKGROUND: Although tetanus is a vaccine-preventable disease, reports indicate that it remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in both neonatal and post-neonatal periods especially in most developing countries. AIM: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and case fatality rates of post-neonatal tetanus among children managed at the Federal Medical Centre Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria over 8 years. METHOD: The study was a retrospective review of the records of the children above 1 month of age admitted into Federal Medical Centre, Asaba, with a clinical diagnosis of tetanus from January 2008 to May 2016. Data analysis was conducted on descriptive and inferential statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22.0. Mean, standard deviation and other relevant parameters were calculated. Level of significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: During the study period, 32 out of 3693 admitted Paediatric patients had post-neonatal tetanus: giving a prevalence rate of 0.9%. The male : female ratio was 1.9 : 1 and patients' ages ranged from 2 to 15 years with a mean age 8.9 ± 3.1 years. Twenty-nine percent of them had complete immunization during infancy, but none had booster doses. Also, 60.9% of them presented with lower limb injuries as the portal of entry. Over 17.4% of the patients had very severe tetanus. Of the 32 patients studied, 62.5% resided in the neighbouring rural communities, while 50.0% were admitted for ≤10 days. The calculated case fatality rate was 50%. CONCLUSION: The prevalence and case fatality rates of post-neonatal tetanus are still relatively high in this clime. Given the prevalent nature of the disease in children aged 5 years and above, there is a need to include the booster doses of tetanus toxoid in the country's National Programme on Immunization schedule.