ABSTRACT
The unstable geopolitical situation in Iraq since 2003 still affects the health of people, especially children. Several factors may indirectly affect a child’s nutritional status. The main aim of this study was to identify factors contributing to malnutrition among 3 to 5 years old children in Baghdad city, Iraq. Two hundred twenty children aged 3 to 5 years were chosen randomly from four kindergartens in Baghdad city according to the cross-sectional design. The nutritional status of the children was assessed using a weight-for-age z-score based on the World Health Organization 2007 cutoff points, in which any child with a z-score of <-2 is considered to be malnourished. The overall prevalence rate of underweight children was 18.2%. There was no significant difference in the prevalence rate between males and females (p=0.797). However, the percentage of underweight children was slightly higher among females (18.9%) compared to males (17.6%). There was no association between parents’ educational level or employment status and childhood malnutrition. There was no association between a family’s movement from their house and childhood malnutrition (p=0.322). Living in an unsafe neighbourhood and having a family member killed during the past five years were significantly associated with childhood malnutrition (p=0.016 and 0.018 respectively). Childhood malnutrition is still a public-health concern in Baghdad city, especially after the war of 2003. Malnutrition is significantly associated with living in unsafe neighbourhoods and at least one family member having been killed during the past five years.
ABSTRACT
Aim: To assess the effectiveness of groups counseling for smoking cessation among secondary school students. Methods: This study was conducted among secondary school students in two districts in Selangor Malaysia, during July 2005 until August 2006. Upon screening, 346 students were randomly assigned into intervention group (IG) (n=158) and non intervention group (NIG) (n=188). IG underwent structured group counseling regularly for four months, while no group counseling was given to the NIG but subjected to the regular smoking cessation activities organized by their respective schools. Knowledge and attitude towards smoking and quit rate were measured in both groups before intervention, and at 4, 8, and 12 months after intervention. Results: Revealed that students in IG had signifi cantly higher knowledge scores than those in NIG during follow-up visits (24.29+7.97 vs 23.58+8.44 on the fi rst visit), (29.10+8.52 vs 24.09+8.69 on the second visit) (26.59+8.26 vs 22.08+8.04 on the third visit) and (25.54+8.34 vs 21.26+9.60 on the fourth visit). Attitude scores were not signifi cantly different in both groups. Quit rate at four months after intervention was signifi cantly higher in IG as compared to the NIG (45%; 71/158 vs 32%; 60/188) (P=0.013). Conclusion: Group counseling is very effective in improving the respondents’ knowledge and quite rate, but not their attitudes toward smoking.
Subject(s)
Smoking Cessation , Adolescent , Malaysia , CounselingABSTRACT
Cervical cancers form the second highest number of female cancers in Malaysia, imposing a substantial amount of cost burden on its management. However, an estimation of cost burden of abnormal smears, cervical pre-invasive and invasive diseases needs to be done to show how much spending has been allocated to the problem. An expert panel committee came up with the clinical pathway and management algorithm of cervical pre invasive and invasive diseases from July-December 2006 Malaysia. An activity based costing for each clinical pathway was done. Results were converted to USD. The cost of managing pre-invasive cervical cancers stage is USD 420,150 (Range: USD 197,158-879,679). Management of invasive cancer (new cases) costs USD 51,533,233.44 (Range: USD 32,405,399.69 - USD 129,014,768.40). The cost of managing existing cases is USD 17,005,966.87 (Range: USD 10,693,781.90 - USD 28,901,587.12). The total cost of managing cervical cancers by health care providers in a public setting is around USD 75,888,329.45 (Range: USD 48,083,804.60 - USD 48,083,804.60). The outcome of this study has shown that preventive modalities such as screening have only contributed to 10.3 % of the total management cost of cervical cancer. The major cost contribution (67%) came from treatment of invasive cancer especially at more advanced stages of cancer, followed by treatment of existing cases (22%) and lastly on pre-invasive disease (0.6%). This study revealed that proportion of preventive modality in this country was still low, and the major cost came from actual treatment cost of cervical cancer. Therefore, heightened public cervical cancer screening in the country is needed.
Subject(s)
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms , MalaysiaABSTRACT
A randomized single blinded clinical trial to compare the cost-effectiveness of cataract surgery between extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) and phacoemulsification (PEA) was conducted at Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) from March 2000 until August 2001. The cost of a cataract surgery incurred by hospital, patients and households were calculated preoperatively, one week, two months (for both techniques) and six months (for ECCE only). Effectiveness of cataract surgery was assessed using Visual Function 14 (VF-14), quality of life measurement specifically for vision. The cost analysis results from each 50 subjects of ECCE and PEA group showed that average cost for one ECCE after six months post-operation is USD 458 (± USD 72) and for PEA is USD 528 (± USD 125). VF-14 score showed a significant increased after a week, two months and six months post-operation compared to the score before operation for both techniques (p<0.001). However, there was no significant difference between them (p = 0.225). This study indicated that ECCE is more cost effective compared to PEA with cost per one unit increment of VF-14 score of USD 14 compared to USD 20 for PEA.