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The global pandemic of the coronavirus has resulted in a disruption in life as we know it, with massive effects on tourism, the healthcare system, and the global economy at large. Many countries, initiated measures to curtail the spread of the virus with non-pharmaceutical interventions such as lockdown, quarantine, social distancing, and movement restrictions. These measures while preventing the spread of the virus may have triggered another pandemic, albeit a silent one. This article reviews the burden of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence in Nigeria highlighting the factors that may have interplayed with the lockdown to worsen the situation in Nigeria. This article also focuses on measures to strengthen medical, legal, and supportive responses to survivors.

ObjectivesNigeria has been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the poor testing coverage in the country may make controlling the spread of COVID-19 challenging. The aim of this study was to assess the general public’s acceptability of SARS-CoV-2 self-testing as an approach which could help to address this gap.SettingA household-based survey was conducted in five urban and five rural local government areas in the states of Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Kaduna and Lagos, in mid-2021.Participants2126 respondents (969 were female) participated. A five-pronged, probabilistic sampling approach was used to recruit individuals older than 17 years and available to participate when randomly approached in their households by the surveyors. A 35-item questionnaire was used to collect data on their values towards SARS-CoV-2 self-testing. Primary outcomes were: likelihood to use a self-test; willingness to pay for a self-test; and likely actions following a reactive self-test result.ResultsOf the total 2126 respondents, 14 (0.66%) were aware of COVID-19 self-testing, 1738 (81.80%) agreed with the idea of people being able to self-test for COVID-19, 1786 (84.05%) were likely/very likely to use self-tests if available, 1931 (90.87%) would report a positive result and 1875 (88.28%) would isolate if they self-tested positive. Factors significantly associated with the use of a self-test were having a college education or higher (adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR): 1.55; 95% CI: 1.03 to 2.33), full-time employment (AOR: 1.67; 95% CI: 1.06 to 2.63), feeling at moderate/high risk of COVID-19 (AOR: 2.43; 95% CI: 1.70 to 3.47) and presence of individuals at risk of COVID-19 within the household (AOR: 1.38; 95% CI: 1.06 to 1.78).ConclusionA majority of Nigerians agree with the concept of COVID-19 self-testing and would act to protect public health on self-testing positive. Self-test implementation research is necessary to frame how acceptability impacts uptake of preventive behaviours following a positive and a negative self-test result.

UNSTRUCTURED Objectives: To assess the reported presence of oral lesions in COVID-19-infected young adults and the difference between smokers and non-smokers in this association. Methods: This cross-sectional multi-country study recruited 18-to-23 year-old adults using an electronic validated questionnaire assessing COVID-19-infection, smoking and the presence of oral lesions/conditions (dry mouth, change in taste, and others). Multi-level logistic regression assessed the association between oral lesions and COVID-19 infection, and how smoking modified the associations between COVID-19 and oral lesions/conditions. Results: Data was available from 5342 respondents from 43 countries. Of these, 8.1% reported COVID-19-infection, 42.7% had oral lesions and 12.3% were smokers. A significantly greater percentage of COVID-19-infected participants reported dry mouth and change in taste than non-infected persons. Smokers had significantly higher odds of stained teeth with COVID-19 infection than non-smokers (AOR: 1.24 and 1.00; p=0.02). The association between COVID-19-infection and dry mouth was stronger among smokers than non-smokers (AOR=1.26 and 1.03, p=0.09) while the association with change in taste was stronger among non-smokers (AOR=1.22 and 1.13, p= 0.86). Conclusion: Dry mouth and changed taste were associated with COVID-19-infection and may be used to screen for COVID-19 in low COVID-19-testing environments. Smoking may modify the association between some oral lesions and COVID-19-infection.

Additional file 1. Appendix 1. Indicators and definitions of multidimensional and monetary poverty used in the study. Appendix 2: List of countries included in the study.

Background: To determine the relationship between country-level prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC), malnutrition and anemia in infants and preschool children. Methods: Matched country level ECC, malnutrition and anemia prevalence information were generated from databases covering the period from 2000 to 2017. Multivariate general linear models were developed to assess the relationship between outcome variables (prevalence of stunting, wasting, overweight, and anemia) and the explanatory variable (ECC prevalence) adjusted for Gross National Income per capita. Adjusted regression coefficients (B) and partial eta squared were computed. Results: The mean (standard deviation (SD)) ECC prevalence for 0-2 year-olds was 23.8 (14.8)% and 57.3 (22.4)% for 3-5 year-olds. The mean (SD) prevalence of wasting was 6.3 (4.8)%, overweight was 7.2 (4.9)%, stunting was 24.3 (13.5)%, and anemia was 37.8 (18.1)%. For 0-2-year-olds, the strongest and only significant association observed was between the prevalence of ECC and overweight (η2= 0.21): one percent higher ECC prevalence was associated with 0.12% higher prevalence of overweight (B= 0.12, P= 0.03). In 3-5-year-olds, the strongest and only significant association was observed between the prevalence of ECC and anemia (η2= 0.08): one percent higher prevalence of ECC was associated with 0.14% lower prevalence of anemia (B= -0.14, P= 0.048). Conclusion: Age-related disparities in the relationship between country-level prevalence of ECC, malnutrition and anemia were observed. The relationship between ECC and overweight may be due to intake of sugars. The relationship between ECC and anemia needs further investigations.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to identify reasons for protocol deviations during conduct of large epidemiological surveys despite training of field workers, validating clinicians, and providing field supervisory support. Enquiries focused on breaches of recruitment procedures, privacy, confidentiality, and informed consent. The case study was a household survey conducted in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Results: The study reveals that despite training of field workers, providing supervisory support, and conducting validation exercises, protocol deviation still occurred. Measures to improve internal research validity during the conduct of surveys can minimise but not eliminate protocol deviations. Individual and environmental factors increase the risk for protocol deviation. Individual factors include personal bias against adherence to elements of the protocols, and pressure to meet personal recruitment targets to maximise remuneration. These pressures increase the risk of breaching study participants’ recruitment process. Environmental pressures resulted from low research literacy that made it possible for field workers not to consent participants and for participants not to prioritise privacy. The use of electronic data collection enhanced data security. A key recommendation from the study was that improved field supervision will reduce the risk for protocol violation.

Objectives The aim of the study was to identify reasons for protocol deviations during conduct of large epidemiological surveys despite conducting trainings, validating clinicians and providing field supervisory support. Enquiries focused on breeches with recruitment procedures, privacy, confidentiality and obtaining informed consent. The case study was a household survey conducted in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Results The study highlights that inspite of adequate training of field workers, providing supervisory support and conducting validation exercises, protocol deviation still occur. Measures to improve internal research validity during the conduct of surveys can minimise but not eliminate protocol deviations. Individual related factors increase the risk for protocol deviation when faced with environmental factors that promotes such breech. Individual factors that increases the risk for breeching research protocols include personal bias against adherence to elements of the protocols, and pressure to meet personal recruitment targets to maximise remunerations. These pressures increase the risk of breeching study participants’ recruitment process. Environmental pressures that promote protocol deviations include low research literacy that makes study participants take issues of non-consenting and privacy lightly. The use of electronic data collection methods enhances data security. Participants consistently recommended improved field supervision to reduce the risk for protocol violation.

Additional file 1. Questionnaire for data collection for the primary study. This is the comprehensive study data collection instrument used to generate the data for this study. This study is a subset of a larger primary study that determined the association between caries and oral habits in children 12 years and below.

Additional file 1: Data S1. Transcript of interview and focus group discussions conducted with field workers involved with the household survey.

Individual interview schedule for children aged 0â 12Â years and their legal guardians. This is the comprehensive questionnaire used for the collection of data for the study. Sections 1, 3, 18 and 19 used to generate the data for this study, are accessible in the questionnaire. (DOC 1091Â kb)

Objective. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between maternal related factors and the dental health status of pre-school children in Lagos State, Nigeria. Methods. A cross-sectional study of 404 pairs of mothers and their pre-school children was conducted at two selected primary health centres in Lagos State Nigeria. An interviewer administered questionnaire recorded the mother’s socio-demographic characteristics and assessed her perception of her child’s dental needs, attitude to oral disease prevention, level of dental health knowledge and attitude to oral health. The child’s dental status was assessed using the dft index (caries status) and the simplified oral hygiene index. Data analysis tools included Spearman’s correlation coefficient and multivariate logistic regression. Results. Maternal age, maternal education, location of residence, maternal knowledge, and attitudes were all positively correlated with the child’s caries and oral hygiene status. There were statistically significant correlations between maternal attitude and the oral hygiene index (P = 0.01) and dft score (P = 0.001). Maternal age also had a significant relationship with the child’s caries status (P = 0.003). Conclusion. This study concluded that maternal age and attitude were important determinants of caries experience whereas the mother’s attitude was an important determinant of oral cleanliness in pre-school children in Lagos State Nigeria.

Additional file 1. Ethical considerations and community engagement when conducting clinical trials during an infectious disease emergency in West Africa. A collation of the consensus report during the phase 1 to IV consultative process. The document had been arranged into themes and sub-themes that emerged from all the iterations. Also, outstanding questions generated during the process were collated.

Additional file 1. Ethical considerations and community engagement when conducting clinical trials during an infectious disease emergency in West Africa. A collation of the consensus report during the phase 1 to IV consultative process. The document had been arranged into themes and sub-themes that emerged from all the iterations. Also, outstanding questions generated during the process were collated.

Dental anxiety has long been identified as a factor that affects the effective provision and acceptance of dental treatments by patients. For children, this becomes a handicap especially when they have not developed an ability to cope with the problem. This paper reviews factors that have been identified as aetiological factors for dental anxiety in children. Also a note has been made on a possible concomitant factor to other identified aetiological factors in Nigerian children though there is the need for more studies in the country on this subject. An understanding of the various aetiological factors in dental anxiety would help in the child-patient management with there being the possibility of a multidisciplinary approach to this multidimensional problem.