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Mary
Slessor Journal of Medicine is an official publication of the University
of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, and Nigeria. The University of
Calabar Teaching Hospital is housed in the former Saint Margaret
Hospital, Calabar, a health care facility established in November 1897,
as the first center of secondary health care in Nigeria.
In 1997,
the then Hospital Management, headed by Dr, Rowland Ndoma-Egba thought
it wise to have a centenary celebration of the Hospital. As part of
this celebration, there was need to show case the immense contributions
the Hospital, and of course, Calabar made and is still making to
the medical world, hence the birth of this journal.
The
contribution of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar
environment to the development of tropical medicine is very remarkable.
The first microfilaria of loa loa was extracted from a patient here in
Calabar, hence, the name “Calabar Swelling” given to the condition. The
early studies that implicated chrysops in the transmission of this
parasite were also done here. Calabar also provided the "Calabar bean”
Physostigma venenosum for which eserine (a name derived from the local
the bean) was isolated and hence began a revolution in neuropharmacology.
Perhaps the earliest description of General Medical practice in the
tropics found in medical literature was in provided from Calabar.
Geographically, the Cross River State of Nigeria, where the University
of Calabar Teaching Hospital is located, can be rightly termed as a
microcosm of the world. It starts from the mangrove swamps forest
bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the south; it extends through one of the
very few tropical rainforests still left in the world at Boki and gently
transformed into the savannah belt at Ogoja in the north. To the
northeast is the elevation at Obudu with characteristics Mediterranean
type of climate with four distinct seasons of winter, spring, autumn and
summer. Hardly any other geographical entity in the world provides such
a rich variety within such small space. This is therefore an ideal
environment for research in tropical medicine and provides unparalleled
opportunities for comparative studies in the health problems of the
tropical and temperature climates. There was really a need to stimulate
such studies and a medium to air the findings, hence the place of an
international journal, the Mary Slessor Journal of Medicine
Besides, it was also discovered that scientists in the sub- Saharan
Africa still go through the frustrations of information death. Studies
conducted in the continent are often difficult to access by workers in
the region, making intra-African information transfer a daunting task.
Again, the cost of publishing abroad was becoming more and more out of
the reach of an average African academic. The was a greater need to fill
up the gap.
The choice of the name, Mary Slessor Journal of Medicine was an easy
one. Born in December 2, 1848 in Aberdeen, Scotland, Mary Mitchell
Slessor left the comfort of her home on August 5,1876 and set sail for
Calabar. For 38 years, she labored in this southeastern cost of Nigeria,
from Calabar extending as far as to the Igbo nation. Her works went
beyond introducing Christianity to the people and building churches. She
built, organized and taught women and children in schools. She rapidly
learned the language and belief systems of the people was appointed a
native court judge by the British Consul General, Sir Claud Mac Donald
in 1892
She is even better remembered for her fight against the superstition
killing of twins in this part of the world. Hitherto, twins were
regarded in southeast Nigeria as products of evil spirits. They were
promptly killed and their mothers ostracized. Mary Slessor fought this
practice relentlessly, salvaged a large numbers of twins, their mothers
and other so called outcasts and maintained their colonies which
necessarily moved along with her missionary transfers. She introduces
nutritional rehabilitation units in these colonies. She was one of the
earliest to recognize and practice the social and economic empowerment
of women as a means of checking abuse. During the small-pox epidemic,
she worked as a nurse and also motivated the leprosy hospital at Itu a
few kilometers from Calabar. Her grave stands today on hill, about
200metres across the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital. Perhaps,
no other name would command more respect and love in this part of the
world than Mary Slessor. Hence immortalizing the name of this pioneer
missionary, an advocate of rights of women and children and a primary
health care worker with this international journal, did not come with
any difficulty.
so
far, the journal has lived up to its expectation. Very many
groundbreaking research findings have come out of this journal. For
instance before the Would Health Organization published the efficacy of
Mass Ivermectin Administration for the control of onchocerciasis. Mary
Slessor Journal of Medicine has already aired it from a study in Agbokim
and Ajassor communities in Cross River State, Nigeria. All consenting
eligible inhabitants of the two communities had received ivermectin
annually over an 8-year period. The ivermectin was distributed by
specially trained primary health care workers from each of the
communities, which ensured 97% coverage, on review; no infection was
detected in any of the subjects examined, nor in the black fly
intermediate host!
The journal has also
attracted articles even beyond the developing countries to Britain and
the United States of America. The dream of the journal is to transform
medicine and its practice in the tropics and even beyond and become one
of the leading medical journal in the world.
Editor-in-Chief
Editor |
Experience
with the Repair of Vesico-Vaginal Fistulas in a Non-Conventional
Setting in Sub-Saharan Africa
A.J. Umoiyoho,
A.M. Abasiattai, O.E. Akaiso, S.J. Etuk and E. Okoi
A
Healthy Workforce Engenders Optimal Productivity
E.N. Nsan
Prevalence of
Metabolic Syndrome in Chronic Kidney Disease
I.S.I. Ogbu,
A.E. Udoh, C.K. Ijoma and H.M. Etukudo
The Outcome
of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in a Paediatric Emergency Room
W.E. Sadoh
and C.O. Eregie
Pattern of
Neurological Admissions at the Intensive Care Unit in a Tertiary
Hospital – A 15 Year Review
E.E.
Philip-Ephraim, S.K. Oparah, U.E. Williams, C.C. Odigwe and R.P.
Ephraim
Knowledge of
Physicians in Cross River State Ministry of Health on Women
Related Issues in Epilepsy
S.K. Oparah,
E. Philip-Ephriam, U. Williams and T.I. Igbo
An Open Label
14-Day Therapeutic Efficacy Trial of Artesunate plus
Amodiaquine for Treating uncomplicated Falciparum Malaria in
Calabar, Nigeria.
F. A. Odey,
M.M. Meremikwu, A. Oyo-Ita, C.M. Oringanje, E. A. Iwasam, A.A.
Alaribe, B. Oduwole, V. Asiegbu and E.N.U. Ezedinachi
Awareness of
women’s issues in epilepsy: a survey of physicians in the
Cross River State Ministry of Health, Calabar.
S.K. Oparah,
E. Philip-Ephraim, U. Williams1 and T.I. Igbo
Association
between Intermittent Preventive Treatment of Malaria in
Pregnancy
and Perinatal Outcome among Parturient in the University of
Calabar
Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria
C.U. Iklaki,
J.E. Ekabua, A.E. Udo, T.U Agan and E.I Ekanem
Condom use
among final year Medical Students of a Nigerian University
E.N. Nsan, A.
Etokidem, I.B. Okokon, D.S. Ogaji, B.M. Ikpeme, A.E. Oyo-Ita and
W.O. Ndifon
Contraceptive
use Amongst Patients with Induced Abortion at the University of
Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.
C.E. Enyindah
and S. Nyeche
Eagles
Syndrome: Key to Definitive Diagnosis
Report of an
Unusual Case and Discussion
V.R. Kumar and P. Yadav
Prevalence of
Tinea Capitis Among School Children in Urban Areas
of Imo State, Nigeria
R.I.
Okechukwu, A.E Chukwulebe, I.C. Mgbemena, T.N.A. Chiegboka
and R.N. Anunobi
The
Prevalence of Anaemia at Booking Among Pregnant Women at the
University
of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Nigeria
I.U. Unang and A.M. Abasiattai
Pattern of
Knowledge, Use and Counseling for Papanicolaou smear Among
Doctors in Delta State, Nigeria
P.N. Ebeigbe
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