Prevalent Diseases among Inmates in Three Federal Prisons in South-East Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria: A Peep into the Environmental Factors

Author(s): Otuu Fred C, Shu Elvis N

Introduction: This study analyzed the prevalent diseases among the inmates of three federal prisons in South-East geo-political zone of Nigeria.

Methodology: Well structured questionnaires designed to reflect demography, prevalent diseases and environmental problems were administered to the interested participants who gave verbal consent to the voluntary, first person informed consent form which was read in the language of the inmates (English or Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa languages) by a nurse, as they were not permitted to write.

Result: The prisons were dominated by male prisoners, 92.5%, 85.0%, 87.2%, in Abakaliki, Enugu and Onitsha prisons respectively. The age brackets 21-30yrs, (42.3%, 43.9%) and 31-40yrs (26.7%, 25.0%), were predominant age in Abakaliki and Onitsha prisons respectively. Enugu prison inmates did not indicate their ages. Enugu prison had more number of literates with tertiary education (45.3%), followed by Abakaliki prison (30.9%) and Onitsha prison (12.2%). In general, there were uneven distributions of the inmates into sex (χ2=127.1, p<0.0001), educational level (χ2=108.5, p<0.0001) and length of time spent in the different prisons (χ2=100.4, p<0.0001) in the three prisons. The most prevalent disease was malaria (81.06%, 77.67% and 73.33%), followed by cough and catarrh (63.79%, 68.67%, 60.0%), rashes (58.77%, 59.27%, 58.97%) in Abakaliki, Enugu and Onitsha respectively. Among the environmental problems reported were overcrowding (76.60%, 70.0%, 60.51%), poor toilet facility (72.98%, 48.33%, 50.77%), lack of portable water (64.35%, 44.0%, 43.08%).

Interpretation: Abakaliki prison showed highest incidence of disease burdens, probably as result of poor structural facilities.

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