Journal of Health Education Research & Development

In the developing countries four-fifth of all the illnesses are caused by water-borne diseases with diarrhea leading to dehydration being the leading cause of childhood death. Cholera, typhoid fever and hepatitis A are caused by bacteria, and are among the most common diarrheal diseases. Other illnesses, such as dysentery, are caused by parasites that live in water contaminated by the feces of sick individuals. The most common manifestation and cause of mortality in water borne diseases were as result of dehydration due to loss of copious amounts of electrolytes either in vomiting or diarrhea. The research question for the study was: What knowledge do households in Bamendankwe village possess in the practice of the prevention of water-borne diseases and what measures are employed in the prevention of the occurrence of water-borne diseases?

The general objective was to assess the knowledge and practices of households in Bamendankwe village in the prevention of the occurrence of water-borne diseases; identify the problems encountered in its prevention and ascertain practical measures to be employed to resolve their occurrence. The specific objectives were: to assess the knowledge of households on the causes of water borne diseases; to determine the practical measures put in place to prevent the occurrence of water borne diseases; to identify the problems they face in the practice of the preventive measures against water borne diseases and to ascertain opinions of households on how to resolve difficulties/constraints in the implementation of preventive measures against water borne diseases.

The descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed for the study where-in primary data was collected at one point in time from inhabitants of Bamendankwe municipality in order to collect responses on their knowledge and practices in the prevention of waterborne diseases as well as the constraints encountered in the prevention of its occurrence. The target population for this study comprised of youths, men and women who have lived in this village within the past 6 months irrespective of their sex, religion, occupation, nationality and socio-economic status.

The descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed for the study where-in primary data was collected at one point in time from inhabitants of Bamendankwe municipality in order to collect responses on their knowledge and practices in the prevention of waterborne diseases as well as the constraints encountered in the prevention of its occurrence. The target population for this study comprised of youths, men and women who have lived in this village within the past 6 months irrespective of their sex, religion, occupation, nationality and socio-economic status.

They gave diverse responses as to the different types of waterborne diseases; with 18 (18%) out of the 60(60%) knew of typhoid, 15(25%) named cholera, 12(20%) talked of diarrhea, 10(17%) point out malaria and 5(8%) of the 60 knew of dysentery. Concerning the complications that ensue from waterborne pathologies, 40(33.3%) said severe dehydration can result as a complication of water borne diseases, 32 (26.6%), 40(33.3%) said death can result while 08 (6.6%) said it can result to hypovolemia.

Thirty-six (30%) of respondents both faced financial and educational constraints in the prevention of water diseases, 30(25%) said they lack time, and 18 (15%) said it was difficult due to lack of community water project. Diverse proposal were made to salvage the encountered problems; 20% proposed frequent hand-washing, 25% proposed keeping containers always clean, 22% proposed the construction of pipe-borne stand-pipes, 17% proposed health educational lectures on waterborne diseases while 6% wished filters be provided in homes.

From the data collected, and analysis made it be can be concluded that there exist knowledge deficit on the causes of water-borne diseases as well as the practical measures employed in the prevention of their occurrence as evidenced by the diverse responses gotten from them. Their understanding of the notions of hygiene and sanitation, the knowledge and practices on the prevention of water-borne diseases were not based on the level of education but on how much information they got via public health education concerning the causes and preventive measures of water-borne diseases.

For decades now maternal mortality has remained high especially in developing countries. Reasons for these deaths are many but mainly due to health system failures such as critical shortages of health work force and limited use of appropriate technologies in service rendering among others.

New innovations are produced to reduce maternal mortality. One such innovation is the use of a hand held portable ultrasound called Vscan. However, while the Vscan is simplified to suit different contexts, availability of experts to manage and conduct scanning in rural health facilities is limited. Training of the available non clinician and midlevel health providers is one of the available options.

We conducted a study to ascertain if midlevel health providers working in rural settings in Tanzania can be trained and provide ultrasound scanning services using the Vscan in routine antenatal clinics.

We used a mix of training methods including presentations, lectures, group discussions, demonstration and hands on sessions to conduct the study.

Results showed that, despite the technology being sophisticated, the uptake of knowledge by the trainees was strongly satisfactory. Using the pre and post-tests method, there was a significant change in knowledge of the trainees when comparing their basic knowledge on radiology, sonology and pregnancy related complication detection and diagnosis that they had before training and after training. On the other hand, no statistical significant difference was noted in knowledge uptake and translating the knowledge in practice between the different cadres of the midlevel providers involved in the training. The quality of scanning using the Vscan between the trainees and those of expert sonologists was 77% compatible.

The study concludes that, it is possible to train health providers to conduct routine scanning using Vscan at primary health facility level and produce quality scans and correct diagnosis similar to that of expert sonologist.

Anaphylaxis is a severe, life-threatening, systemic hypersensitivity reaction that usually occurs rapidly after contact with an allergy-inducing substance. Due to the underdiagnosing, underreporting and malpractice associated with this condition, anaphylaxis awareness projects are now becoming a priority in some communities. The diagnosis of anaphylaxis is clinical, and intramuscular adrenaline is well known as the first-line treatment of choice for its management. The majority of anaphylaxis deaths occur in a hospital. Therefore, it is important to render hospitals safe places for severe allergic reactions. A hospital anaphylaxis protocol is also mandatory for a better outcome as recommended by guidelines. Consequently, our protocol was planned with the contribution of different specialties, including allergy, emergency medicine, nursing, nutrition and pharmacy. General knowledge was tested among different departments by self-administered questionnaires, and specific education programs were utilized to improve the success of the protocol. The least correctly answered questions were about the rapidity of the occurrence of anaphylaxis, the route of adrenaline administration and the method of adrenaline auto injector (AAI) administration. However, after education, the level of knowledge increased dramatically among caregivers. We propose that conducting regular education programs for healthcare workers and that implementing appropriate hospital anaphylaxis protocols prepared with multidisciplinary collaborations should be mandatory for the prevention, recognition and treatment of severe allergic reactions.

Community Based Training is an on-site training program tailored to an employer’s specific hiring needs. The training takes place in the actual work area in the workplace, and a professionally trained job coach is located on-site to provide additional support in training. The study was conducted in Keble 05 Debre markos town found in Amhara region, East Gojjam Zone, which is located 299 km for away from Addis Ababa and 265 km away from Bihar Dar town. The Administration has 8 sefer the keble has 8551 population of these 4447 were female and 4104 male, its climate condition, woynadega and had 45 government and private health institution. The aim of the study was to assess the community health status and health related condition in Keble 05 Debre Markos town, East Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia, 2013.

Method: Community based cross sectional survey conducted from 25/08/2013-24/09/2013 by using interviewer administrative questioner and observation. The study conducted in urban population Keble 05 Debire markos town.

Result: The cross sectional descriptive study, 94% of house hold in the keble had latrine facility Among this 50% of house don’t have hand washing facility connected with latrine among women who were pregnant 100% were attained at least 1st ANC and 90 of them deliver in the health facility from breast feeding 18% of children stop breast feeding before the age of 6 month and early and late feeding also present in 9% of children.

Conclusion: Most of the house hold in the kebel had latrine constructed but most of them had no hand washing facility connected with latrine and low coverage of solid and liquid waste disposal system. There were also different problems like low immunization coverage’s, low family planning, utilization poor wining and exclusive breast feeding.

This paper analyzes the impact of initiatives toward raising awareness, refreshing and training by organizing and conducting forums and training courses aimed at health care professionals and community leaders who work in some cities of Rio de Janeiro (extending that initiative to a city in Minas Gerais). It addresses the topic of “neglected and reemerging diseases”, which has been previously deemed of interest to interlocutors involved in that proposal, especially representatives of municipal health secretariats and civil associations of a communal nature.

It should be noted that thematic contents and methodological and pedagogical strategies value objective communication that is easy to understand, without compromising scientific quality. Another aim was to expand scientific information as support to amplify communication with the government in order to help develop public policies, which translate as healthcare actions targeting neglected diseases.

Our conclusion is that it is vital for healthcare professionals, community leaders and government representatives to take part in such events in order to discuss and develop collective proposals based on qualified information about the identified themes as local health priorities to minimize the impact and progress of those diseases.