Abstract/Overview In Kenya, one of the strategies to control malaria during pregnancy is through the use of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp) and insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) in conjunction with other intervention methods. But the uptake of these services among pregnant women is not fully optimized. The study assessed the knowledge on malaria and determined factors associated with utilization of malaria preventive and control measures among pregnant w...
Abstract/Overview Autism is a spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders exhibited in early childhood with variable manifestations as children grow up. However, the level of awareness of the condition is poorly understood among pre-primary school teachers. This study, therefore, assessed the awareness of the spectrum condition of autism among pre-primary school teachers in western Kenya. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed and data collected from 321 participants using s...
Abstract/Overview Globally, severe pneumonia remains the leading infectious cause of death in children younger than 5 years. Comorbidities increase the risk of death among children with severe pneumonia across age groups and regions; however, the data is scanty on specific comorbidities. The study, therefore, was aimed at improving an understanding of the risk of death due to different comorbidities among children with severe pneumonia. The findings will not only inform the clinical pract...
Abstract/Overview Globally, malaria remains a major public health problem. In 2019 an estimated 229 million cases of malaria were reported, WHO African region accounted for 94% of total cases. In Kenya, malaria is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children under five years living in malaria endemic zones. This study investigated the factors that are associated with malaria prevalence among children under-five years living in North West Kisumu Ward, Kisumu County. This cross...
Abstract/Overview Over the past decade, Kenya has made tremendous efforts to enhance maternal and child health. Secure maternity policies such as free maternity care are one of the initiatives that have enhanced maternal and child health in all public health facilities. Despite these attempts, public health facilities for maternal and child health are still underused. This study employed a cross-sectional descriptive study design to identify determinants of free maternal health services b...
Abstract/Overview Annually, 125.2 million pregnant women worldwide risk contracting malaria, including 30.3 million and 1.5 million in Sub-Saharan Africa and Kenya respectively. At least three doses of sulphadoxine pyrimethamine for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp-SP) is recommended for optimal benefit. Kenya recorded low IPTp-SP optimal uptake in 2015. This study investigated the prevalence of and factors influencing IPTp-SP optimal uptake in Sabatia Sub C...
Abstract/Overview HIV-1 genetic diversity results into the development of widespread drug-resistant mutations (DRMs) for the first-line retroviral therapy. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated the relationship between DRMs and HIV-1 subtypes among HIV-positive injecting drug users (IDUs). This study therefore determined the association between HIV-1 genotypes and DRMs among the 200 IDUs. Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database was used to interpret DRMs. The five HIV-1 genotypes circ...
Abstract/Overview One-third of people with pre-diabetic condition progress to type 2 diabetes within five years. However, with adequate knowledge on diabetes risk reduction behaviors, progression to diabetes can be controlled. We therefore recruited 220 suspected cases of pre-diabetic patients at Busia County Referral Hospital assessed their knowledge, and adaption of risk reduction behavior. A cross-sectional study design and a systematic sampling approach were used. The findings show th...
Abstract/Overview Preconception care involves the provision of health interventions to women and couples before conception and aims at improving their health status, reducing behaviors, individual and environmental factors that contribute to poor maternal and child health outcomes. It has potential to further reduce global maternal and child mortality and morbidity, especially in low-income countries where the highest burden of pregnancy-related deaths and disability occurs. Most often, p...
Abstract/Overview Preconception care involves the provision of health interventions to women and couples before conception and aims at improving their health status, reducing behaviors, individual and environmental factors that contribute to poor maternal and child health outcomes. It has potential to further reduce global maternal and child mortality and morbidity, especially in low-income countries where the highest burden of pregnancy-related deaths and disability occurs. Most often, p...
Abstract Background: Malaria is the leading cause of mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Objective: The study assessed the effect of socio-economic factors on high malaria prevalence in a peri-urban setting in Vihiga County, Western Kenya highlands aimed at strengthening implementation of cost-effective malaria control strategies at household level. Method: A longitudinal study was carried out in the study area from December 2019 to November 2020. From patients who presented themselves at Mba...
Abstract/Overview Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is an important health outcome in the holistic management of patients especially those suffering from life limiting conditions such as cervical cancer. In Kenya, Cervical cancer is the most frequent cancer among women. However, little is known and documented on HRQoL of cervical cancer patients. This study assessed HRQoL of cervical cancer patients in western Kenya. A cross-sectional study involving 334 cervical cancer patients was ...
Abstract/Overview In Kenya, no studies have attempted to model alternative scenarios of the cost-implications of reaching universal coverage (i.e. 95% population coverage) of the existing maternity health services network at the ward administrative level. A cross-sectional study design used publicly available geospatial data in combination with routine data from the web-based district health information software (DHIS2) platform. AccessMod (version 5) was used for scaling up analysis. Arc...
Abstract/Overview Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant cancer of the liver and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has not been known to have a direct causal relationship with HCC despite independently causing inflammation of the liver. However, little is known on risk factors for HCC patients in an HIV endemic area. The objective of this study was to ascertain the risk factors of HCC and its association with HIV i...
Abstract/Overview Globally, breast cancer incidence is on the rise, especially in developing countries and it is the most diagnosed cancer among women in Kenya. For the prevention and treatment, knowledge on early detection and risk factors is very important, however this has not been assessed among women of reproductive age attending Longisa County Referral Hospital Bomet County, Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional hospital based design to assess the knowledge on early detection a...