Knowledge, Attitude, Practice and Stigma Related to COVID-19: A Nigerian Perspective

Pandemics have claimed an estimated 414 million lives from 165 AD to present, with COVID-19 pandemic killing close to 2 million people. The best counter for pandemics has been the use of vaccines, but before it is widely available, the best strategy is to avoid being infected. COVID-19 pandemic was met by behaviours and attitudes ranging from unbelief to fear of dying and stigmatisation of those who have contracted the virus or recovered from the disease. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, practices (KAP), fear and stigma of the populace towards COVID-19 from state to state. This research was a cross-sectional study carried out from April to October 2020. Data was obtained through a structured questionnaire distributed to 650 individuals. Respondents who participated were 591 (males n= 335 and females n= 256) and aged 18-60 years (mean age 30.25 ± 10.45 years, range 18-60) drawn from five states in the north-central region of Nigeria. The results show that 98.3% of participants believe that COVID-19 disease exists. Still, not everyone wears face masks, avoid crowded places, practice social distancing or follow the WHO-hand-washing technique as measures to curb the spread of the disease. Only 60.5% of the participants believe that lockdown is an effective measure to reduce transmission risk. 55.6% will stigmatise those who just recovered from the disease, 75.3% are afraid to visit high-risk areas as part of the protective measures, but only about 12% believe that every infected person will die. More males (28.3%) than females (17.6%) believe that taking herbs can cure the disease (P<0.01). All government and nongovernmental organizations must develop more awareness programs to win the battle against COVID-19 disease as the second wave is emerging.

Prevalence of Premenstrual Syndrome and Changes in Blood Pressure with Menstrual Cycle Among University Students

We aimed to investigate prospectively the prevalence of premenstrual symptoms (PSM), changes in bloodpressure with menstrual cycles and to investigate the relative severity of each symptoms and to cluster these symptoms intofactors, and the relative contributions of each factor in a sample of undergraduate students of Ahmadu Bello University,Zaria and Bingham University, Karu. A total of 370 female undergraduate students reported on the severity of 23 PMS in afull cycle. Their blood pressures (BP) were measured during follicular and luteal phases. Paired sample student t-test wasused to investigate difference in mean of blood pressures based on menstrual phases. We fitted PCA to cluster the symptoms.Backache, wish to be alone, joint or muscle pain, fatigue, and pain in the thigh were the five most frequently reportedsymptoms. About 89% of the participants reported experiencing at least one symptom during each cycle. Mean arterial bloodpressure, systolic, and diastolic blood pressures were significantly (P <0.001) higher at the luteal phase than at the follicularphase while, pulse rate was significantly higher (P <0.001) at the follicular phase than the luteal phase. The 23 symptomswere reduced into four clusters; affective, physical, somatic, and GIT/physical symptoms. In conclusion, our findings indicatea high prevalence of PMS with majority indicating that the symptoms as mild to severe. Blood pressure significantlyincreased at luteal phase than follicular phase. The 23 symptoms were reduced into four clusters.