Research News

Study title: Factors Contributing to Emotional Distress among Postpartum Mothers with Newborns at Newborn Unit Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya 

Background: The expectation of a woman during pregnancy is to have a healthy live bay with no complications. Admission of a newborn baby to the newborn unit is distressing to the parents, more so in cases where there is little or no support from the health care team and other players.

Management in hospitals just like any other organization is very important as nothing moves without it. Kenyan public hospitals have not been doing well in their service delivery and the management’s role in hospital performance has not been evident.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus type-1 (HIV-1) establishes a latent viral reservoir soon after infection, which poses a major challenge for drug treatment and curative strategies. Many efforts are therefore focused on blocking infection. To this end, both viral and host factors relevant to the onset of infection need to be considered. Given that HIV-1 is most often transmitted mucosally, strategies designed to protect against infection need to be effective at mucosal portals of entry.

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic has raised important universal public health challenges. Conceiving ethical responses to these challenges is a public health imperative but must take context into account. This is particularly important in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). In this paper, we examine how some of the ethical recommendations offered so far in high‐income countries might appear from a SSA perspective.

The University of Nairobi (UoN) has partnered with the Washington State University (WSU) in a bid to strengthen research and study on infectious diseases such as the Rift Valley fever and Covid-19.

These diseases, medically termed as zoonotic diseases, are transmitted from animals to humans. They have devastated populations all around the world, having far worse effects on humans than animals.

Scholars from the University of Nairobi conducted research on Zika virus in Kenya.

The study titled: Seroprevalence of Zika virus in selected regions in Kenya was conducted by Bramuel Kisuyaa, Moses M. Masika, Esto Bahizirea, and Julius O. Oyugi.

Recent findings indicate that the reasons as to why there is a surge in numbers of gout and hyperuricemia in Africa include the adoption of western lifestyle, higher socio-economic status, male sex and excess alcohol consumption.

It is outlined further that the contributions are from the rising number of lifestyle diseases such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes.

A study carried out in 2016 and its findings published in 2019 indicates that maternal mortality after caesarean delivery in Africa is 50 times higher than that of high-income countries.

According to the findings, the deaths are caused by peripartum haemorrhage and anaesthesia complications.

The findings also show that neonatal mortality is double the global average.

Employed mothers in Kenya are not able to exclusively breastfeed their new born babies for the required 6 months period.

Study carried out between 2008 and 2012 reveals the top 5 cancers at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH).

Findings from a HIV mortuary surveillance study that was carried out in 2015 and published in 2019 reveal HIV-related deaths in Nairobi.

The researchers from the University of Nairobi College of Health Sciences and other institutions sought to describe HIV among deaths using a novel mortuary-based approach in Nairobi.

Did you get a chance to visit the 5th Nairobi Innovation Week (NIW) Exhibition? If not, then you missed one of the greatest stages put up to showcase innovations in the country. The Innovation Exhibition was the hub around which the numerous events constituting the Nairobi Innovation Week 2019 revolved.

In what is expected to be one of the biggest research events in the country, the Second Edition of the University of Nairobi Research Week shall be held from October 22-25, 2019. The Research Week shall feature a series of conferences, workshops and seminars across a broad array of disciplines. The event has 13 confirmed conferences and 2 seminars.