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Background: Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is a contagious bacterial infection of the lungs caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis, also known as tubercle bacilli. The symptoms of PTB can appear gradually and vary in severity. Malnutrition, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDs), age (young and old), diabetes mellitus, substance abuse, low socioeconomic status, malignancies, and or overcrowding are some of the common risk factors for PTB. According to the Zambia Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS, 2021), Zambia’s prevalence rate of PTB stood at 455 cases per 100,000 population. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended Direct Observation of Treatment (DOT) by a trained supervisor (WHO, 2019). However, implementing DOT in Zambia is challenging for both the patient and healthcare provider as it has been observed that a daily visit to a health facility for the first two months by PTB patients was very difficult for a range of reasons which included severe illness at the initiation of treatment, distance too far for walking, and high transportation costs. Objective: The study aimed at determining Factors Influencing Adherence to Pulmonary Tuberculosis Treatment among Adult PTB Patients at St Francis’ Hospital-Katete, Zambia. Methods and materials: Data was collected using a questionnaire and the study sample was one hundred (100) Adult PTB patients, who were selected by simple random sampling method. A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Conclusion: The study revealed a significant association between ‘level of information and knowledge, individual motivational support, behavioural skill’ and ‘Adult PTB patients’ adherence to PTB treatment’. Level of Information and knowledge (p-value 0.001), Individual .........

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Background: Annually, burns result in more than 7.1 million injuries and more than 250,000 deaths, with the vast majority being in low and middle income countries. In Zambia, at Kabwe Central Hospital, burn trauma is one of the commonest causes of trauma admissions in surgical wards. To mitigate the trend, Ministry of Health distributed infection prevention and control guidelines and emphasized on the need to manage all patients with burns in accordance with national guidelines. Main Objective: To assess the level of compliance with Burns treatment protocol by nurses at Kabwe Central Hospital. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study design was used in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain data from 60 nurses and 55 nurses observed using an observational checklist. Convenient sampling was used to recruit nurses for the study. Results: Findings showed that observed compliance to burns treatment protocol is very low and stood at 51%. This was despite high knowledge, good management support and positive attitudes expressed by the majority nurses. This can be attributed to rare availability of most medical surgical supplies at the institution. Conclusion and Recommendations: The findings suggests the need of the hospital to improve on the supply of resources to the burns units as most nurses reported resource inadequacy in the management of burns. There is also need of building an ideal burns unit.

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Dealing with a terminally-ill neonate has a significant emotional toll for both the parents and the entire family. The experience of creating memories with a terminally-ill neonate can be deeply emotional and challenging, but it can also be profoundly meaningful and comforting for both the family and the neonate. Memories may involve celebrations related to naming or milestone celebrations, parental involvement in neonatal care and spending quality time with the neonate as well as creating mementoes, capturing or videotaping moments. The creation of memories, despite the neonate’s limited lifespan, acknowledges its individuality and affirms its dignity and identity as a human being, whereas it creates a sense of unity during such difficult times. Specialized multidisciplinary teams, with advanced training and professional skills, and national initiatives are critical for families’ support to the grieving process and their guidance to emotional and ethical complexities associated with the caring of a terminally-ill neonate.

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The Public Statement by the African Intersex Movement, 2017 extends demands to end discrimination against persons born with intersex variations in Africa through legislative and other means. Comestic, irreversible and harmful medical and clinical procedures infants and children born with intersex variations have been subject to include unconsented and medically unnecessary surgeries, mutilation and sterilization that cause irreversible physical and psychological harm. I demonstrate, Tanzania a signatory to The Human Rights Charter is mandated to follow the same route to ensure persons born with intersex variations live and enjoy the right to quality and equitable health and healthcare available without discrimination. To date, however, it is unclear what measures Tanzanian government has taken to prohibit medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures on infants and children born with intersex variations. Similarly, no enacted law banning harmful medical and clinical variations on infants and children born with intersex variations in this country; suggesting violation of intersex rights is ongoing. Data presented in this paper come from desk research I conducted on intersexuality in Tanzania and beyond. I conclude awareness of intersex conditions is increasing among researchers, persons born with intersex variations, parents/guardians, activists and the media. This increase would come with increasing horror, which may stimulate legal reform. I recommend primary and specialized care providers, and the Tanzania government in particular, ought not to wait for this dishonor to surface — rather should act now to end cosmetic and harmful surgeries and protect vulnerable infants and children born with intersex variations in this country.

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Background: Caring for children with Autism spectrum disorder regarding their daily activities is challenging for parents. Aim: This study aimed to assess the effect of nursing intervention program for parents caring of children with autism regarding to their daily activities. Design: A quasi-experimental design used in the present study one group (pre\ posttest). Setting: The study was carried out in Children and Adolescent Psychiatric Outpatient Clinics in Suez Canal University Hospital (SCUH) & Outpatient Clinic for children psychiatric treatment at Abbasia Mental Health Hospital affiliated to General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction in Cairo governorate. Subjects: Study subjects included all available (50) parents have autistic children from the mentioned settings. Tool: A Structured Interview questionnaire included three parts; Part 1: Socio-demographic characteristics of parents, Part 2: Characteristics of the studied children with autism, Part 3: Assessment of parents’ knowledge & Part 4: Assessing the parents’ reported practice regarding to self-reliance during their children daily activities. Results: revealed that more than two thirds, (68%) of parents were mothers. More than two thirds (78%) of father's age was ranged from 30-50 years. More than two thirds (88%) of studied parents’ identification of autism, causes, predictors and symptoms of autism and management of autism post program implementation compared to preprogram Conclusion: there was a statistically significant improvement in total knowledge about autism of the parents caring of children with autism pre and post program implementation. Recommendations: Replication of the same study on larger probability sample at different geographical locations for data generalizability.

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Nurses and midwives’ primary focus is addressing the healthcare needs of patients/clients, their families, communities and populations at large. They often end up with burnout, and with no time nor the energy to take care of the mselves. Hence, their mental health is a growing problem that requires urgent action. This problem can be addressed through self-care. Self-care is an ongoing process of caring through making conscious, deliberate efforts to do things that maintain, improve and repair one’s mental, emotional, physical, socio-cultural, professional, spiritual, and financial wellness. Lack of self-care predisposes them to chronic health conditions which adversely affect patient care. In order to promote their mental health, nurses/midwives have an obligation to adopt self-care as a duty to themselves in addition to their duty to provide care to others. The objectives of this study were to determine barriers to self-care among nurses/midwives and propose self-care strategies/interventions that can be adopted to promote their mental health. A scoping review of literature was conducted through Google scholar according to the criteria and methodology by Arksey and O’Malley (2005). Only studies published in English language and in peer-reviewed journals between 2020 and 2023 were included. Out of 6,351 articles, only 26 fully met the inclusion criteria. The study concluded that the practice of self-care was low among nurses/midwives. Barriers to their undertaking self-care interventions/strategies included: guilt, lack of self-love, excess workload, under-estimating the value of self-care, lack of time, fatigue, having unrealistic expectations, not adjusting well to change, misconception that implementing self-care is a sign of weakness, poor remuneration and lack of motivation. Holistic and multi-faceted self-care strategies/interventions are recommended targeting the nurses/midwives’ physical, mental, emotional, socio-cultural, professional, spiritual, ......

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The Objectives of the Study: 1) Assess the knowledge regarding hook worm infestation among 6th class students and 4th class students. 2) Develop and administer the structured teaching program on knowledge of prevention of hook worm infestation among 6th class students. 3) Assess the knowledge regarding hook worm infestation among 4th class students taught by 6th class students in child-to-child program. 4) Compare the effectiveness of child-to-child programs and structured teaching programme about the prevention of hook worm infestation. 5) Associate the knowledge of school children with selected demographic variables. The study adopted the pre-experimental two group pre-test and posttest design with structured teaching programme on knowledge of prevention of worm infestations through Child-to-child program. The study was conducted on population consists of the school children who are studying 6th and 4th class in school, rangareddy dist. The sample size consists of 100 school children aged from 8 -12 years. The sample was selected through convenient sampling technique. The structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from school children; the instrument/tool was given for content validity to the experts in the field of nursing, community medicine, English, and Telugu. The reliability of tool was tested by test and retest method. The correlation co-efficient was calculated by using Karl Pearson formula and value of r= 0.9608 is of 6th class students and the 0.982 is of 4th class students was obtained. A pilot study was conducted on 6 subjects, and it was found that the tool was feasible, appropriate, and practicable. Pretest and structured teaching programme with help of lesson plan and A.V aids was conducted on the for the 6th class students. selected in the ratio of 1:5. One 6th class student was selected for five 4th class students. The investigator conducted a pre-test using structured questionnaire to 4th class students. After pretests, ...............

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Background: Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, it is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways characterized by recurrent reversible airway obstruction leads to airway hyper reactivity, which causes the airways to narrow. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of an educational intervention program on improving self-care practices of asthmatic children. A quasi experimental study was utilized. The study was conducted at pediatric Emergency Department and pediatric Outpatient Clinic at Suez Canal University Hospitals. The study subject included purposive sample of school aged children (40) with their accompanying mothers. Two tools were used; A structured interview questionnaire sheet, and observational checklists to assess children's knowledge and self-care practices regarding bronchial asthma. Results: Regarding knowledge and self-care practices of the studied children about bronchial asthma, the results showed that all children had unsatisfied knowledge and self-care practices pre-test that improved at post and follow up intervention phase where most of them had either satisfied level or partial satisfied level. The study concluded that implementation of the educational intervention program improved knowledge of the studied children about bronchial asthma, enhanced self-care practices, reduced frequency of asthmatic attack and reduced school absence days. The study recommended continuous educational intervention program based on actual need assessment for improving self-care practices of asthmatic children.

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Work-related stress is reportedly a very common issue among nurses in health care. This study was aimed at assessing the level of work-related stress among nurses in University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. Objectives were to: assess the level of work-related stress, compare the level of work-related stress among nurses across units/wards and assess for availability of stress reduction support systems. Cross sectional descriptive survey design was adopted with a sample size of 288 nurses. A self-structured questionnaire was used to collect data and data was analyzed using frequencies and percentages with the aid of SPSS version 23 and difference between variables was tested using T test. Majority (86.3%) of the nurses experienced severe stress, all respondents (100%) lacked support systems, and there was significant difference in the stress level between the units/wards. It was suggested, therefore, that a special reward/recognition should be introduced to nurses who were dedicated to their work, and more nurses employed to share the work burden, with occupational health services provided in the study center.

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Introduction: Sexually transmitted infections among the youth are of paramount concern to all people who work on improving the health status of populations worldwide as the highest reported rates of sexually transmitted infections are found among the people between 15-24 years of age which predispose them to infertility, general ill-health, pelvic inflammatory diseases in women, three-fold HIV transmission with mother-to-child sexually transmitted infections resulting in still births, neonatal deaths, prematurity, sepsis, pneumonia, congenital deformities and other morbidities. Therefore the study aimed to assess the factors associated with increased number of sexually transmitted cases in the youth of Serenje Urban District, Zambia. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 138 youth of Serenje urban district selected using simple random sampling technique. The data were collected using a structured, pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire. Chi square and multivariate logistical regression analyses were employed through SPSS version 22 to assess and identify factors associated with increased sexually transmitted cases in the youth of Serenje urban district. Odds Ratio with a 95% confidence interval was computed to determine the level of association. In the multivariate analysis, variables with p-value less than 5% were considered as statistically associated, association between covariates and sexually transmitted infections. Results: The prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among the youth of Serenje Urban District was found to be 55%. About 47.8% of the respondents had high knowledge levels on STIs, 60% had multiple sexual partners, 34.8% used condom during the last intercourse, 27.5% experienced sexual coercion and 24.5% utilized youth friendly services. Most (43.5%) respondents in this study had poor practices towards STI prevention. Service related such as lack of consumable for STI treatment (92%) and erratic supply ........