Abstract "Wife Inheritance" was initiated with good intentions and had many functional values. The custom once held an honourable promise as it protected and catered for the welfare of the widowed and orphaned members of the Luo community. The main aim of the study was to give a critical appraisal of the levirate custom among the Luo of Kenya. The paper specifically examines the impact of the custom on the freedom and individual development of the Luo widow. The research was qualitative wi...
ABSTRACT Amoxicillin dispersible tablet (DT) is now recommended by the World Health Organization as a first line product for treatment of pneumonia in children below 5 years. This formulation, is however, not readily available in most of Africa. The main aim of this study was to compare the acceptability, adherence and clinical outcome of amoxicillin dispersible tablets to that of the conventional Amoxicillin oral suspension (OS) in treatment of children aged 2-59 months with pneumonia in Ken...
Abstract Client satisfaction is influenced by the efficiency of services offered in health facilities. When services are offered promptly, clients are more likely to comply with prescribed treatment. Long waiting time has frequently been mentioned as one factor which may limit health service utilization by any given community. Studies carried out in developing countries show that clients spent 3-4 hours in outpatient departments before seeing the doctor. Studies have shown that long waiting t...
ABSTRACT In sub-Saharan Africa, 34.8 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed per 100,000 women annually and 22.5/100,000 women die from the disease. The disease burden is higher in the developing countries with lower screening rates. Despites of the magnitude of this problem, Kenya still has a screening rate of 3.2% therefore cervical cancer prevalence has not been established. Having been shown to be effective with other health indicators and being members of the communities, community he...
ABSTRACT The increase in prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in members of enterobacteriaceae is posing a major challenge in treatment of bacterial infections and paving way to emergence of multidrug resistant pathogens. Multidrug resistance pathogens such as strains of bacteria (Escherichia coli) produce extended spectrum Beta-lactamases hence are a global problem. Alternative treatment is therefore needed to cure the bacterial infections. Bidens pilosa is among the plants that have been ...
ABSTRACT Health information systems (H.I.S) collect, collate, analyze, evaluate, store and disseminate health information used for planning, forecasting, budgeting, decision making plus monitoring and evaluating health programs. Utilization of H.I.S has however been noted to be inadequate in Kenya thus denying the patients the benefits that would be realized if such information was used to improve services. The general objective of this study was to compare H.I.S in public with private health...
ABSTRACT A WHO report on health workers infections during the 2014-2016 Ebola virus epidemics in Guinea and Liberia found a number of deficiencies from challenges in training to human factors and characteristics of PPE equipment. Studies have highlighted that ineffective management of biohazards in developing countries can compromise the quality of patient care and create occupational and environmental health risks. An assessment conducted in Kenya in 2013 showed that 18-64% of laboratory fac...
ABSTRACT In Kenya, 21% of deaths to women of reproductive age were due to pregnancy related causes in 2014. Nairobi County is ranked 3rd amongst the leading 15 Counties in Kenya in maternal deaths. Kamukunji sub County, with a high proportion of people of Somali origin, is one of the sub-counties with comparably high maternal death rates in Nairobi County. Kenya is promoting skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth for both mothers and new-borns in line with the WHO recommendations. Howev...
ABSTRACT Lake Victoria is an important source of fish. Nonetheless, fish has been reported to be of low microbiological quality as they have been reported to be contaminated with Escherichia coli, Vibrio spp, Shigella spp and Salmonella. Nevertheless these microbial contaminants of fish in Lake Victoria have not been linked to their possible reservoirs, therefore making it difficult for regulatory agencies and fishers minimize fish contamination. Furthermore, it is not known if E. coli contam...
ABSTRACT Hypertension is a major public health problem that affects approximately 26% of adult population worldwide. It is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, stroke and renal failure, and causes about 7.1 million deaths per year worldwide. The prevalence of hypertension is suggested to be increasing worldwide, particularly in developing countries due to nutritional transition and westernization. Moreover, lack of awareness regarding the disease status increases incidence o...
ABSTRACT The burden of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is greatly attributed to treatment failure and high transmission rates among HIV risk groups such as injection drug users (IDUs). In Kenya and other sub-Saharan African countries, protease inhibitors (PIs) especially Ritonavir boosted Lopinavir (LPV/r) or Atazanavir (ATV/r) are main substitute drugs following first line antiretroviral treatment (ART) failure. However, the circulating protease inhibitor drug resistance mutations (PI-DRM...
ABSTRACT Diarrhoea remains a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Diarrhoea in low income settings is attributed to bacterial enteropathogens but viruses and parasites may also be involved. Children infected with HIV are known to experience severe, persistent and recurrent diarrhoea requiring frequent and prolonged usage of antibiotics. However, the actual cause diarrhoea in HIV positive and negative children is unknown. This was a cross-sectional study involving 216 diarrhoea ca...
ABSTRACT Pregnancy preparedness is a precautionary measure for readiness to conceive. It encompasses readiness of a health provider and HIV positive women to contain possible risk factors for mother-to-child HIV transmission. It also includes assessment of pregnancy status, pregnancy intentions, contraceptive status and a suppressed viral load for HIV positive women. Despite the high prevalence of pregnant HIV positive women in Seme Sub-County, the factors influencing pregnancy-preparedness h...
ABSTRACT Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains the region most heavily affected by HIV and AIDS. Most countries in SSA report a generalized epidemic with pockets of concentrated epidemics in key populations. Men who have sex with Men (MSM) have been identified as one of the key populations driving the spread of HIV in Kenya. MSM contribute about 7.79% new HIV infections in Nyanza Region; with Kisumu reporting a prevalence of up to 25% among MSM aged over 24 years compared to 15.1% in the general p...
ABSTRACT Cyanobacteria are single-celled algae that thrive in warm and nutrient rich water bodies including lakes. They can produce different kinds of toxins called cyanotoxins. Microcystin is the most common and most studied cyanotoxin. Microcystin mostly affects the liver. Epidemiological studies in China and Serbia have shown an association between cyanotoxins and occurrence of Primary Liver Cancer. Cyanobacteria have been reported in Lake Victoria, which is an important source of drinking...