The determinants of disease — Risk cell areas in Ibadan City

The diseases that most affect the inhabitants of Ibadan are malaria, pneumonia, tuberculosis, chickenpox, measles, malnutrition, anaemia, eye disease and hypertension. Viral-parasitic diseases occur widely in the modern section of the city, while in the older districts diseases which stem from ignorance and poverty predominate. The most vulnerable age-groups are 0–9 and 20–49 years, with the older districts recording the highest proportions of sick children. Those in the low-income groups and the muslims suffer most from the diseases which are associated with ignorance and poverty. Socio-economic factors such as age-group, occupation, religion, and population and accomodation densities are significant in determining intra-city variations in sickness levels. However, the precise role of these factors is difficult to establish since major variations in access to and use of modern medical facilities occur between the modern and older sections of the city.     

Women's status, environmental changes and child health in the riverine area of Ondo State, Nigeria

The viewpoint that most health problems are environmentally related has always been promoted by medical geography. In recent times, concern about environmental degradation has been of high priority for many national and international organizations as ‘we human beings become a threat to our planet’. There is also a need to specifically focus attention on the impact of so-called development efforts on the health of women and children, in particular those living in highly marginalized regions which often contribute substantially to the overall development of their countries. This paper uses the concept of vulnerability as a departure point from which to map the health risks to children in Igbekun area of Ondo State, the ‘transgressive muddy’ oil-rich coastal area of Nigeria. The paper attempts to highlight the poor quality of life and health of children in particular, and how it is becoming much more difficult to practice health intervention programmes, especially oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in the area. The Igbekun area is an unhealthy and harsh environment, complicated by the devastating effects of oil drilling in recent years. The siltation and sedimentation of the creeks and lagoons have serious health dimensions as human faeces float in and around villages because the ‘bush toilets’ can no longer be reached. The on-going environmental crisis has also deprived women of their traditional means of livelihood; fishing. There is a relatively high level of ignorance (compared with other women living in the same local government area (LGA) of causes of the commonest diseases such as diarrhoea, acute respiratory infection (ARI) and measles. A majority of the women have never heard of family planning, immunization against diseases and interventions such as ORT. Promotive health care services, especially those that strive to reduce the high mortality of children have passed the mothers by. It is also becoming impracticable to promote ORT because of the widespread ‘salty and oily’ water supply in the area. The greatest concern of the women now is that oil drilling activities have further amplified their stressful conditions especially their health and that of their children. Unfortunately, their plight is not acknowledged by the Nigerian authorities and the oil companies are least concerned about alleviating the poor health status of the community, in particular the most vulnerable groups, children under the age of five. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The portrayal of the Australian monsoon equatorial monsoon shear line by GCMs: enhanced greenhouse scenario implications

A critical test of a general circulation model is its performance on the regional scale. In this paper we examine the summer climatology of the CSIRO4 (4-layer) climate model over the Australian tropical region. The benchmark for the study is the positioning of the monsoon equatorial trough. We compare the CSIRO4 model climatology with the climatologies from the GFDL and GISS models and we report on the sensitivity of the position of the monsoon shear line and the strength of the monsoon westerly winds to the doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The model results show that under the greenhouse scenario the monsoon is strengthened, but the average location of the monsoon shear line is not sensitive to the doubling of CO₂. Offprint requests to: BF Ryan     

Women's status and childhood mortality in two contrasting areas in south-western Nigeria

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between some women's status factors and differentials in probability of child survival in the south-western part of Nigeria. The present analysis is based on the results of the study of children of some 4677 women in two towns contrasting geographical zones.The results of the studiy indicate the significant role of age of mother at first marriage and BCG vaccination while the influence of maternal education was inconsistent at both household and regional levels. Likewise, the possession of certain household items such as dustbin, dining table seem to enhance the survival of children in the urban centres.The results of the study therefore call for strong measures to discourage the marriage of teenage girls. Also, the campaign for use of family planning devices for at least child spacing should be intensified among both mothers and men. Mothers should also be discouraged from patronizing food vendors to ensure minimum balanced diet for their children. Finally, there is need to encourage integrated research efforts on mortality studies so that the fine points of each discipline can be utilized in the multiple research methodology required in order to make headway in the campaigns for child survival and safe motherhood in developing societies.This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the IDRC, Ottawa, Canada