Patterns of Anemia in Married Women and Their Children in Cambodia: A Synthetic Cohort Analysis.

AIM: To explore the prevalence of anemia in three cohorts of women, namely, married yet to be mothers, married and are mothers, and currently pregnant, to ascertain the patterns in anemia in women. METHODS: We analyzed a sample of 130,965 married women from four Demographic Health Surveys: 2000, 2005, 2009 and 2015. The primary focus for the analysis was married women aged 15 to 49 years. In the absence of a longitudinal data that followed the same women over the periods, a synthetic cohort of the women of that age-group was constructed to get women aged 15 to 64 years over the four surveys. Women who were aged 15 to 19 years in 2000 were the same as those 30 to 34 years in 2015, while those aged 45 to 49 years in 2000 were the same as 60 to 64 years in 2015. RESULTS: Logistic regression revealed that young mothers were significantly more infected (p < .001). Pregnancy affected anemia in the women (p < .001). Being younger and richer were associated with odds ratios of 0.599 (95% confidence interval, CI: [0.560, 0.640]) and 0.765 (95% CI: [0.726, 0.807]) for anemia, respectively. Being pregnant had odds ratio of 1.642 (95% CI: [1.439, 1.872]) for anemia. CONCLUSION: Public health strategies should target social deprivation at the household level while addressing maternal health issues. An analysis of data on unmarried women and their children is recommended.

The place of autochthonous disease aetiology in mental health-seeking behaviors in a globalizing Nigerian community.

This study aimed at ascertaining the connection between disease aetiology of the autochthonous psychiatric health system and the current mental health-seeking behaviors of the Nsukka people. Structured participant observation was the principal method of collecting data. In-depth interview sessions were also held with elders in the communities. It was found that although there has been social contact and change among the Nsukka, the personalistic elements in the aetiology of their traditional psychiatric system still largely determined their mental health-seeking behaviors. Thus, they were found to be more at home with traditional healers and syncretic churches than orthodox mental healthcare. To be successful, any mental healthcare program in Nsukka ought to consider how orthodox mental health practitioners, traditional healers, and those who run prayer houses could be incorporated in a comprehensive community mental healthcare program.