scholarly journals Maternal health literacy on mother and child health care: A community cluster survey in two southern provinces in Laos

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0244181
Author(s):  
Sysavanh Phommachanh ◽  
Dirk R. Essink ◽  
Pamela E. Wright ◽  
Jacqueline E. W. Broerse ◽  
Mayfong Mayxay

Rational Increased maternal health literacy (MHL) has contributed considerably to maternal and child health outcomes in many countries. Malnutrition, and low coverage of child vaccination and breastfeeding are major health concerns in Laos, but there is little insight into mothers’ literacy on these issues. The aim of this study was to identify the level of MHL of Lao mothers and to explore factors influencing it, in order to provide evidence that can inform policies and planning of health services. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a questionnaire on health literacy (ability to access, understand, appraise and apply health-related information) in relation to care during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. We interviewed 384 mothers with children aged under five years; 197 from urban and 187 from rural areas. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyze the data. Results Overall, MHL of Lao mothers was very low in both urban and rural areas; 80% of mothers had either inadequate or problematic MHL, while only 17.4% had sufficient and 3.5% excellent MHL. The MHL scores were significantly higher in urban than in rural areas. One third of mothers found it very difficult to access, understand, appraise and apply information on mother and child (MCH). Health personnel were the main source of MCH information for the mothers. Years of schooling, own income, health status, and number of ANC visits significantly predicted a higher level of MHL (R square = 0.250; adjusted R square = 0.240, P = <0.001). Conclusions MHL of Lao mothers was inadequate in both urban and rural areas. Socio-demographics and key practices of the mothers were significantly associated with a better level of MHL. Health education on MHL to mothers in both urban and rural areas needs attention, and could best be done by improving the quality of health providers’ provision of information.

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iqbal Fahs ◽  
Zainab Khalife ◽  
Diana Malaeb ◽  
Mohammad Iskandarani ◽  
Pascale Salameh

Introduction. CVDs are largely driven by modifiable risk factors. This study sought to determine the awareness and prevalence of the modifiable CVDs risk factors among the Lebanese population.Methods. In a cross-sectional survey, 1000 participants aged ≥ 45 years were randomly selected from pharmacies and interviewed. The data was analyzed with SPSS version 21.0 software.Results. Differences between urban and rural areas include alcohol consumption (2.8% versus 1.7%;p=0.0001), cardioprotective vegetable servings (6.1% versus 2.3%;p=0.016), sedentary hours per day (18.6% versus 15.1%;p=0.002), and hypertension (38.5% versus 25.4%;p=0.001). The prevalence of overweight and obesity (77.3% versus 75.2%;p=0.468), smoking (39.3% versus 43.3%;p=0.232), diabetes (25.4% versus 21.4%;p=0.173), and dyslipidemia (25 versus 21.2%) was reported. Measurements revealed 19.3% of undiagnosed hypertension (12.4% versus 22.4%,p=0.001), 61.7% of hypertension (59.8% versus 62.6%;p=0.203), and 7.9% of undiagnosed diabetes (6.6% versus 8.6%;p=0.323). The declared awareness of CVDs risk factors was highest for smoking (91.5% versus 89.7%;p=0.339) and lowest for diabetes (54.4 versus 55.7%;p=0.692).Conclusion. This study has shown a high prevalence of modifiable CVDs risk factors in the Lebanese population ≥ 45 years, among which hypertension is the most prominent.


2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 223
Author(s):  
Irwanto Irwanto ◽  
Ilham Ikhtiar ◽  
Indah Lutfiya ◽  
Windhu Purnomo

Mothers and child health (MCH) are one of the main issues in family medicine. Related to this practice, Indonesian government issued mother and child health (MCH) handbook for monitoring child development due to various child developmental problems in Indonesia. However, there are reports of improper MCH handbook utilization. This study aimed to analyze factors related to the utilization of MCH handbook by mothers in Indonesia. Cross sectional observational study was conducted from March to May 2018. This study involved mothers with children aged 3 to 72 months old in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. Specific population of mothers who had children attending Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED) and Integrated Health Post (IHP) (Indonesia: Pos Pelayanan Terpadu-Posyandu) were included as inclusion criteria. Maternal characteristics, child health status, employment status, and utilization of MCH handbook were recorded through questionnaire. Association between variables then analyzed statistically using Spearman correlation test. As many as 288 participants were enrolled in this study. We found that mothers’ participation of Posyandu was positively correlated with MCH handbook utilization (p<0.05). Meanwhile, mother’s occupation (p>0.05), mothers’ education (p>0.05), and maternal age (p>0.05) were found to be unrelated to the utilization of MCH handbook. Mothers’ age, education, and employment were found to be uncorrelated with utilization of MCH handbook. Whereas, mothers’ participation in Posyandu was a determinant factor correlated with utilization of MCH handbook.


Author(s):  
Sadia Jahan ◽  
Md. Saddam Hossain ◽  
Md. Anisur Rahman Bhuiyan ◽  
Susmita Roy Lisa ◽  
Somaia Haque Chadni

Aim: To evaluate the household iodine content and knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding salt iodization among the residents of Cumilla, Bangladesh. Subjects and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 700 inhabitants in Cumilla's urban and rural areas to determine the iodine concentration of salt they consume. The participants were asked about what they know about iodine deficiency and salt iodization as well as how their salt was packaged and stored. Among them, 338 people provided a sample of salt to be tested of its iodine content by the titrimetric method. Results: 46.57% of people knew that iodization was the best way to prevent iodine deficiency while 35.14% considered salt iodization during purchasing. Most people stored salt in plastic boxes (89.7%) and closed containers (84.14%).Among all participants, only 37.14% of people were aware of the iodine requirement during pregnancy. In urban regions, the median iodine content was 36.76 ppm (OR=0.658, 95% CI, 0.469-0.925), while in rural areas, the median iodine content was 40.92 ppm (OR=1.188, 95% CI, 1.022-1.380). Iodine levels were less than 15 ppm (minimum limit) in 6.8% of samples and greater than 40 ppm (maximum limit) in 56.5%. Only 36.7% of the salt samples contained adequate iodine. Conclusion: An effective and consistent approach for controlling iodine concentration in distributed salt is required at Cumilla, Bangladesh.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ai Aoki ◽  
Keiji Mochida ◽  
Michiru Kuramata ◽  
Toru Sadamori ◽  
Helga Reis Freitas ◽  
...  

Background: Reducing maternal, neonatal, and infant mortality tops the health targets of sustainable development goals. Many lifesaving interventions are being introduced in antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care. However, many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have not reached maternal and child health targets. The Maternal and Child Health Handbook (MCH-HB) is recommended as a home-based record to promote a continuum of care from pregnancy to early childhood, and is gaining increasing attention among LMICs. Several countries have adopted it as national health policy. To effectively utilize the MCH-HB in LMICs, implementation needs to be considered. Angola is an LIMC in Sub-Saharan Africa, where maternal and child health indicators are among the poorest. The Angolan Ministry of Health adopted the MCH-HB program in its national health policy and is currently conducting a cluster randomized controlled trial (MCH-HB RCT) to evaluate its impact on the continuum of care. This study aimed to evaluate implementation status, and barriers and facilitators of MCH-HB program implementation in Angola.Methods: To evaluate implementation status comprehensively, the RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework will be used. Four components other than effectiveness will be investigated. A cross-sectional survey will be conducted targeting all health facilities and officers in charge of the MCH-HB at the municipality health office in the intervention group after the MCH-HB RCT. Data from the cross-sectional survey, secondary MCH-HB RCT data, and operational MCH-HB RCT records will be analyzed. Health facilities will be classified into good-implementation and poor-implementation groups using RE-AIM indicators. To identify barriers to and facilitators of MCH-HB implementation, semi-structured interviews/focus group discussions will be conducted among health workers at a sub-sample of health facilities and all municipality health officers in charge of MCH-HB in the intervention group. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research will be adopted to develop interview items. Thematic analysis will be performed. By comparing good-implementation and poor-implementation health facilities, factors that differ between groups that contribute to successful implementation can be identified.Discussion: This study's findings are expected to inform MCH-HB implementation policy and guidelines in Angola and in other countries that plan to adopt the MCH-HB program.


2019 ◽  
pp. 67-76
Author(s):  
Carlos A Reyes Ortiz ◽  
Claudia Payan ◽  
Geraldine Altamar ◽  
Jose F Gomez Montes ◽  
Harold G Koenig

Objective: To identify the relationship between religiosity and self-rated health among older adults in Colombia. Methods: Data are drawn from the SABE (Salud, Bienestar y Envejecimiento) Colombia Study, a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2015 involving 18,871 community-dwelling adults aged 60 years and older living in urban and rural areas of Colombia. Religiosity was assessed by self-rated religiosity (how religious are you: not at all, somewhat or very). Self-rated health during previous 30 days was assessed as very good, good, fair, poor or very poor, analyzed as an ordinal variable(1-5) using weighted logistic regression, adjusting for confounders. Results: Those who were more religious were older, female, had lower socioeconomic status, and were more likely to be married. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that older adults who were more religious had better self-rated health (OR 0.92 95% CI 0.86- 0.99, p= 0.038); however, there was a significant interaction effect between gender and religiosity on self-rated health (p= 0.002), such that the relationship between religiosity and health was stronger in men (OR 0.86, 95% CI: 0.79-0.94, p= 0.001) but not significant in women. Conclusion: Older adults in Colombia who consider themselves more religious, especially men, are less likely to perceive their physical health as poor compared to those who are less religious.


Heart ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 106 (8) ◽  
pp. 590-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liying Xing ◽  
Min Lin ◽  
Zhi Du ◽  
Li Jing ◽  
Yuanmeng Tian ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo evaluate the epidemiology of atrial fibrillation (AF) in northeast China.MethodsThis cross-sectional survey using a multistage, stratified and cluster random sampling method was conducted in Liaoning Province between September 2017 and March 2019. A total of 18 796 participants (28.9% urban, 71.1% rural) aged ≥40 years were included. All participants completed a questionnaire and underwent a physical examination and ECG. AF was diagnosed according to history and ECG findings.ResultsThe overall AF prevalence was 1.1%; it increased steeply with age. AF was more prevalent in men than in women (1.5% vs 0.9%, p<0.001); however, the difference between urban and rural areas was not significant (1.3% vs 1.1%, p=0.228). Among the AF population, the overall AF awareness rate was 52.6%, higher in women than in men (61.5% vs 44.1%, p=0.011); however, the difference between areas was not statistically significant (60.0% vs 49.0%, p=0.129). According to the CHA2DS-VASc score, almost all (90.2%, 194/215) of our subjects required oral anticoagulant (OAC) therapy; however, only 4.1% actually received it. Moreover, hypertension (66.5%), dyslipidaemia (32.6%) and diabetes (24.2%) were highly prevalent in patients with AF, but their control rates were unacceptably low (7.0%, 8.6% and 28.8%, respectively).ConclusionsThe burden of AF in northeast China was substantial. Underuse of OAC therapy and uncontrolled comorbidities will likely contribute to the cardiovascular outcomes of patients with AF in the coming decades. Long-term management strategies for AF and related risk factors are required in northeast China.


1974 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naseem Iqbal Farooqui ◽  
Iqbal Alam

As is the case in many other countries, mortality has been undergoing substantial, though not precisely understood, changes in Pakistan. In the absence of a reliable and adequate system of vital registration in the country, the precise measurement of these changes is well nigh impossible. In Pakistan, an attempt to estimate levels of fertility and mortality on a sample basis was made through the Population Growth Estimation (PGE) project undertaken from 1962 through 1965 [5, 12]. Subsequently, another demographic survey, called the Population Growth Survey (PGS), was initiated and carried out from 1968 through 1971 [13]. In the PGE a dual system of data collection was utilized based on continuous (Longitudinal) registration and a periodic (Cross-Sectional) survey. In the PGS, data were collected through periodic surveys only. Data from the PGS have only recently been made available to researchers. The present set of life tables is based on the mortality statistics collected in 1968 and 1971 field operations of the PGS.


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