THE INFLUENCE OF WEATHER ELEMENTS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF SOME COMMON DISEASES IN KAFANCHAN, KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA
THE INFLUENCE OF WEATHER ELEMENTS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF SOME COMMON DISEASES IN KAFANCHAN, KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA
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Date
2012-10
Authors
BAKO, Marcus
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Abstract
The critical elements of weather such as rainfall, temperature and relative humidity
influence diseases. Although medical science has made remarkable progress in fighting diseases through modern technology, the health of the human population is still influenced to a great extent by weather and climate. This study helps in determining the role weather elements play in diseases outbreak and transmission. The objectives of the study are to identify weather induced common diseases in Kafanchan, assess the nature of the relationship between common diseases and weather elements responsible for them and to examine the seasonality of common diseases in the study area. The methodology used in this research involve the
collection of monthly data of temperature (minimum and maximum), rainfall and
relative humidity for 10 years(1999 to 2008) in Kafanchan from the Water Board of
the same town. Medical records of the diseases: malaria, typhoid, meningitis, measles, diarrhoea, cough, pneumonia and cholera were obtained from three hospitals using purposive sampling method based on their spatial spread within the study area and the duration of their existence, if up to 10 years and availability of records. These diseases are among the common diseases in Kafanchan. Correlation and Regression analysis statistic were used to assess relationship between weather elements (rainfall, temperature and relative humidity) of Kafanchan and the occurrence of common diseases. ANOVA was used to find out if there is significant different in the
seasonality of occurrences of the common diseases The Pearson Product Moment
Correlation Coefficient and stepwise and enter methods of Regression Analysis were
used. The descriptive statistics indicates that malaria and typhoid have the highest
number of frequency of occurrence in all the variables. Measles and meningitis rarely
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Keywords
INFLUENCE,, WEATHER ELEMENTS,, OCCURRENCE,, COMMON DISEASES,, KAFANCHAN,, KADUNA STATE,, NIGERIA