Utilization of maternal and child health services in an Egyptian village

This study was conducted at Nawag village, Gharbia Governorate A random sample [one half] of the village was chosen, surveying the women at childbearing age in this locality to investigate the state of utilization of M.C.H. services. The results of the study revealed underutilization of services given through the local health unit as only 34.25% of the studied women attended the health unit either for antenatal care, vaccination against tetanus and/or seeking medical treatment. This under-utilization was mainly due to inability of those women to foresee the role of M.C.H. center and the beneficial effect of antenatal care followed by home duties and dissatisfaction with the authorities of health services. On the other hand, motivation for utilization was mainly local announcement by the health authority and advice from relatives and friends. It was also found that morbidites related to pregnancy and child birth were more frequent among non-utilizers than utilizers of these health services

Female circumcision in a rural community in Egypt

This study was conducted at Nawag Village, Gharbia Governorate, Egypt and included 100 married women chosen randomly from those attending the M.C.H. centre during a period of two months [January and February 1994]. All of them were circumcised, 43% and 44% of them were first and second degree circumcision respectively and only 13% were third degree. The fourth degree [pharaonic type] was not recorded. The study revealed no statistically significant relation between the degree of circumcision and the sexual activity. Age, parity and employment of the studied women affect the type of the sexual problem rather than its occurrence. The study also reported a favourable significant effect of hormonal contraception on sexual activity