Evaluation of a school-based health education model in schistosomiasis: a randomized community trial

The objectives of this study were to develop a schistosomiasis health education model and to evaluate its effectiveness in changing knowledge, attitudes and schistosomal infection rate among Egyptian primary school children. A randomized community trial of three pairs of comparable schools in rural areas was implemented. The study revealed a significant improvement in knowledge and attitudes as well as a reduction of schistosomal infection 1 year post-intervention in the intervention schools of pairs I and II. However, the improvements in knowledge in the intervention school of pair III were not accompanied by significant changes in attitude or schistosomal infection

Comparative study on: morbidity and mortality among neonates of gestational and frank diabetic mothers

The aim of this work was to study pregnancy outcome among gestational and frank diabetic mothers in comparison to non diabetic mothers. A case control study was done including all diabetic mothers who delivered in Ain Shame Maternity Hospital [ASMH] in 1992 plus an equal number of non diabetic mothers as a control group. Two hundred and three cases were delivered in ASMH during 1992; 132 of them were frank diabetics and 71 were gestational diabetics. It was found that there were no significant differences between neonates of gestational diabetic mothers [NGDM] and neonates of frank diabetic mothers [NFDM] regarding perinatal mortality rate, stillbirth rate, gestational age, mode of delivery and birth weight [p > 0.05]. Meanwhile, there were significant differences between neonates of diabetic mothers and control group regarding all previous variables [p < 0.01]. Macrosomia was found in 42.3% of NGDM and 9.9% of NFDM [p < 0.001]. Low birth weight was found in 12.7% of NGDM and 0.8% of NFDM [p < 0.001]. Respiratory distress was significantly higher in NGDM [16.9%] than NFDM [6.8%] [p < 0.05]. Regarding metabolic disorders and sepsis, there were no significant differences between NGDM and NFDM, while there were significant differences between total neonates of diabetic mothers and the control group [p < 0.05]. It was concluded that gestational diabetes is as important as frank diabetes and even has a more dangerous sequel. It is recommended to pay more attention to diagnosis and management of gestational diabetes

Vaccination coverage before and after primary health care implementation and trend of target diseases in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia

There were two objectives of this study. The first was to determine the impact of vaccination coverage in the first year of life on the trend of the expanded program of immunization [EPI] target diseases in Al Hassa. The second was to determine the impact of primary health care [PHC] implementation in Al Hassa on vaccination coverage. A correlation matrex was computed for all the variables to determine the correlation between vaccination coverage by type of vaccine and reported cases of EPI target diseases. A negative correlation was noticed between Bacillus Culmette Guerine [BCG], Oral Polio Vaccine [OPV], Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus [DPT] and measles vaccine and reported cases of corresponding diseases. This negative correlation was significant [P = 0.043] between measles vaccine and reported measles cases. The average vaccination coverage in the first year of life based on the total number of births significantly increased in 1988 and 1989 compared to the preceding four years [P < 0.01]. It is concluded that with increased vaccination coverage in the first year of life against EPI target diseases, the number of reported corresponding diseases decreased, and that PHC implementation improved the vaccination coverage in Al Hassa