METHODS: A qualitative approach was adopted to gain a deeper understanding of community residents' knowledge, attitudes and perceptions regarding antibiotics and ABR. A purposive sampling was employed. Twenty-two residents (aged ≥18 years) were interviewed with the aid of a semi-structured interview guide. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.
RESULTS: The majority of the participants asserted that antibiotics could be effective against viral infections. Moreover, many participants were unaware that antibiotics have adverse effects. Some acquired antibiotics from a community pharmacy without a prescription, took antibiotics given to them by their family or friends, or took leftover antibiotics prescribed for a previous illness. A few indicated that they would request antibiotics from their physician when they had viral infections. More than half of the participants discontinued taking antibiotics when their symptoms improved. The majority stated that ABR occurs when the body becomes used to antibiotics. Most participants were unaware of the causes, consequences and prevention of ABR. In fact, they were not concerned about it. As a result, only a few perceived themselves as having responsibility for preventing this problem.
CONCLUSIONS: The community residents had misconceptions about antibiotics and ABR, negative attitudes towards antibiotics and negative perceptions of ABR. The areas of focus that need to be addressed when designing an educational intervention to increase the general public knowledge and change their attitudes and perceptions are the appropriate use of antibiotics and their adverse effects; the importance of adhering to antibiotic therapy; and the definition, causes, consequences and prevention of ABR.
Methods: This study included 224 mothers of under-five children living in urban slums of Udupi Taluk, Karnataka. A total of 17 urban slums were selected randomly using random cluster sampling.
Results: Undernutrition was high among children of illiterate mothers (63.8%), and the children of working mothers were affected by more morbidity (96.6%) as compared with housewives. Morbidity was also found to be high among children belonging to families with low incomes (66.1%) and low socio-economic backgrounds (93.1%). Safe drinking water, water supply, sanitation, hygiene, age of the child, mother's and father's education, mother's occupation and age, number of children in the family, use of mosquito nets, type of household, and family income were significantly associated with child morbidity, nutritional status, immunization status, and personal hygiene of under-five children living in urban slums.
Conclusion: Overall, in our study, family characteristics including parental education, occupation and income were significantly associated with outcomes among under-five children. The availability of safe drinking water and sanitation, and the use of mosquito nets to prevent vector-borne diseases are basic needs that need to be urgently met to improve child health.
Funding: Self-funded.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2012 among the Kerinchi suburban community. Of the total 3,716 individuals surveyed, young single adults between 18 and 35 years old were questioned with regard to their experience with unplanned pregnancy before marriage. Contraceptive knowledge was assessed by a series of questions on identification of method types and the affectivity of condoms for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.
RESULTS: A total of 226 female and 257 male participants completed the survey. In total, eight female (3.5%) participants reported experience with an unplanned pregnancy before marriage, and five male (1.9 %) participants had the experience of impregnating their partners. The participants had a mean total score of 3.15 (SD = 1.55) for contraceptive knowledge out of a possible maximum score of five. Female participants who had experienced an unplanned pregnancy had a significantly lower contraceptive knowledge score (2.10 ± 1.48) than who had never experienced pregnancy (3.30 ± 1.35), p<0.05. Likewise, male participants who had experienced impregnating their partners had a significantly lower contraceptive knowledge score (1.60 ± 1.50) than those who did not have such experience (3.02 ± 1.59), p<0.05.
CONCLUSION: The results showed evidence of premarital unplanned pregnancy among this suburban community. The low level of contraceptive knowledge found in this study indicates the need for educational strategies designed to improve contraceptive knowledge.
METHODS: This was an exploratory qualitative study conducted via semi-structured interviews with twenty-two women who were married when they were younger than 18 years old in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Participants were recruited through purposive and convenient sampling with the use of data from a reproductive health clinic and recruitment in villages. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis.
RESULTS: Four overarching themes were identified: health risk behaviour, family poverty, early marriage as fate, and family disharmony.
CONCLUSIONS: In-depth understanding of the unique factors leading to child marriage locally will facilitate the introduction of new approaches to interventions to eradicate child marriage in Sarawak state, Malaysia.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a low-income housing area in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Data were collected using a questionnaire via face-to-face interviews by trained enumerators in order to obtain details on sociodemographic characteristics and dietary practices.
Results: Descriptive statistics showed that 86.7% of the respondents in the low-income community consumed fruit and vegetables less than five times per day, 11.7% consumed carbonated and sweetened drinks more than twice per day and about 25% consumed fast food more than four times per month. In total, 65.2% (n=945) did not have healthy dietary practices. Binary logistic regression showed that age, education and ethnicity were significant predictors of unhealthy dietary practices among the low-income community. Those in the 30-59 years age group had higher odds (odds ratio 1.65, p=0.04) of practising an unhealthy diet as compared with those older than 60 years of age.
Conclusion: Unhealthy dietary practices were found to be common among the low-income group living in an urban area. Healthy lifestyle intervention should be highlighted so that it can be adopted in the low-income group.