Browsing by Author "Benjamin N. Joseph"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Comparative assessment of Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) for tuberculosis patients in a primary and a tertiary health centre in Nigeria
    (Journal of PHARMACY AND BIORESOURCES, 2015-03) Benjamin N. Joseph; Comfort N. Sariem; Dauda A. Dangiwa; Shalkur David; Sunday I. Joseph; Daniel Z. Egah
    Abstract Nasarawa State, Nigeria has HIV prevalence of 7.5%. This is capable of fueling and worsening the tuberculosis/HIV epidemic. This study compared TB treatment outcomes between a primary health care and a tertiary health center; it assessed the overlap between TB and HIV. A cross-sectional retrospective design was adopted. Data from the directly observed treatment register for 15 months was abstracted from both facilities. A total of 1678 TB patients files were assessed; the tertiary health center accounted for 33% of the TB population while the primary health care center represented two-thirds. Of the 75% of TB patients who had HIV testing, about 48% were HIV positive. Primary health care facility achieved statistically significant outcomes in cured (43%) representing 86.8% of cured outcome within program, p-value 0.000; treatment completed of 46.1% representing 60.4%, p-value 0.000; and had the least case of treatment default, 1.7% which accounted for 18%, p-value 0.000 while the tertiary health facility attained better outcomes in treatment failure and death rates p-value 0.013 and 0.033 respectively. With an overall successful treatment outcome of about 84%; the primary health care center recorded successful treatment outcome of 89% compared to tertiary health facility which achieved 73%. The overlap between TB and HIV was high. Comparatively, treatment outcomes were significantly better at primary health center.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Pharmacists’ knowledge and perceptions about herbal medicines: A case study of Jos and environs
    (Wolters Kluwer - Medknow, 2017) Nanloh S. Jimam; Benjamin N. Joseph; Dooshima C. Agba
    Background: Due to increased health consciousness among the public, the use of herbal products are on the increase on a daily basis. To achieve optimal benefits, there is a need for pharmacists who are the custodians of knowledge on drugs and drugs‑related products to have more understanding and interest in herbal medicine for effective counseling on the products. The purpose of this study was to assess Pharmacists’ knowledge and perceptions regarding herbal medicine use. Methods: Self‑administered questionnaires were administered to 200 pharmacists working within the study areas to fill; after which the collected data were statistically analyzed using IBM SPSS software programmer, version 20. Results: Only 88.5% of the respondents responded on the questionnaires, and their mean age was 34 years; median year of experience in practice was 8.2 years; and their areas of practice included hospital (56.1%), community (28.1%), academic (8.47%), and industries (4.52%). More than half (76.27%) of them believed that herbal products were more efficacious and safer (61.02%) than orthodox medicines; with almost all of them (94.92%) acknowledging the beneficial effects of incorporating herbal medicines into orthodox medicine practice. However, most of them (72.88%) confessed having little knowledge on herbal remedies, especially drug‑herbs interactions (81.36%), and their main source of information on herbs was from school (56.50%). Conclusions: The result showed poor level of pharmacists’ knowledge on herbal medicine; which might result in poor patients’ counseling on herbal therapy, especially regarding their safety and potential interaction with orthodox medicine.