Abstract There were an estimated 5.9 million deaths among children under five years in 2015, with infectious diseases accounting for almost half (51.8%) of these deaths. Pneumonia was the leading cause of infectious deaths, with 60% cases concentrated in 10 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In 2014, pneumonia was the leading cause of death among children under five years in Kenya. Kenya is one of the countries that have not yet adopted community management of pneumonia as recom...
ABSTRACT The immense burden of blindness is prevalent in rural communities of developing countries, which are characterized by a high backlog of unoperated cataract and increasing incidence of cataract due to the ageing population. The factors that hinder people from accessing such sight-restoring services remain a major challenge for all eyecare professionals with a public health perspective. A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in all the six locations of Merti Division in J...
ABSTRACT Neonatal infections mostly sepsis and meningitis currently cause about 4.9 million deaths annually in developing countries. According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, there are about 5 million neonatal deaths that occur in the world per year due to sepsis, with 98% occurring in developing countries. Neonatal sepsis is the leading cause of neonatal mortality in Nakuru County Referral Hospital (NCRH) according to the hospital records, yet no study has been done in the hos...
ABSTRACT Abortion is a social stigmatizing and ostracization issue as well as an important reproductive health problem associated with high morbidity and mortality. Each year 3.7 million pregnancies are terminated in Africa, with 200,000 deaths occurring from complications associated with unsafe abortions. In Kenya abortion is illegal. Women carry out abortions using unsafe methods and therefore suffer post-abortal complications. No documented studies have been carried out to determine knowl...
ABSTRACT Healthcare Organizations are now in the process of implementing computerized health management health information system (CHMIS) with a hope that they will improve on safety, efficiency and effectiveness of patient healthcare (Ammenwerth, 2004). More specifically, due to advances of technologies, the adoption of CHMIS is growing rapidly. CHMIS are believed to offer significant benefits in improving patient health care delivery (Thompson, 2005). Health care Organizations implement CH...
ABSTRACT Brucellosis is an infectious debilitating, acute or sub-acute febrile illness usually marked by an intermittent or remittent fever accompanied by malaise, anorexia and prostration, and which, in the absence of specific treatment, may persist for weeks or months. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with brucellosis among community members in Mandera East Sub-County, Mandera County. The study was descriptive cross sectional study which collecte...
ABSTRACT There are enormous benefits accruing from spousal support during childbirth including emotional comfort, improved family communication, bonding, pain relief without analgesia and positive birth experience. Unfortunately, in low income countries like Kenya which are known to be patriarchal male dominated societies where pregnancy and child birth is regarded as exclusively women's affairs, partner participation in labor and delivery remains acutely low. The purpose of this study was to...
ABSTRACT Self-medication encompasses the use of the medicines by the users for self perceived health problems or the continuing use of medications formally prescribed earlier. The scope of the definition includes treatment of family members especially to minors and elderly. Self-medication with antibiotics is a global problem, the prevalence rates are high all over the world, up to 68% in European countries while much higher in the developing countries with rates going as high as 92% in the a...
TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .......................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ..............................................................................................v LIST OF ...
ABSTRACT Survival of children with AIDS has increased considerably with the use of effective antiretroviral drugs, but the benefits of this therapy are limited by the difficulty of adherence to the treatment. This cross-sectional study was aimed at estimating the prevalence of adherence to antiretrovirals and identifying the associated caregiver factors affecting adherence among children resident in Thika town. Two hundred child caregivers were interviewed. The 24 Hour Recall Interview techni...
ABSTRACT Asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy is associated with risk of preterm birth and pyelonephritis if untreated. The apparent decline in immunity of pregnant women appears to promote the growth of both commensal and non-commensal microorganisms. Women with asymptomatic bacteria in the early pregnancy develop symptomatic bacteriuria later in pregnancy. The incidence of antibiotic resistance has been steadily increasing over the past few years resulting in limitation of therapeutic...
ABSTRACT Open defecation refers to defecating in bushes, fields, water bodies and other places that are open. Across the world, approximately 1 billion people are practicing open defecation. This is worse in sub-Saharan Africa where about 215 million people defecate in the open. In Kenya, an estimated 5.6 million people practice defecation in the open. The introduction of Community Led Total Sanitation strategy by the Ministry of Health has not achieved its goal of improved sanitation and hyg...
ABSTRACT Malaria, a preventable disease, caused by a protozoan parasite, accounts for about 300-500million clinical cases and two million deaths world-wide annually. Ninety per cent of this occurs in countries south of the Sahara. It is responsible for about 25% of all childhood mortality. It is estimated that at least 50% of the population will have at least one attack of malaria in a year. It is one of largest contributor to disease burden in Nigeria. There were two million cases of malaria...
ABSTRACT It is estimated that Kenya has 1.6 million people living with HIV and 88,000 new adult infections annually. The country has adult HIV prevalence rate of between 5.6 - 7.2% and incidence rate of 0.4 – 0.7%. Recent studies on HIV disclosure among adult sexual partners revealed HIV 70-80% disclosure rates. A number of studies on HIV and AIDS have been undertaken in Kenya. However, determinants of disclosure among persons living with HIV remain unclear. The objective of this study was ...