Health needs assessment

This paper takes a public health approach to briefly examine: [i] the concept of community health care need assessment; [ii] the roles of academic institutions in health needs assessment; [iii] Jazan study to address the health care needs in Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. The methods included an analysis of the literature, distillation of experience from the recently Jazan Health Need Assessment Survey, and WHO reports. The most important perceived health problems in Jazan region are shortage of health care providers, increased prevalence of communicable diseases and poor environmental health. The academic institutions, Ministry of Health and other health care institutions need to work together to look for innovative approaches, especially to increase the awareness of the society on public health issues, and give more support to increase national and regional finding for community based studies. The findings of the assessment of the health needs of Jazan presented in this review could be utilized as a baseline and reference information for policy formulation, subsequent planning and cost effective intervention programs. It could also be utilized for the curriculum development or review for a community oriented medical schools

study of maternal dietary intake during pregnancy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

This study was carried out to evaluate the dietary nutrient intake of pregnant women. The relationship between dietary intake and pregnancy outcome was also studied. A total of 114 pregnant women were studied, using systematic random sampling. The percentages of the mean nutrient intake below the recommended dietary allowances [RDA] for pregnant women were as the follows: 51.8%, 93.9%, 82.5% and 98.2% for energy, vitamin B1, calcium and iron, respectively. Moreover, 13.2% of the women experienced some form of pica. Using height and mid-arm circumferences, about 2.8% and 4.4% were seen to be undernourished respectively. Saudi pregnant women need guidance in selecting nutrient dense foods to reduce maternal and outcome health hazards

Malnutrition among hospitalized patients in king Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh

The present study was undertaken to determine the incidence of malnutrition among hospitalized patients. A cross-sectional study of patients were evaluated for findings suggestive of protein calorie malnutrition [PCM]. Hundred and sixty patients admitted to the medical and surgical wards over a period of five months were studied. Anthropometrics and biochemical measurements were used. Nutrition status was calculated based on some nutrition parameters-weight for height, midarm, circumference, serum albumin and total lymphocyte count. Anthropometric measurements, weight for height and midarm circumference reflected malnutrition [PCM] of 33.8% and 30% respectively. The overall prevalence of obesity was 21%. A higher proportion [23.9%] of medical cases were found to be obese compared to surgical cases [19.7%]. If malnutrition can be documented on hospital admission, attempts can be made to reverse malnutrition in the high risk patients