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Objective: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the prevalence, infection intensity and associated risk factors of intestinal schistosomiasis among primary school children in Lira district, Uganda. The study was conducted among 532 primary school pupils aged 6-16 years from eight randomly selected primary schools (March-May 2017). Stool samples were collected and examined for schistosomiasis using Odongo-Aginya method. Data on socio-demographic characteristics and risk factors were obtained using questionnaires. Results: The overall prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni was 35.7% indicating a moderate infection. Both males and females were equally affected with S. mansoni . Ogur sub county had highest prevalence (42.1%) than others. Akangi and Akano primary schools both had highest (21.1%) prevalence compared to the others. Individuals aged 14-16 and 10-14 years had heavy infections (mean epg) of 600 and 565 eggs, respectively than those aged 6-9 years. With regard to risk factors, source of drinking water, sub-county location and primary school were associated with infection. Participants who fetch water from spring (85,44.7%) had higher infection than those who fetch from other sources. The study recommends provision of safe water, periodic treatment of school-aged children with praziquantel and public health education to reduce prevalence of S. mansoni .

Objective World Health Organisation recommends Kato-Katz technique for quantitative diagnosis of Schistosoma mansoni and other soil transmitted intestinal parasites in field research. However, for better visibility especially in hard stool specimens, the prepared slides in Kato-Katz technique are mostly examined after 1-2 hours. This longer clearing time over clear the eggs of parasites with thin cell walls in glycerine and morphology of the eggs are not often preserved in Kato-Katz method. These disadvantages are overcome using Odongo-Aginya method as illustrated by parasite eggs in the results. Result The Odongo-Aginya method uses compound stains of 7.5% nigrosin in 10% formalin and 0.5% eosin yellow in 10% formalin mixed 1:1 ratio. A drop of 50µl of the compound stain is added on 41.7mg of stool and stirred. This method illustrated the morphological appearance of S. mansoni and other soil transmitted intestinal parasites clearly when prepared and six weeks after preparation. The prepared slides maintained the morphological appearance including the eggs of hookworm after being kept in cool dry place for a long time. This method is reliable, reproducible, cost effective, easy to learn, quick and safe because of the base formalin, especially when handling specimens from Human Immunodeficiency virus infected patients.

Background: Teenage marriage eventually lead to teenage pregnancy with all it associated adverse consequences. Moreover, teenagers are less likely to utilize antenatal care and as well exhibit sub-optimal neonatal care compared to adult women. Thus, the need to report on teenage marriage in order to inform policy makers to provide necessary teenage sexual reproductive health services with relevant policies especially in post-conflict settings like Northern Uganda. Objectives: To describe prevalence and determinants of teenage marriage in post-conflict Northern Uganda. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data was collected from 424 females of reproductive age using pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires. Univariate and bivariate analyses were carried out using SPSS 16.0. Results: Mean age of study participants was 27 years. Majority of participants (79.0%) and their husbands (67.2%) were peasant farmers. Majority of participants were married (85.8%) with about one-fifth (18.1%) of the participants pregnant at the time of interview. Among the married participants, majority of the participants (65.1%) and their husbands (64.2%) had only primary education. Majority (86.3%) of the married women first got married as teenagers. Mean age at first marriage was 17 years. Women in this population generally got married at early ages. Women who got married at younger ages were lowly educated and generally never had formal paid employments. Likewise, women who got married at younger ages were generally married to lowly educated men with no formal employments. In contrast, women who married later in life had better education and married men with better education level and above all such couples tend to engage in formal paid employments. In addition, women who got married at older ages had less number of live births and desired to give birth to less children than women who got married at younger ages. Conclusions: Women in post-conflict Northern Uganda are experiencing high level of teenage marriage. This put them at risk of not attaining necessary education and employable skills hence poverty. This calls for targeted interventions from both government and development partners in order to reverse the current trend in teenage marriage due to inequality in formal education and other social amenities and thus save the girl child from poverty.