WHO South-East Asia journal of public health最新文献

Introduction: Approximately 9.2 million refugees live in Asia, with most originating from Afghanistan and Myanmar, and half of them are women, girls, and children. Humanitarian crises disrupt the existing health-care system, limiting access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. This review explores the SRH status of Afghan and Rohingya refugee women of reproductive age in Asia and their needs and experiences in accessing these services and commodities.

Materials and methods: We used the PRISMA checklist and searched for qualitative and quantitative peer-reviewed studies from five online bibliographic databases, SCOPUS, EMBASE (Ovid), MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL, and PROQUEST, from January 2000 to April 2021. Content analysis was undertaken following the minimum initial service package objectives.

Results: Fifteen studies were included in this review from four countries: Bangladesh (5), Pakistan (5), Iran (4), and Malaysia (1). Approximately 50.91% of Rohingya and 54% of Afghan refugee women used contraceptives. About 56.6% of Afghan refugee mothers experienced pregnancy-related complications, one-third received antenatal care, and low birth weight was 2.6 times higher among infants born to Afghan refugee mothers than to Pakistani-born mothers. One out of five Rohingya women received delivery-related care. Approximately 72% of Rohingya and 79.8% of Afghan refugee women had experienced gender-based violence, and 56.5% of Rohingya women engaged in unwanted sexual intercourse with their husbands.

Conclusion: Social norms, stigma, cultural values, distrust of providers, inadequate staff, and prohibition by family members limit their access to SRH services and influence their needs, knowledge, and perceptions regarding SRH.

Background: Respectful maternity care (RMC) is a basic right of all pregnant women. The study identifies the sociodemographic and economic factors influencing disrespect and abuse (D&A) faced by women during pregnancy, childbirth, and immediate postpartum period in India.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted across six health facilities in three states of India from June 2019 to June 2020 among 401 women aged 18 years or more who had a live birth within the past 2 months of data collection. A validated structured interview schedule was used to capture data on sociodemographic and economic characteristics; antenatal, intranatal, and postnatal history; and incidences of D&A based on Bowser's seven domains of RMC. Ordered logistic regression was done to identify the determinant of high D&A.

Results: The composite score of D&A ranged from 0 to 48 with a median interquartile range of 13 (9-17). All women faced one or the other kind of D&A. Women with the lowest food security (odds ratio [OR] = 3.3; 95% confidence interval: 1.6-6.7), who did not avail any antenatal care from the facility (OR = 1.9 [1.1-3.2]), and in the lowest wealth index (OR = 2.2 [1.3-3.7]) faced more D&A than those with high food security, more than two ANC services from same health facility, and in the high wealth index, respectively. Women who had low mobility score experienced lower D&A (OR = 0.5 [0.3-0.8]) as compared to the women with a high mobility score. Nonconsented care, nonconfidential care, and physical discomfort were the most common types of D&A.

Conclusions: RMC is directly associated with socioeconomic status of women. Policy and program interventions are needed to address the inequity in health service care provision and expanding the social security net for women.

Context: Self-protective behavior (SPB) plays a significant role in controlling the spread of infection of a pandemic like coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Little research has been conducted to examine critical factors influencing SPB, especially in a developing country like Bangladesh.

Aims: This study aimed to develop and test a theoretical model based on the extended information-motivation-behavior (IMB) skills model to investigate factors associated with SPB among Bangladeshi people.

Methods: An online, cross-sectional survey was conducted on Bangladesh citizens (18 years and older) from June 1 and July 31, 2020. A total of 459 responses were used to assess the proposed model's overall fit and test the hypothesized relationships among the model constructs.

Statistical analysis used: The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling to identify relationships among model variables.

Results: Health information-seeking behavior, health motivation, self-efficacy, and health consciousness (HC) (P < 0.05) had a significant impact on SPB among Bangladeshi people. The results identified the consequences of various degrees of HC on SPB in the COVID-19 outbreak.

Conclusions: This study confirms the IMB model's applicability for analyzing SPB among people in developing countries like Bangladesh. The findings of this study could guide policymakers to develop and implement targeted strategies to ensure timely and transparent information for motivating people to improve SPB during the COVID-19 and in case of a future outbreak of an epidemic.

Introduction: The predominant form of tobacco consumption among women from many Asian countries, including India, is smokeless tobacco (SLT). The present study aimed to assess the prevalence and socioeconomic determinants of SLT use among Indian women.

Methodology: The study used data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey-2, India, conducted during 2016-2017, with a sample size of 40,265 women aged 15 years and above. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were applied with the current use of SLT as the dependent variable to find the sociodemographic factors associated with it.

Results: Overall, 12.8% (95% confidence interval [CI]; 12.4-13.1) of all women and 7.4% (CI: 6.0-8.8) of pregnant women reported SLT use. Its use was higher among women >50 years (23.1%, CI: 22.2-23.8), and those from northeast India (34.9%, CI: 33.8-36.0). Adjusted odds of using SLT were higher among older women (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 5.8, CI: 4.5-7.3), women from rural areas (AOR: 1.5, CI: 1.4-1.7), and women belonging to scheduled tribe (AOR: 2.4, CI: 2.2-2.7) as compared to their counterparts. In addition, poor (AOR: 2.6; 95% CI, 2.4-2.8) and middle class (AOR: 1.8; 95% CI, 1.7-2.0) women were more likely to use SLT compared to their rich counterparts. The use of SLT within 30 min of waking up in the morning was seen in 57.2 percent of women users. SLT prevalence was highest among Mizo-speaking women (46.1%, CI: 42.6-49.6), followed by Manipuri (38.9%, CI: 35.5-42.2), Odiya (34.4%), and Khasi (34%, CI: 29.8-38.2).

Conclusions: There is an imperative need for women-centric schemes on SLT cessation, with special attention to older women, pregnant women, from rural areas, poor households, and the north-eastern region of India.

Background: As a health-related behavior, physical activity (PA) differs according to individual's socioeconomic status (SES). This study aimed to assess the socioeconomic difference in leisure-time PA among Iranian students and their parents at national and regional levels.

Study design: Nationwide cross-sectional study.

Methods: This study was conducted as part of a national survey conducted in 2015 among 14400 Iranian students and their parents. Total PA level was measured as the average hours spent on PA per week. Nonlinear principal component analysis was used to construct the households' SES based on household's assets, type of house ownership, occupation of fathers and the educational levels of fathers and mothers. Concentration index was applied to measure the inequality in the PA level in parents and students.

Results: Complete data of 13313 students and their parents were available. At the national level, students spent more hours of PA per week (3.753 h per week [h/w]) as compared to their parents. Moreover, PA h/w was higher in fathers (3.488 h/w) as compared to mothers (2.763 h/w). The lowest means of mother's and student's PA were found in the highest SES region. At national level, the concentration indices (CI) of father's and mother's PA were -0.050 (95% CI = -0.067 ~ -0.030) and -0.028 (95% CI = -0.044 ~ -0.012), respectively, indicating pro-poor inequality, but the CI value of student PA was non-significant (CI = -0.007, 95% CI = -0.023-0.008).

Conclusions: Given that the mother's and student's PA level was low in the high SES regions, it is suggested that focused PA planning may further increase the level of PA across higher SES regions and might be effective in reducing the PA inequality.