Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a major genetic disease that manifests early in life and may lead to significant morbidities. One of the health care services that have been effective in reducing the burden of SCD in developed countries is newborn screening (NBS) followed by pneumococcal vaccines, penicillin prophylaxis, and hydroxyurea treatment. Yet, in sub-Saharan African countries, where about 75% of annual affected babies worldwide are born, NBS programmes are largely unavailable. It is not clear whether this is due to technical challenges associated with setting up such programmes, or significant cultural and social barriers to its acceptance in such settings. Our aim was to ascertain the attitudes to and acceptability of NBS in Nigeria among various socio-demographic groups including health professionals, undergraduate students, parents of children with SCD and SCD patients. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of SCD and attitude towards NBS were collected using a semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire from April to July 2014 across 15 health institutions and university campuses in Nigeria. Data were collected from 1,301 respondents across Nigeria. There was good knowledge of SCD as an inherited blood disorder. Although 86% of respondents (n = 1,119) supported NBS, there was a statistically significant relationship between support for NBS and age (p = 003), educational status (p = 000) and religion (p = 000). This study suggests that there is a good acceptability of NBS across Nigeria. The main barriers to its use are likely to be financial and practical, rather than social or cultural.

Background: Blood is a veritable tool in many life-saving situations. Despite the increased demand for blood, the supply of safe blood has been inadequate. This study was aimed to determine the effect of educational intervention on the knowledge and attitude of medical students of a Nigerian University to voluntary blood donation. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 158 undergraduate medical students of Ebonyi State University in South-East Nigeria. Participants were recruited by stratified sampling technique. A pretested semi-structured participant administered questionnaire was used to baseline knowledge and attitude to voluntary blood donation. This was followed by educational intervention in the form of a workshop by experts in blood transfusion medicine. Then, postintervention assessment was done using the initial questionnaire 30 days later. The study was approved by the Research and Ethics Committee of Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. Data obtained were analyzed using SPSS 20 software, and P value was set at ≤0.05. Results: Of the 158 medical students who participated in the study, there were 90 (57%) males and 68 (43%) females. Baseline proportion of the participants who had good knowledge was high (72.8%), while baseline attitude of the participants was positive to most aspects of voluntary blood donation. Post intervention, the level of knowledge about voluntary blood donation increased to 99.4%, and similarly attitude to voluntary blood donation improved. Conclusion: Educational intervention was effective in improving the knowledge and attitude towards voluntary blood donation among medical students. Continuous enlightenment will influence potential blood donors to have better knowledge and positive attitude toward voluntary blood donation.

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited abnormality of the red blood cell characterized by chronic haemolytic anemia with numerous clinical consequences.Aims and Objectives: The objective of this study is to assess the level of awareness, knowledge and attitude to people living with SCD among undergraduate students of a tertiary educational institution in Abakaliki, South eastern, Nigeria.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out was carried out, and participants were selected using multistage sampling technique. Data was collected using a pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software, version 20.Results: A total of 329 participants were studied, made up of 158 (48%) males and 171 (52%) females. Mean age of the participants was 22.3± 2.7years. All the participants (100%) were aware of the existence of SCD with lectures (35%) and health workers (19.1%) being the most common sources of information. One hundred and ninety one (58.1%) participants showed adequate knowledge about SCD but many of them showed some misconceptions. This study also found that majority of the participants, 291 (88.4%) have positive attitude towards people living with SCD. Majority of those who have adequate knowledge about SCD showed positive attitude while the reverse is the case for those who have inadequate knowledge.Conclusion: This study found knowledge gaps about SCD among the participants. Health education should be intensified to impact sufficient comprehensive knowledge about SCD to enable the students take informed decision about their marriage so as to prevent procreation of children affected with SCD.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.7(5) 2016 87-92

Background: The aim of this study was to appraise the implementation of the National HIV guidelines and determine the effect of an educational intervention on health worker knowledge and practice of the guidelines. Methods: A before and after study design without control was carried out using a self-administered questionnaire and key informant interviews. Data was also collected from client record cards. An educational intervention was carried out using pamphlets containing summarized information on the guideline. Data analysis was carried out using IBM-SPSS version 20. Result: Results showed that 54.5% of the respondents were males and 76% were medical doctors. Baseline knowledge level of respondents was high with 97% of respondents having good knowledge with a mean score of 3.9. This increased to 4.1 out of 5 post-intervention. All respondents had good practice of the guidelines before and after intervention with a mean score of 4.5 out of 5. Client records also showed good practice. Barriers to guideline implementation include: poor knowl- edge, inadequate training, guideline unavailability, poor functioning of the laboratory equipment, poor funding. Conclusion: HIV guidelines are being implemented in the clinic to a large extent; however, trainings, funding and provision of the guideline in the clinics are recommended. Keywords: HIV; guideline implementation; health worker.

Background: Timely access to safe blood and blood components is still a challenge in Nigeria. This study aimed to determine blood donation practices, processing and utilization of blood components across government tertiary hospitals (THs) in Nigeria. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study done in Nigeria in June–July 2020. Data were analysed with SPSS version 21.0. Results: Data were collected from 50 THs. The majority (68%) of the THs lack facilities for blood component preparation and only 18% and 32% provide cryoprecipitate and platelet concentrate, respectively. Whole blood was most commonly requested (57.04%). All facilities tested blood for HIV, HBV and HCV, but the majority (23 [46%]) employed rapid screening tests alone and nucleic acid testing was not available in any hospitals. The manual method was the most common method of compatibility testing in 90% (45/50) and none of the THs routinely perform extended red cell typing. The average time to process routine, emergency and uncross-matched requests were a mean of 109.58±79.76 min (range 45.00–360.00), 41.62±25.23 (10.00–240.00) and 11.09±4.92 (2.00–20.00), respectively. Conclusion: Facilities for blood component preparation were not widely available. Concerned government authorities should provide facilities for blood component preparation.

Aims and Objectives: The objective of this study is to have information on the distribution of ABO and Rhesus blood group among the students so as to determine the need for routine screening for hemolysin among blood group O, if found to be high, as well as to institute blood donor registry for Rhesus negative blood, if found to be low.Materials and Methods:This was a retrospective study and record of ABO and Rhesus blood group results of students screened between May 2010 and April 2011 was obtained from the University medical centre. Data was analyzed using Epi info software, version 3.5.4. Descriptive statistics were used to compute percentages and averages. Results were presented in tables and charts and expressed as percentages/proportions, mean and standard deviation.Results: Three thousand, two hundred and eighty three results were obtained, made up of 1749 males and 1534 females with the ratio of 1.1:1. The age of the students ranged between 16 and 47 years with mean age of 22 ± 5years. Among the population studied, blood group O has the highest percentage (57.7%), followed by group A (22.1%), then B (18.1%), while AB has the least percentage (2.1%). Most of the students were found to be Rhesus positive (95.8%), while Rhesus negative was 4.2%.Conclusion: Blood group O was found to be highest among the study population, followed by A, B and AB in that order. Most of the students were found to be Rhesus positive while only a minority were Rhesus negative. Routine screening for hemolysin among blood group O and institution of blood donor registry is recommended.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.7(1) 2015 101-104