Intention of Staff and Students to Use Internal Whistleblowing to Report Sexual Violence: A Case Study of a Nigerian University.

Sexual violence with its enormous negative consequences has become an epidemic most especially among the young populations. An effective danger-proof reporting system is necessary for curbing this menace including use of the internal whistleblowing mechanism. The study employed a concurrent (parallel) mixed method descriptive design for explaining the sexual violence experiences of university students, the intention of staff and students to blow the whistle, and their preferred whistleblowing strategies. A total of 167 students and 42 members of staff (69% males and 31% females, respectively) were randomly selected from four academic departments (50%) of a university of technology in Southwest Nigeria. An adapted questionnaire containing three vignettes on sexual violence and a focus group discussion guide were used for data collection. We discovered that 16.1% of the students reported to have experienced sexual harassment, 12.3% had attempted rape, and 2.6% had experienced rape. Tribe (Likelihood-Ratio, LR = 11.16; p = .004) and sex (χ2 = 12.65; p = .001) were strongly associated with sexual violence experiences. Also, 50% staff and 47% students had high intention. Regression analysis showed that industrial and production engineering students will be 2.8 times more likely to have intention to internally blow the whistle more than other students (p = .03; 95% CI [1.1, 6.97]). Female staff had 5.73 odds of intention more than male staff (p = .05; [1.02, 32.1]). Also, we observed that senior staff will 31% less likely blow the whistle than the junior staff (Adjusted Odd Ratio, AOR = 0.04; [0.00, 0.98]; p = .05). In our qualitative findings, courage was mentioned as a factor necessary for blowing the whistle while anonymous reporting was emphasized for successful whistleblowing. However, the students preferred external whistleblowing. The study has implication for the establishment of sexual violence internal whistleblowing reporting system in higher education institutions.

Can the Indian national ambient air quality standard protect against the hazardous constituents of PM2.5?

Globally, exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution claims ∼9 million lives, yearly, and a quarter of this deaths occurs in India. Regulation of PM2.5 pollution in India is based on compliance with its National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) of 40 µg/m3, which is eight times the revised global air quality guideline (AQG) of 5 µg/m3. But, whether the NAAQS provides adequate protection against the hazardous components in PM2.5 is still not clear. Here, we examined the risk to health associated with exposure to PM2.5-bound polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in an Indian district averaging below the NAAQS. The annual average concentrations of PM2.5 mass, Σ28PCB and Σ13PAHs were 34 ± 17 µg/m3, 21 ± 12 ng/m3 and 458 ± 246 ng/m3, respectively. Concentrations of As, Cr, Mn and Ni in PM2.5 surpassed the screening levels for residential air. Substantial level of risks to health were associated with exposure to dioxin-like PCBs (Σ12dlPCB), PAHs, As, Cr and Ni. The hazard index or lifetime cancer risk were 240, or 9 cases per 1000 population, respectively. The estimated risks to health through exposure to hazardous components, except Ni, were greatest in rural areas, having a lower average PM2.5 concentration, than urban or peri-urban areas, suggesting higher toxicity potential of rural combustion sources. The large disparity between the estimated risk values and the acceptable risk level suggests that it would take a more stringent standard, such as the global AQG, to protect vulnerable populations in India from hazardous components in PM2.5.

Season, not lockdown, improved air quality during COVID-19 State of Emergency in Nigeria.

Globally, ambient air pollution claims ~9 million lives yearly, prompting researchers to investigate changes in air quality. Of special interest is the impact of COVID-19 lockdown. Many studies reported substantial improvements in air quality during lockdowns compared with pre-lockdown or as compared with baseline values. Since the lockdown period coincided with the onset of the rainy season in some tropical countries such as Nigeria, it is unclear if such improvements can be fully attributed to the lockdown. We investigate whether significant changes in air quality in Nigeria occurred primarily due to statewide COVID-19 lockdown. We applied a neural network approach to derive monthly average ground-level fine aerosol optical depth (AODf) across Nigeria from year 2001-2020, using the Multi-angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) AODs from Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellites, AERONET aerosol optical properties, meteorological and spatial parameters. During the year 2020, we found a 21% or 26% decline in average AODf level across Nigeria during lockdown (April) as compared to pre-lockdown (March), or during the easing phase-1 (May) as compared to lockdown, respectively. Throughout the 20-year period, AODf levels were highest in January and lowest in May or June, but not April. Comparison of AODf levels between 2020 and 2019 shows a small decline (1%) in pollution level in April of 2020 compare to 2019. Using a linear time-lag model to compare changes in AODf levels for similar months from 2002 to 2020, we found no significant difference (Levene's test and ANCOVA; α = 0.05) in the pollution levels by year, which indicates that the lockdown did not significantly improve air quality in Nigeria. Impact analysis using multiple linear regression revealed that favorable meteorological conditions due to seasonal change in temperature, relative humidity, planetary boundary layer height, wind speed and rainfall improved air quality during the lockdown.

Burn to kill: Wood ash a silent killer in Africa.

Aside the emissions, burning of wood in traditional cookstoves (TCs) also generates substantial amount of ash containing hazardous pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and toxic metals. But, their concentrations in the ash, particularly in Africa where over 70% of the population utilize TCs, remain unknown. Here, we determined concentrations of sixteen PAHs and eleven heavy metals in ashes from twelve different African TCs, comprising six three-stone fires (TSFs) and six built-in-place cookstoves (BIPCs), burning common African wood species under real world situation. For each TC, ash samples were collected for six consecutive days (Monday-Saturday), and a total of seventy-two daily samples were collected from January-June 2019. Ash yields were measured gravimetrically, and concentrations of the pollutants were determined following standard analytical protocols. The results were used alongside secondary data (annual fuelwood consumption, African fuelwood densities, population proportion using fuelwood and surface human population density) to estimate annual tonnage, exposure potential and risk to health in Africa, using Monte Carlo simulation technique. The ash yields from all TCs studied exceeded 1% on dry weight basis, indicating that ash is a major waste by-product of wood combustion in TCs. TSFs produced more ash (5.7 ± 0.7%) than BIPCs (3.4 ± 1.0%). Concentrations of As, Cd, Hg and Pb in ashes were significantly higher (α = 0.05) for TSFs than BIPCs. In contrast, concentrations of PAHs were higher in ashes from BIPCs than TSFs. Assuming ash consumption rates range from 250 to 500 mg/day for young children weighing 10 to 30 kg, the upper dose (µg/kg-day) of Pb (0.2-3.9) or Σ16PAHs (0.02-0.34), for instance, surpasses the 0.3 µg/kg-day of Pb or PAH recognized as causing adverse effects in children, indicating a concern. The top five countries with the highest annual tonnage or exposure potential to toxic pollutants are Nigeria>Ethiopia>DR-Congo>Tanzania>Uganda, or Rwanda>Burundi>Uganda>Nigeria>Guinea-Bissau, respectively.

Fertility preferences among couples in Nigeria: a cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The persistently high and stalled total fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa, including in Nigeria, calls for new efforts towards fertility reduction. Most efforts on fertility desire in sub-Saharan Africa have focused either on individual men or women with little focus on couples as a unit of analysis. Moreover, the influences of different types of marriages in which couples reproduce have not been adequately explored. Therefore, this study examined fertility desires among couples in Nigeria. METHODS: This paper used data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) of 2018 to assess fertility desire by marriage type among couples in Nigeria. In addition, the association between fertility desire and disparity in couples' educational attainment, place of residence, region, religion, occupation, wealth status, children ever born and contraceptive use were considered. The participants consisted of 6813 couples aged between 15-49 years. Couples' characteristics were reported using frequency and percentage distribution tables. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were conducted. RESULTS: Overall, the study revealed that 73.8% of couples were in monogamous relationships while 26.2% were in polygynous relationships. The mean ideal number of children for men and women were 7.2 and 6.1, respectively. Also, 49.3% of the couples reported husbands desired more children, 43.9% claimed wives desired more children, while 6.8% indicated equal number of desired children among wives and husbands. The results of binary logistic regression showed that couples in polygynous relationships were 4.3 times as likely to desire more children, compared to couples in monogamous relationships (OR = 4.3; 95% CI: 3.5, 5.3). Couples in polygynous relationships wanted as many as four times the number of children desired by couples in monogamous relationships. Fertility desire was significantly higher among couples who indicated the following: either was using contraceptives (OR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.6-3.4), both were not using contraceptives (OR = 2.8; 95% CI: 1.9, 4.1), lived in North East (OR = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.5, 2.6) and North West (OR = 1.7; 95% CI: 1.3, 2.3), both were not working (OR = 1.33, 95% CI; 1.1, 1.6) and were adherents of Islam (OR = 1.8; 95% CI; 1.5, 2.4). CONCLUSION: These findings reflect the role of region, use of contraceptives, work status and religion in the fertility desire of couples. Implementing programmes and policies on sexual education and reproductive rights of couples and individuals may reduce high fertility desire and its adverse consequences, such as child and maternal morbidity and mortality in Nigeria.

Burden of disease at the same limit of exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons varies significantly across countries depending on the gap in longevity.

Atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) disproportionately affect human health across the globe, and differential exposure is believed to drive the unequal health burden. Therefore, this study assessed and compared the burden of disease, in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), at the same level (or limit) of exposure to atmospheric PAHs in nine countries. We calculated the DALYs per person-year per ng/m3 of benzo[a]pyrene from ten cancers and thirty-four non-cancer adverse outcomes using published toxicity information and country-specific disease severity. Exposure duration was averaged over 30 years and we adjusted for early-life vulnerability to cancer. The DALYs per person-year per ng/m3 of fifteen other individual PAHs was calculated using relative potency factors, and toxicity factors derived from quantitative structure-activity relationships. We found that even at the same level of exposure to PAHs, the incremental burdens of disease varied substantially across countries. For instance, they varied by about 2-3 folds between Nigeria and the USA. Countries having the lowest longevity had the highest DALYs per person-year per ng/m3 of each PAH. Kruskal-Wallis test (α = 0.05) showed that the variation across countries was significant. The post hoc tests detected a significant difference between two countries when the gap in longevity was >10 years. This suggests that countries having very low average life expectancy require more stringent PAH limit. Linear or exponential function of average longevity gave valid approximation of the DALYs per person-year per ng/m3 of benzo[a]pyrene or phenanthrene, respectively. Furthermore, we used global gridded surface benzo[a]pyrene concentrations and global population dataset for 2007, with spatial resolution of 0.1°â€¯× 0.1°, to calculate the contribution of differential exposures to the estimated DALYs per person-year. We found that in six out of nine countries, differential exposures to PAH contribute less to the estimated health loss than differential severities of the diseases. This indicates that the risk to health from PAHs may be underreported if the severities of the diseases in the countries are not considered.

Child's risk attributes at birth and infant mortality disparities in Nigeria

Births in avoidable high-risk contexts defined by the interplay of sub-optimal childbearing age, short spacing, and first and high birth order incur elevated risks of childhood death. However, the extent of disparities in risks of dying in infancy vis-à-vis the continuum of non-high-risk and (un)avoidable high-risk attributes at birth as determined by mother's age at childbirth, child spacing, and birth order characteristics is yet to be adequately explored in Nigeria as elsewhere. To fill this gap, chi-square association test and Cox's proportional hazards regression were used to analyze data of 31,260 nationally representative children aged 0-59 months drawn from 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. Disparities in infant mortality risks were mainly examined across the spectrum of birth-related risk attributes at birth broadly categorized as no extra high-risk, unavoidable firstorder risk and combined avoidable high-risk. The risks of dying in infancy differed significantly by risk attributes to the extentdictated by other confounders. Also, infant mortality risks varied significantly by all moderating factors excluding religion, water source, toilet type and place of delivery. Interventions targeted at reducing avoidable high-risk fertility rate and strengthening health system to provide life-saving care to most-at-risk children would engender rapid improvement in infant survival

Ageing, sexuality and enhancement among Yoruba people in south western Nigeria.

Sexual health across the life course is influenced by biological and psychosocial factors. The paper explores sexuality and associated practices among older Yoruba people with a view to identifying the implications of cultural beliefs and practices for sexual health in later life. A total of 64 vignette-based in-depth interviews and 12 focus-group discussions were held with older adults (50-75 years) in two Yoruba communities in south western Nigeria. Findings portray sexuality as an important aspect of old age, with sexual intercourse being construed as having physical and spiritual consequences. This same perspective also emerged as participants' attributed factors affecting sexual desire in old age to religious beliefs, poverty, ill health and the non-availability of a partner. Gender differences were dominant on sexual desire and pleasure in old age. Participants' views on causes of sexual dysfunction identified biological, psychosocial and spiritual factors. Sexual decline in old age was considered redeemable with the support of biomedical and traditional medicines. However, only traditional medicine was considered beneficial in addressing sexual dysfunctions that had spiritual dimensions.

Maternal age at birth and under-5 mortality in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE: The paper examined the impact of maternal age at birth on under-5 death in Nigeria. METHOD: Secondary data were generated from the 2003 Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys in examining the relationship between maternal age at birth and under-5 mortality risk. Relationships between variables were tested through bivariate and logistic analyses. RESULTS: Out of 7620 sampled women for the study, almost 60% were less than 30 years old, the median age was 26 years- a youthful population. Analyses of the data revealed a high under-5 mortality rate (45.4%), a general high home delivery (62.4%) among Nigerian women, which dictates a low rate at which assistance by health professional is being sought during childbirth . Furthermore, mothers' median age at first birth was less than 19, while under-5 death was significantly pronounced among younger (less than 20 years) mothers and older women (above 35 years) (p<0.05). Maternal education which was significantly low among younger mothers was a predictor of under-5 mortality. CONCLUSION: Under -5 mortality is still high especially among younger mothers. Thus resolving this challenge in Nigeria will be inadequate if early childbearing issues are not addressed using a tailored framework alongside with the need to improve maternal education in Nigeria.