Editorial: Vol 6 number 1 June 2023

The Editorial Team of the Journal of Epidemiological Society of Nigeria is once again glad to present the current issue of your favorite Journal. As usual, the Journal continues to uphold the high ethical and editorial standards expected of a scientific Journal of the 21st century. The articles published here are among the many earlier submitted through our Online Manuscript Management System and underwent our thorough and vigorous peer-review process. They have, therefore, been found worthy of your reading time.

In spite of the enormous resources ploughed into tuberculosis diagnosis, treatment, and prevention over the years, it still remains a formidable public health threat to date. Diagnosis of the disease can be especially challenging in childhood and when case detection and treatment are poor, resistance to first-line drugs ensues and survival becomes endangered. Two different teams of researchers present their experiences in southwestern Nigeria on predictors of survival for patients of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Ogun State and the case detection practices of childhood tuberculosis among Primary Health Care workers in Osun State.

Other interesting articles you will find in this issue are those on sleep-disordered breathing among children and sleep disorders among medical students in Jos. These two have not only been linked to diminished daytime productivity but also incidents of sudden death and poor academic performance.  In addition, the pathotypes of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in patients presenting with diarrheal in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory were analyzed and documented. This is particularly relevant to Epidemiology and public health as diarrheal diseases are still common in our environment and remain among the top killers of children.

As we continue as a nation to find the most sustainable way to fund our healthcare system and improve access to the available healthcare service you will find in this issue an article that assessed those critical factors that determine the uptake of health facility delivery among women of reproductive age in Plateau State. This is in addition to the article that assessed the benefits and the drawbacks of the current national health insurance scheme among enrollees in Jos. This issue of the Journal closed with a study on female genital schistosomiasis and a case report on male genital schistosomiasis in a 12-year-old boy. Please go through all of them for new knowledge and new perspectives.

Finally, I wish to announce with delight to our readers the successful retirement of the Journal’s pioneer Editor-in-Chief, Professor Chikaike Ogbonna, from the service of the University of Jos and Jos University Teaching Hospital from this month, June 2023. Professor Ogbonna has had a distinguished, unblemished, sterling, and very impactful career in the two institutions spanning three and a half decades. Recall that Professor Ogbonna took up the onerous responsibility of reviving the hitherto rested Nigerian Journal of Epidemiology which had earlier been converted to African Journal of Epidemiology. He successfully revived the Journal under the new name of ‘Journal of Epidemiological Society of Nigeria’ and published two volumes under very difficult circumstances before handing it over to yours truly in 2019. The editorial team and editorial advisers are grateful to him for his sterling service to the Journal. As he takes a bow to take on other tasks, we can only wish him strength and good health to carry on the good work in other spheres of life.

Soar on Prof.

Professor Jonathan C. Daboer

Editor-in-Chief