Causes, Effects and Control of Communicable Diseases in Secondary Schools: a Case Study of Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The researcher wishes to examine causes, effects and control of communicable diseases in secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Ekhator J.U. (2001) defined communicable disease as an illness due to a specific infection agent or its toxic products from a reservoir to a susceptible host either directly as from infected person or animal indirectly through the agency of an intermediate plant or animal host, a vector or an inanimate environment.
BLOOD BORNE PATHOGENS
HIV/AIDS
HIV known in its advanced stages as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic infection of the body caused by the human immune deficiency virus. HIV exposures generally occurred trough needle sticks or cuts contaminated with an infected patient’s blood and contact usually occurs through the eye, nose, mouth or skin.
Ram, R. (2008) emphasized that although HIV is Spread trough blood, there is little or no evidence that the virus can be transferred by sweat, tears, saliva or casual contact.
Rolf, K. (2010) said that AIDS is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immune deficiency virus (HIV). This condition progressively reduces the effectiveness of the immune system and leaves individuals susceptible to opportunistic infexctions and tumors. AIDS is now a pandemic. In 2007, it was estimated t hat 33.2million people lived with the disease world wide and that AIDS had killed an estimated 2.1million people including 330,000 children. Over three quarters of these death occurred in Sub – Sahara Africa. Generic research indicates that HIV originated in west central Africa during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. AIDS was first recognized by the US centres for disease control and prevention in 1981 and its cause HIV identified in the early 1980s.
AIDS symptoms include, prolonged diarrhea, white coating on the tongue (thrush), enlargement of glands in the neck, , groan and armpit s, persistence fever and headache, persistence cough, skin infections unexplained weight loss. Sexual transmission occurs with the contact between sexual secretions of one person with the nectar genital or oral mucous membranes of another. Unprotected sexual acts are riskier for the receptive partner than for the insertive partner. Exposure to blood-borne pathogens this transmission route is particularly relevant to intravenous drug users, hemophiliacs and recipients of blood transfusion and blood products. Sharing and reusing syringes contaminated with HIV infected blood represents a major risk for infection with HIV. Perinatal transmission, the transmission of the virus from the mother to the child can occur in utero during the last weeks of pregnancy and at child birth.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This chapter deals with the research design, the population of the study, the sample and sampling technique, research instrument, validity of instrument, method of data collection and analysis.
RESEARCH DESIGN
In this study a survey design method was adopted or use in determining the causes, effects and control of communicable diseases in secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. Questionnaire was used as our research instrument and our method of data analysis was the percentage.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
In the study, the population consisted of five private secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. A total of 100 (one hundred) students were sampled that is twenty from each school.
CHAPTER FOUR
ANALYSIS OF DATA AND INTERPRETATION
This chapter deals with analysis of data and interpretation of study in Oredo local government area of Edo state, it contains frequency distribution tables with the numbers of the respondents, their percentage and its interpretation.
Research question 1
Does the knowledge of health education help to prevent communicable disease in schools?
Item 1 in table 1 shows that 80% respondents agree that they have heard of communicable disease while 20% do not agree.
Item 2 in table 1 shows that 80% respondents agree that they have been infected with communicable disease in the past while 20% do not agree.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This study was directed at finding the causes, effects and control of communicable diseases in secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. With the formulated research questions and the instrument in finding the fact, the researcher was able to come out with some reasonable findings and recommendations.
SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH
The main purpose of this study was to find out the causes, effects and control of communicable diseases in secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.
As shown in table 3 and 5 of the data analysis and interpretation. It also discovered that most of the students have adequate hygienic practices for maximum health on the causes, effects and control of communicable diseases.
It also shows that students demonstrated high knowledge which helps to prevent communicable disease. The school surrounding should be kept clean to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in the school.
CONCLUSION
The present study is constrained to conclude that various forms of communicable diseases exist among students in the study area. Majority of the students had at one time or the other been infected by communicable diseases. Students in the study area had adequate knowledge of the causes, effects and control of communicable diseases.
Since the majority of the student had adequate knowledge of communicable diseases yet they are all the same infected by this scourge, there is need therefore for both the school and the home to work in a coordinated manner in other to ensure that the students put into practice what they had learnt to prevent communicable diseases. The parents should also give their children prompt treatment when ever they notice any symptoms of communicable disease.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is therefore advocated that health promotion and education should be included in the junior school curriculum as a course of its own so as to inculcate health knowledge from the grassroots and early enough on the students by the government through the secondary school education management board (SEMB). Students should also be taught of the dangers of sharing cloths, towels and bedding together which is mostly experienced by students living in the dormitory. The school should organize periodic seminars and workshops for the students as this will help to enlighten them more on the causes, effects and control of communicable diseases. Teachers should act as role models in keeping themselves neat ass this will influence the students behaviour towards personal cleanliness. The mass media should increase their concern in prevention modalities by educating the populace on clean and healthy environment and make them to understand the meaning of the old and wise saying that prevention is better and cheaper than cure. Parents should also ensure that their children receive necessary vaccinations to boast their immune system against such disease. They should also follow their children up with adequate nutrition.
SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
This research is limited to students within Oredo local government area of edo state. It can also be applied to other local government areas of the state as well as other states in the country.
Therefore, the researcher made the following as suggestions for further research.
- Further research can be carried out on the control of the spread of communicable disease.
- The study can also be research on the causes of communicable disease in the environment.
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