DEPRESSION AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AMONG PEOPLE HAVING COVID-19 UNDERGONE QUARANTINE

Aims Of Study: Coronavirus is a potentially deadly disease that mostly affects human lung tissue. Multiple cases of unexplained respiratory tract infections were reported to the World Health Organization China in December 2019. The focus of this research was to assess association between depression and PWB in patients who had been isolated due to covid-19. Methodology: A sample of 250 people with covid-19 post quarantine, with age ranges from 25 to 45 were selected by using purposive sampling methods. Depression, anxiety, stress scale and psychological well-being scales were administered. Regression analysis and t-test were employed for statistical analysis. Results: Obtained results evidenced that depression is significantly predict psychological health in the covid-19 population [B= -.015, -.019, F (7.915) sig= .000]. Gender difference is also observed in variable of depression also [(4.78) =.030, p.000]. Limitations and future implications: Future research may base on longitudinal analyses focusing on familial and social factors that may influence the psychological well-being of people living in quarantine. Originality: I certify that the intellectual substance of this article is the result of my own effort and that all assistance and sources used in the preparation of this article have been acknowledged. Conclusion: It was concluded that Depression affects people with COVID-19 and PWB after quarantine. future research may focus more on the influence of the interaction between quarantine and adults’ mental health to fully comprehend the link. 

The Prevalence of Malaria and Assessment of the Uptake of Malaria Prevention Measures in Blood Donors in Two Regional Blood Transfusion Centres in Kenya

Transfusion transmitted malaria is one of the most common transfusion transmissible infections and is a threat to blood safety and malaria control in Sub-Saharan African countries where malaria is endemic. The majority of healthy adults living in malaria endemic areas have some degree of immunity to the disease and an asymptomatic low-level parasitaemia is known to exist in a subset of this population. Blood donors recruited from the population are screened using a donor-selection criteria that includes age, weight, self-declared well-being and measurement of vital signs but not history of recent malaria infection or treatment. The Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services does not currently screen donated blood for malaria, opting instead for prophylactic anti-malarial use. This policy is inconsistent with the current WHO guidelines for the prevention of transfusion transmitted malaria, and the national policy guiding malaria treatment which states that antimalarial use is reserved for laboratory confirmed cases. A cross-sectional survey was conducted at two regional blood transfusion centres of differential malarial endemicity to determine the prevalence of malaria in blood donors. Of the 1,100 donors who participated in this study, five donors tested positive for malaria antigen, 3 from the Mombasa RBTC and 2 from the Nairobi RBTC giving an overall prevalence of 0.5% malaria antigen positivity. Only one peripheral blood film examined was positive for malaria yielding a total prevalence of 0.1% slide positivity. The prevalence of malaria in blood donors does not justify the routine use of prophylactic anti-malarias with each transfusion and a blood donor malaria screening algorithm as an alternative to malaria prophylaxis in the prevention of transfusion transmitted malaria should be developed and implemented.