Postpartum women's knowledge, attitudes and practices related to postnatal care and problems: a comparative Egyptian study

Opjective: to show residential differentials in characteristics of postpartum women and their knowledge, attitudes and practices related to postnatal care and problems

Methods: a community-based study was carried out in the Wassat region of Alexandria in the year 2002. Two hundred urban and rural postpartum women were selected at random from birth registries in two health centers and visited at their homes

Results: Significant differences in demographic and maternity features of urban and rural women and in their use of maternity care as well as in their experiences of postnatal complications were observed. The study indicated that the median percent scores of women's knowledge about postnatal complications and services rendered during home visits were very low. Urban women were more knowledgeable about postpartum complications and services rendered during clinic check up. Rural women were more likely than their urban counterparts to rate seriousness of postnatal complications as not serious at all, and that both home visits and clinic check up are not important at all. Considering the factors related to women's knowledge, education of both urban and rural women played a significant positive role, while parity had a significant positive effect among urban ones. On the other hand, attending antenatal care and delivery assisted by midwives were significant positive factors among rural women. Attitudes of urban women played a significant role on utilization of postnatal maternity care

Conclusion: urban and rural postpartum women differ significantly in their characteristics, knowledge, attitudes and utilization of postnatal care. Several recommendations were forwarded mainly planning and implementing of an effective communication education intervention, raising the level of women's education, and promotion and improvement of attendance and quality of maternity care

Assessment of mother's knowledge, practice and attitude about vaccination services in Alexandria

Vaccination is and effective tool for the prevention of communicable diseases. Public awareness has a considerable bearing on the success of any immunization programme. The aim of the study is to assess knowledge, practice and attitude of the mothers about vaccination services in Alexandria. Home visits were carried out to a cluster sample of 210 mothers. They were interviewed to assess their knowledge, practice and degree of satisfaction about vaccination as consumers of the services. Data analysis revealed that mothers were knowledgable about the importance of vaccination. The majority of them had completed the schedule of compulsory vaccination on time. Almost two thirds of mothers were satisfied with the available services provided to them by the health facility. More health education is recommended to accompany every vaccination session with better communication with mothers

Accident rates and severity in textile companies in Kafr El- Dawar: an epidemiologic study

Accident records have been studied in four companies having similar activities to point out the risk factors. The companies studied were Misr Dying, Misr Rayon and Misr Dying and Chemicals Companies. The accident frequency and disability rate were in Misr Dying and Misr Rayon Co.. The differences have been attributed to differences in the personal characteristics of workers and environmental conditions in the factories. The highest mean age of injured workers was in Misr Dying Co. and the longest duration of work was in Misr Textile Co. The cause of accidents was related to the nature of work, thus in Misr Dying and Misr Rayon Co. the accidents were more in the productive group and they were slipping or being struck by falling objects. Workers injured in Misr Dying and Chemical Co. were doing technical work, they mainly suffered from poisoning. Injuries by machines were more among auxillaries in Misr Textile Co. The site of injury in the different companies differs, this can be explained by the difference in cause of accidents. The flying objects in Misr Textile Co. and Misr Dying and Chemical Co. explain why more eye injuries were encountered among them. More hand injuries in Misr Textile Co. can be explained also by the high rate of machines as a cause of accidents there

Knowledge of rural and urban dwellers about types, effectiveness and side effects of contraceptives: a comparative study

The cross sectional approach was selected, where two areas where chosen. A rural community Sidi Gazi in Bohira Governorate [n=266], and urban district Derbalah in Alexandria [n=323]. The result of the present study shows that, significantly more illiterate women were encountered among rural than urban area, also the study portrays that, the majority of women were housewives in both samples, yet more housewives were encountered among rural women. As regard acceptance of family planning a significant difference was observed between two samples, the same trend was seen when only illiterate women were compared, and when housewives only were included. Significantly more women in the urban area mentioned different methods of contraceptives. The same trend also was observed when illiterate and housewives were compared each separately. More women in rural than urban area were unable to identify the best method of contraceptives. Women in the urban sample than rural were more likely to state that pills were the most available one, however, I.U.Ds were stated more by rural women. The study shows no significant differences between the two groups as regards the causes of failure of family planning programme

Epidemiological features of breast cancer: a retrospective study; Part III: the odd risk of some hormonal aspects

The index sample was female patients attending Alexandria University Main Hospital at the Surgical and radiotherapy departments as well as the Medical Research Institute during the year 1982-1983 [n=174]. The control group included 171 patients from the same Hospital thoroughly examined to exclude the presence of breast lump. The aim of this study is to find out the extent of risk from cancer breast as regards regularity of menstruation, artificial menopause, use of contraceptive pills and exposure to hormonal treatment. The study revealed that breast cancer risk was significantly higher among pill users as well as those receiving hormonal treatment for whatever reason [excluding the present condition]. Artificial menopause seemed to have a protective value

Disability rates, degree and cause of disability in Kafr El Dawar: an epidemiologic study

Disability indicators are helpful for planning rehabilitation services and for preventive and curative activities. They help in pre-employment examination for workers and for periodic screening. In this work we studied the disability rates of industrial and non-industrial workers. The reference population was records of workers claiming disability in Kafr El-Dawar Health Insurance. Complete and partial disability rates recorded were higher among the non-industrial than the industrial group. Diseases of circulatory system as well as mental disorders were the leading cause for complete and partial disability for the industrial workers, while diseases of the nervous system, sensory organs and infectious diseases were the cause in the non-industrial group. Administrative workers are more liable to partial disability than other categories except clerks; the leading cause was diseases of the circulatory system. Efforts should be done to cover all sectors of population medically

study of patients with acute poisoning admitted to Alexandria main university hospital during the year 1977

During the year 1977, 1830 patients with acute poisoning were admitted to Alexandria Main University Hospital, constituting 12% of the total medical admissons. These cases were analysed as regards age, sex, days of admission, duration of stay in hospital and type of poisoning. The females outnumbered males. More than half the cases were in the age group 15 to 25 years. Saturday showed most of the admissions. More cases were admitted during July and August. Moharem Bey is the district referring most of the cases. The highest load of admission was during the night shift. The type of poisoning was known in 67.3%. Three quarters of the patients stayed in the hospital less than one day