AWARENESS REGARDING PAP SMEAR AMONG WOMEN IN BAGHDAD CITY, IRAQ.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: The aim of this study was to determine the awareness level regarding pap smear in women living in Baghdad city, Iraq. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was done in 265 women living in Baghdad city using internet-based survey. Questionnaire was adopted from a previous study to measure the awareness level among women. RESULTS: Results: the results showed that only 8(3%) of the respondent had a family history of cervical cancer. Almost (94%) have heard about cervical cancer, while only (38%) knew that HPV virus is the cause of cervical cancer. Majority of the respondents (87%) heard about pap smear while only 67 (25.0 %) had performed pap smear before. A total of 86% agreed that early diagnosis is important in treating of the cervical cancer. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: Majority of women heard of cervical cancer and pap smear, but the level of its practice is still low with only 25% of respondents had performed it before. More health promotion is needed especially, at the primary care level regarding the importance of performing regular pap smear especially for women with family history of the cervical cancer.

Poor Knowledge and Practice Towards Breast Cancer among Women in Baghdad City, Iraq.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among females worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and practice about breast cancer and its related factors among women in Baghdad city, Iraq. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 508 women aged 18 to 55 years from four non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Baghdad city, Iraq. A self-administered questionnaire on breast cancer knowledge and practice was distributed to participants during weekly activity of the NGO. RESULTS: A total of 61.2% of the respondents had poor knowledge, only 30.3% performed breast self-examination (BSE) and 41.8% said that they did not know the technique to perform BSE. Associations between knowledge and marital status and age were significant. For practice, working status, education, age and family income were significant. After controlling for cofounders, the most important contributing factors for poor knowledge among respondents were marital status and not performing BSE, with adjusted odds ratio of 1.6 and 1.8 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancer knowledge and practice of BSE are poor among women in Baghdad city, Iraq. More promotion regarding breast cancer signs and symptoms and also how to perform BSE should be conducted using media such as television and internet as these constituted the main sources of information for most women in our study.

The Relationship between the Neighborhood Safety and Nutritional Status of Children in Baghdad City, Iraq.

Introduction. The neighborhoods where the children live play an important role in their development physically and mentally. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between neighborhood safety and child nutritional status in Baghdad city, Iraq. Methods. A cross-sectional study was carried out in Baghdad city, Iraq, among 400 primary school children from 4 schools. BMI-for-age Z score was used to assess the nutritional status of the children. Newly developed questionnaires on neighborhood safety were distributed to the parents to answer them. Results. In this study, males were more predominant than females with 215 participants compared to 185 females. A total of 49% were normal weight, 38.8% either overweight or obese, and only 12.2% underweight. There was a significant relationship between father education, father and mother working status, family income, and children nutritional status (P = 0.10, 0.009, <0.001, 0.37), respectively. The association between neighborhood safety variables and child nutritional status was significant except for worrying about child safety and thinking of leaving the neighborhood (P = 0.082, 0.084), respectively. Conclusion. Nutritional status of school children continues to be a public health issue in Iraq especially Baghdad city. There was a significant association between neighborhood safety and children nutritional status.