Context: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are known as chronic diseases which are of long duration and progress slowly. There has been increasing evidence of NCDs amongst university students, youths and adolescents. Aims: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, perception and exposure to the risk factors for NCDs amongst students of the University of Lagos. Settings and Design: This was a cross-sectional study carried out amongst non-medical Undergraduates of the University of Lagos. Materials and Methods: About 413 respondents were recruited into the study using multi-stage sampling. A Google link containing a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was shared amongst respondents to obtain data from them. Statistical Analysis Used: SPSS version 27 was used to analyse the data. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 22.8 ± 2.1 years with a proportion of females-to-males at almost 1:1. The majority (73.1%) of the respondents had good knowledge of NCDs and almost two-thirds (64.4%) of the respondents had a right perception of the risk factors of NCDs, respectively. More than two-thirds of the respondents (67.2%) were exposed to at least one risk factor of NCDs. Variables that are statistically significantly associated with exposure to the risk factors of NCDs are gender (P = 0.000), employment status (P = 0.000), religion (P = 0.013), income (P = 0.000), knowledge of NCDs (P = 0.002) and perception of NCDs (P = 0.000). Conclusions: This study has shown that while the level of knowledge of NCDs is satisfactory amongst the undergraduates, many of the respondents engaged in one or more risk factors that could lead to the development of NCDs.

Background: This study aimed to determine the distribution and needle sharing among people who inject drugs (PWIDs) in four Nigerian prioritised states. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Abuja, Nasarawa, Anambra and Gombe. The hotspots of PWIDs were identified through informant interviews in hotels, clubhouses, and bars and eight focus group discussion was conducted among the PWIDs in each state to determine reasons for injecting drugs and syringe sharing. Data obtained were analysed using IBM-SPSS version 25 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY) and Microsoft Excel 2019. Results: Most PWIDs were found in Gombe (40.5%) and Nasarawa (39.8%) states. They were mainly found in streets/public places (47.6%), bar/nightclubs (12.5%), trailer parks (4.8%) and brothels (3.8%). In Anambra and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), most hotspots had between 1 and 10 PWIDs (54.8% and 53.1%, respectively). About 53.5% of Gombe hotspots had 11–20 PWIDs. In Nasarawa state, most hotspots had 1–10 or 11-20 PWIDs. Conclusion: It is recommended that the government and other stakeholders develop and support intervention programmes to increase human immunodeficiency virus risk awareness among PWIDs further and alleviate the suffering of the people due to insurgency.

Background: For persons who desire to screen themselves for HIV, self-testing for HIV, which involves performing, reading and interpreting their own HIV test, is convenient and confidential. This study aimed to evaluate the performance characteristics of the OraQuick HIV 1/2 self-test and establish the ease of using the HIV self-test kit by persons seeking HIV testing. Methodology: This evaluation was a cross-sectional field-based performance characteristic study with a sample size of 1008. Specimens were taken from the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. These specimens were then characterised and utilised to evaluate the test kit at a reference laboratory. The data were analysed using IBM-SPSS version 25.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY). The sensitivity and specificity (with 95% confidence interval) of the test were determined. Results: The OraQuick HIV 1/2 self-test had a sensitivity of 98.39%, specificity of 98.42% and accuracy of 97.6%. All the participants (100%) said that the test kit was reasonable, liked the packaging and said that it was easy to read. Almost all respondents (99.9%) said that they would recommend it to others, and 99.8% said that the kit was easy to dispose of and easy to learn. Almost all said that the test was easy to perform, while 99.1% said that the device was comfortable. Conclusion: This evaluation has shown good performance in the testing result, but it has also demonstrated good acceptability of the OraQuick test device by the public members who used the device. This development would also contribute to actualising the sustainable development goal of eradicating HIV by 2030.

Objective: The aim of the study was to identify the perspectives of community advocates working in Africa about meaningful and ethical stakeholder engagement with biomedical HIV prevention trials; and their role in facilitating this engagement. Materials and Methods: An open-ended questionnaire was administered through an online survey made accessible through listservs and community liaison officers devoted to biomedical HIV prevention research advocacy. The survey included five questions that explored respondents' perspectives about meaningful and ethical stakeholder engagement in clinical trials, and the roles of advocates in facilitating this engagement. Analysis of the 32 transcripts consisted of structural coding of transcripts, summary of responses, identification, description of emerging themes and quotes reflecting the themes corresponding to interview questions. Results: Meaningful and ethical community engagement was majorly conceptualised as the involvement of stakeholders throughout the research life-cycle: Planning, design and implementation of clinical trials; and providing community-wide information about trial progress and results. Identified advocates roles include advocacy for ethical standards of practice, facilitating community research literacy and community inputs into research protocols, empowering community members to engage with researchers, and monitoring research practices. Conclusion: Advocates self-identified their perspectives on and roles in meaningful and ethical engagement with research conducted in Africa. Some of these roles have not been articulated in community engagement guidance documents like the UNAIDS/AVAC Good Participatory Practice guidelines.

Background: Improving the nutritional status of schoolchildren is one of the aims of home-grown school feeding programme (HGSFP) which has been implemented in some schools in Nigeria Objective: The study assessed the prevalence of stunting, wasting and overweight amongst home-grown school-fed (HGSF) and non-HGSF (N-HGSF) elementary school children; identified the gender differences in the nutritional status of HGSF and N-HGSF children and compared the nutritional indices of HGSF children and N-HGSF children at baseline, 3 months and 6 months. Methods: The study employed a longitudinal design and was conducted in South-west Nigeria amongst 500 elementary school children aged 5–7 years. The height and weight of each child were measured longitudinally at three waves (baseline, 3 months and 6 months). The data were analysed using the WHO AnthroPlus software and SPSS version 20. Statistical differences were determined using the repeated measures analysis of variance and paired-wise t-test. Results: The mean age of the children was 5.6 ± 0.67 and 6.2 ± 0.77 for the HGSF and N-HGSF groups, respectively. At baseline, there were more stunted children in the N-HGSF children (44.4%) than the HGSF children (22%), but wasting (12%) and underweight (23.2%) were higher in the HGSF children. Furthermore, more males in the N-HGSF children were wasted (9.9%) and stunted (51.1%) compared to their female counterparts. However, there were no observable percentage sex differences amongst the children in the HGSF group, except that there were more females (12.8%) who were wasted compared to their male counterparts (11.3%). The findings for the wasting indicator revealed no statistically significant relationship between the HGSFP and wasting (P = 0.30, F = 1.075, η2=0.002). The findings showed a statistically significant relationship between HGSFPs and reduction in underweight (P = 0.001, F = 23.847, η2 = 0.046) and stunting (P = 0.04, F = 4.083, η2 = 0.008). Furthermore, the impact of feeding was observed in the HGSF children of both genders as there was an improvement in the nutritional status of both male and female children at 6 months. Conclusion: There was an improvement in the nutritional status of the children in the HGSF group compared to the N-HGSF children at both 3 and 6 months. A significant improvement in underweight and stunting was observed at 6 months than at 3 months.