Ifeoma D Ozodiegwu

Loyola University Chicago | LUC

Background For their 2021–2025 National Malaria Strategic Plan (NMSP), Nigeria’s National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), developed a targeted approach to intervention deployment at the local government area (LGA) level as part of the High Burden to High Impact response. Mathematical mo...

Background: Rapid urbanization in Nigerian cities may lead to localized variations in malaria transmission, particularly with a higher burden in informal settlements and slums. However, there is a lack of available data to quantify the variations in transmission risk at the city level and inform the selection of appropriate interventions. To bridg...

Urban population growth in Nigeria may exceed the availability of affordable housing and basic services, resulting in living conditions conducive to vector breeding and heterogeneous malaria transmission. Understanding the link between community-level factors and urban malaria transmission informs targeted interventions. We analyzed Demographic and...

Introduction Limited funding in the Global Fund Grant Cycle 7 prompted Nigeria’s National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) to adopt a strategy to deprioritize the least vulnerable communities for malaria during bed net mass campaigns. A deprioritization approach piloted in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara state, in collaboration with the NMEP, the...

Informal Healthcare Providers (IHCPs), including Proprietary Patent Medicine Vendors (PPMVs), Drug Peddlers (DPs), Traditional Healers (THs), and Herbal Drug Sellers (HDSs) are often the first choice for malaria treatment, especially in urban slums. Unplanned urbanization significantly impacts malaria transmission by creating cities with inadequate...

Background Unplanned and rapid urbanization within Nigerian cities with the attendant environmental consequences may hinder achieving malaria elimination goal. Presently, there are limited qualitative studies on malaria case management and care-seeking patterns by settlement type in urban areas in Nigeria. This study, investigated malaria-related h...

In the context of high malaria burden and insufficient resources, several national malaria programs (NMPs) used subnational tailoring (SNT) as a tool for evidence-informed decision-making on their national malaria strategic plans and funding requests. The SNT process included the formation of an SNT team, determination of criteria for targeting int...

Background Unplanned and rapid urbanization within Nigerian cities with the attendant environmental consequences may hinder malaria elimination goal. Presently, there are limited qualitative studies on malaria case management, treatment and care-seeking patterns by settlement type in urban areas in Nigeria. This study, investigated the malaria-rela...

Introduction : Rapid urbanization in Nigerian cities may likely result in small-scale variation in malaria transmission with a higher malaria burden in informal settlements and slums. However, data is unavailable to quantify city-level variations in transmission risk and to inform selection of appropriate interventions. We are conducting field stud...

Background Malaria is a leading cause of outpatient visits and deaths among children in Guinea. Despite several mass distribution campaigns of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in Guinea, ITN ownership and use remain low. Identifying the underlying factors affecting household ITN ownership and ITN usage among those with access will allow the Guinea N...

Introduction: Rapid urbanization in Nigerian cities may likely result in small-scale variation in malaria transmission with a higher malaria burden in informal settlements and slums. However, data is unavailable to quantify city-level variations in transmission risk and to inform selection of appropriate interventions. Together with the National Ma...

Background Nigeria is one of three countries projected to have the largest absolute increase in the size of its urban population and this could intensify malaria transmission in cities. Accelerated urban population growth is outpacing the availability of affordable housing and basic services and resulting in living conditions that foster vector bre...

Background For their 2021 – 2025 National Malaria Strategic Plan (NMSP), Nigeria’s National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP), in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), developed a targeted approach to intervention deployment at the local government area (LGA) level as part of the High Burden to High Impact response. Mathematical mo...

Nigeria is one of three countries projected to have the largest absolute increase in the size of its urban population and this could intensify malaria transmission in cities. Accelerated urban population growth is out-pacing the availability of affordable housing and basic services and resulting in living conditions that foster vector breeding and...

In malaria-endemic countries, prioritizing intervention deployment to areas that need the most attention is crucial to ensure continued progress. Global and national policy makers increasingly rely on epidemiological data and mathematical modelling to help optimize health decisions at the sub-national level. The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)...

Rwanda met the Millennium Development Goal targets for access to drinking water and sanitation. However, the WASH practices of high-risk communities are undocumented. Lack of information may hide disparities that correlate with disease. The purpose of this study was to assess WASH and childhood diarrhoea in Bugesera District. A survey was administe...

Rwanda met the Millennium Development Goal targets for access to drinking water and sanitation. However, the WASH practices of high-risk communities are undocumented. Lack of information may hide disparities that correlate with disease. The purpose of this study was to assess WASH and childhood diarrhoea in Bugesera District. A survey was administe...

Introduction: Decreasing overweight and obesity prevalence requires precise data at sub-national levels to monitor progress and initiate interventions. This study aimed to estimate baseline age-standardized overweight prevalence at the lowest administrative units among women, 18 years and older, in seven African countries. The study aims are synony...

Background: Previous studies show a positive association between household wealth and overweight in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries; however, the manner in which this relationship differs in the presence of educational attainment has not been well-established. This study examined the multiplicative effect modification of educational attainment...

Background: Prior work examining the association of maternal obesity and neonatal mortality indicate the presence of a positive relationship. However, regional evidence to provide insight on country-level heterogeneities within sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with nationally representative datasets are non-existent. Objective: We aimed to determine the re...

Introduction: To investigate the prevalence of metabolic conditions by body mass index (BMI) in U.S. adults, with metabolic conditions including type 2 diabetes (T2D), hypertension and dyslipidemia for overall and undiagnosed conditions. Methods: Adult participants were from the U.S. CDC 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. B...

Objective Adult women are disproportionately affected by overweight and obesity in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Existing evidence on the sociocultural context remains unconsolidated. In this qualitative research synthesis, we aggregate research literature on contextual factors that potentially predispose adult women and adolescent girls to...

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of uninsurance among California adults and Asian Americans, and to examine the associations of social-behavioral variables with uninsurance. A total of 24,136 adults (aged 18–64) including 2,060 Asian Americans were selected from the combined 2013–2014 California Health Interview Survey. Weighted univaria...

Introduction Reducing maternal mortality remains a priority for global health. One in five maternal deaths, globally, are from Nigeria. Objective This study aimed to assess the sociocultural correlates of maternal mortality in Nigeria. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of nationally representative data from the 2013 Nigeria Demographi...

To determine whether behavioral factors differ among metabolic conditions and self-reported health, and to determine whether self-reported health is a valid predictor of metabolic syndrome (MetS). A total of 2997 individuals (≥ 40 years old) were selected from four biennial U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2007–2014). A set o...

Background: Both depression and metabolic syndrome (MetS) confer an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease. Accumulating evidence suggests healthy behaviors are crucial to maintain, improve and manage chronical disease and mental health; and unhealthy diet and sedentary behavior were found two major risk fact...