Vitamin D Status among Infants Attending a Reproductive and Child Health Clinic in Arusha, Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract Background: Globally there is a high burden of low serum vitamin D levels, with children being more at risk, due to low intake in breastmilk, few available foods and inadequate cutaneous synthesis of vitamin D. Even in countries with abundant sunshine, Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) remains a problem. The classical clinical effect of severe vitamin D deficiency is rickets. VDD is common in developing countries and may affect developmental outcomes of children. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with vitamin D deficiency among infants attending the Reproductive and Child Health Clinic (RCH), in Arusha, Tanzania.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of infants aged 6 weeks to 12 months attending RCH clinic at Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre (ALMC). We enrolled 304 infants from November 2018 to January 2019 after consent. A pre-coded questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemographic characteristics of the infants. Physical examination was done for anthropometric measures and signs of rickets. Serum was drawn for assessment of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH) D),calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphate was assessed. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as 25(OH)D less than 20ng/ml. Multivariate analysis was done to determine factors associated with VDD. Statistical analysis was performed using STATA 14 version. P- value < 0.05 was significant. Results: A total of 67/ 304 infants had vitamin D deficiency. Another 50(16.5%) were found to have insufficiency level of vitamin D. Only 187(61.5%) had adequate vitamin D. Signs of rickets were observed in 11(3.6%) and hypocalcemia in 33(10.9%) infants. Factors independently associated with VDD include age < 6 months Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 1.56 (95% CI 1.19-4.0) p value < 0.026, presence of signs of rickets and hypocalcemia p value <0.001 and <0.002 respectively. Conclusion and Recommendation: A high prevalence of VDD (22%) was observed among infants attending RCH clinic in Arusha Tanzania. Age <6 months and the presence of the clinical sign of rickets were associated with VDD. Clinicians should actively assess for VDD and vitamin D supplementation with special emphasis infants <6 months should be implemented.

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Knowledge towards cervical cancer prevention and screening practices among women who attended reproductive and child health clinic at Magu district hospital, Lake Zone Tanzania: a cross-sectional study

BMC Cancer ◽

10.1186/s12885-018-4490-7 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Mabula M. Mabelele ◽

John Materu ◽

Faraja D. Ng’ida ◽

Michael J. Mahande

Keyword(s):

District Hospital ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cervical Cancer Prevention ◽

Health Clinic ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Child Health Clinic ◽

Lake Zone ◽

Cancer Prevention And Screening ◽

Reproductive And Child Health ◽

And Child Health

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A cross-sectional study to assess reproductive and child health profile of working women residing in urban slums of Rajkot city

Indian Journal of Community Medicine ◽

10.4103/ijcm.ijcm_332_18 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 313

Author(s):

AnkitPrabhubhai Viramgami ◽

PramodB Verma ◽

MayurC Vala ◽

Sandeep Sharma

Keyword(s):

Child Health ◽

Working Women ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Urban Slums ◽

Health Profile ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Reproductive And Child Health ◽

And Child Health

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Socio-economic and demographic factors associated with reproductive and child health preventive care in Mozambique: a cross-sectional study

International Journal for Equity in Health ◽

10.1186/s12939-020-01303-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Chanvo Daca ◽

Miguel San Sebastian ◽

Carlos Arnaldo ◽

Barbara Schumann

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Child Health ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Health Coverage ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Modern Contraceptives ◽

Reproductive And Child Health ◽

Universal Health ◽

And Child Health

Abstract Background Reproductive and child health interventions are essential to improving population health in Africa. In Mozambique, although some progress on reproductive and child health has been made, knowledge of social inequalities in health and health care is lacking. Objective To investigate socio-economic and demographic inequalities in reproductive and child preventive health care as a way to monitor progress towards universal health coverage. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted, using data collected from the 2015 Immunization, AIDS and Malaria Indicators Survey (IMASIDA) in Mozambique. The sample included 6946 women aged 15 to 49 years. Outcomes variables were the use of insecticide treated nets (ITN) for children under 5 years, full child immunization and modern contraception use, while independent variables included age, marital status, place of residence, region, education, occupation, and household wealth index. Prevalence ratios (PR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated by log binomial regression to assess the relationship between the socio-economic and demographic characteristics and the three outcomes of interest. Results The percentage of mothers with at least one child under 5 years that did not use ITN was 51.01, 46.25% of women had children aged 1 to 4 years who were not fully immunized, and 74.28% of women were not using modern contraceptives. Non-educated mothers (PR = 1.33; 95% CI: 1.16–1.51) and those living in the Southern region (PR = 1.36; 95% CI: 1.17–1.59) had higher risk of not using ITN, while the poorest quintile (PR = 1.34; 95% CI: 1.04–1.71) was more likely to have children who were not fully immunized. Similarly, non-educated women (PR = 1.17; 95% CI: 1.10–1.25), non-working women (PR = 1.09; 95% CI: 1.04–1.16), and those in the poorest quintile (PR = 1.13; 95% CI: 1.04–1.24) had a higher risk of not using modern contraceptives. Conclusion Our study showed a low rate of ITN utilization, immunization coverage of children, and modern contraceptive use among women of reproductive age. Several socio-economic and demographics factors (region, education, occupation, and wealth) were associated with these preventive measures. We recommend an equity-oriented resource allocation across regions, knowledge dissemination on the importance of ITN and contraceptives use, and an expansion of immunization services to reach socio-economically disadvantaged families in order to achieve universal health coverage in Mozambique.

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Knowledge, Practices and Factors Affecting Exclusive Breastfeeding among Lactating Mothers with Babies aged 6 months to 1 year attending Magomeni Reproductive and Child Health Clinic, Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam: Descriptive Cross Sectional Study

10.21203/rs.3.rs-348936/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Anacletus Bernard ◽

Frank M Musa ◽

Dedius E. Peter

Keyword(s):

Exclusive Breastfeeding ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Health Clinic ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Lactating Mothers ◽

Child Health Clinic ◽

Reproductive And Child Health ◽

One Year ◽

And Child Health

Abstract Background: Exclusive Breastfeeding defined as the infant has to receive only breast milk from his/her mother with the exception of other kinds of food for six months. Exclusive Breastfeeding helps to prevent diseases to infants and it reduces risk of ovarian cancer to mother.Methodology: Descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among 124 lactating mothers with infants aged 6 months to one year attending Magomeni RCH Clinic in Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam. Simple random sampling procedure was used to obtain 124 lactating mothers. Data was collected from mothers who agreed to participate and signed the consent form by the use of close ended Swahili version questionnaire on assessing knowledge, practices and factors affecting Exclusive Breastfeeding among Lactating Mothers with Babies aged 6 months to 1 year attending Magomeni Reproductive and Child Health Clinic in Kinondoni district, Dar es Salaam.Result: About 74 (59.7%) respondents had high knowledge on EBF and 92 (74.2%) respondents initiated breastfeeding within one hour after delivery while 77 (62.1%) practiced exclusive breastfeeding. Findings show that 64(51.6%) respondents denied that exclusive breastfeeding causes loss of shape of their breasts while 48 (38.7%) respondents accepted that exclusive breastfeeding causes loss of shape of their breasts. Only 12 (9.7%) respondents didn’t know if EBF causes loss of breasts shape or not. Moreover, 19 (15.3%) respondents had physical difficulties/problems like cracking of nipples, inadequate milk, while 105(84.7%) didn’t get any physical difficult. Therefore there is significant association between mothers belief of losing shapes of their breasts and EBF (p=0.05). Physical difficulties/problems to lactating mothers study is significantly associated with EBF (p = 0.000).Conclusion: The overall knowledge among the lactating mothers with babies aged six months to one year was high and had good exclusive breast feeding practice. Although majority of the respondents are knowledgeable about EBF, the results show a gap between knowledge and actual practice within six months which is a recommended duration for Exclusive Breast feeding.

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A cross sectional study to determine the reasons for non-utilization of reproductive and child health services in district Etawah

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20200987 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 1178

Author(s):

Vaibhav Singh ◽

Dhiraj Kumar Srivastava ◽

Pankaj Kumar Jain ◽

Sandip Kumar ◽

Sushil Kumar Shukla ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Child Health ◽

Health Services ◽

Hospital Staff ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Common Reason ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The Poor ◽

Reproductive And Child Health ◽

And Child Health

Background: The utilization of social services, including health services, has never been equitably distributed in the society. Cost, distance, attitude of health providers, and other factors put the secondary care and private sector facilities out of reach of most of the poor residents. The socioeconomic factors also have a complex relationship with some of the supply factors, and often in the scarcity of good data, it is very difficult to explain the poor utilization of reproductive and child health (RCH) services.Methods: A cross sectional study conducted on 80 recently delivered women at home in the villages covered under the selected subcentre to interview all recently delivered women to find out the reasons for non-utilization of RCH services. The data was collected by using pre designed semi-structured questionnaire.Results: Most of the participants belong to age group of 20 to 24 (55%) and joint family (51.3%). Main reason for not having institutional delivery was found to be long waiting time in hospital/lack of proper facilities (50%) followed by non-cooperative hospital staff (36.2%). The study showed that most common reason for not getting money under JSY was found to be non-issuance of JSY card (33.3%) and non-cooperative hospital staff (33.3%). It was found that non utilisation of contraceptive services was mainly due to objection by husband (45.5%).Conclusions: This study revealed lack of knowledge, no felt need and financial constraints as the most common reason for not utilizing the different RCH services.

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