Prevalence and risk factors for spousal violence among women attending health care centres in Alexandria, Egypt

We conducted a cross-sectional survey to determine the prevalence of, and factors affecting, spousal violence among 3271 ever-married women attending 12 randomly selected family health centres in Alexandria Governorate. More than three-quarters of the participants [77%] reported experiencing spousal violence during their marital life. Emotional violence was the most common type reported [71.0%], followed by physical [50.3%], economic [40.8%] and sexual [37.1%] violence. The study confirms the high prevalence of spousal violence across all socioeconomic strata. Logistic regression analysis indicated large family size, divorce or separation, low educational attainment of husband, smoking habit and drug use in husband, husband's psychological status and history of exposure to physical violence during adolescence were associated with spousal violence. This high rate of spousal violence highlights the urgent need for government and civil society to address the issue, which hinders progress toward Egypt's development goals

Late booking for antenatal care in El-Zagazig

The present study was conducted to determine the pattern of booking for antenatal care services among attendants of MCH centers in El- Zagazig city and the factors affecting it. Pregnant females attending for their first antenatal visit in 2 MCH centers represented the study sample [484 pregnant women]. The results revealed that about 80% of them were late bookers [>16 weeks of gestation]. The logistic regression analysis showed that marriage duration of 10 /<15 years, unwanted pregnancies by wife, and complicated puerperium were predictor of early booking. Accessibility of MCH centers as well as previous experience with it played a minor or no role towards improving the pattern of booking. Although, the majority of early and late bookers mentioned that the purpose of their visit is antenatal care [preventive purpose], more than half of late bookers did not give a definite reason for late booking and 18% of them had wrong or no information. Health education activities are required to motivate pregnant females to attend for antenatal care once pregnancy is suspected. Extending the family planning activities to satisfy the unmet needs is also necessary