Suchergebnisse

SUMMARY. Health education is seen as the only effective method of combating the spread of AIDS, until an adequate immunisation procedure is discovered. The use of both information and education within schools is discussed, particularly emphasising the need for schools and the community child health services to work closely together. The article represents the views of the authors and is not an official document

Background ompliance is a critical issue for parental questionnaires in school based epidemiological surveys and high compliance is difficult to achieve. The objective of this study was to determine trends and factors associated with parental questionnaire compliance during respiratory health surveys of school children in Merseyside between 1991 and 2006. Methods Four cross-sectional respiratory health surveys employing a core questionnaire and methodology were conducted in 1991, 1993, 1998 and 2006 among 5-11 year old children in the same 10 schools in Bootle and 5 schools in Wallasey, Merseyside. Parental compliance fell sequentially in consecutive surveys. This analysis aimed to determine the association of questionnaire compliance with variation in response rates to specific questions across surveys, and the demographic profiles for parents of children attending participant schools. Results Parental questionnaire compliance was 92% (1872/2035) in 1991, 87.4% (3746/4288) in 1993, 78.1% (1964/2514) in 1998 and 30.3% (1074/3540) in 2006. The trend to lower compliance in later surveys was consistent across all surveyed schools. Townsend score estimations of socio-economic status did not differ between schools with high or low questionnaire compliance and were comparable across the four surveys with only small differences between responders and non-responders to specific core questions. Respiratory symptom questions were mostly well answered with fewer than 15% of non-responders across all surveys. There were significant differences between mean child age, maternal and paternal smoking prevalence, and maternal employment between the four surveys (all p<0.01). Out-migration did not differ between surveys (p=0.256) with three quarters of parents resident for at least 3 years in the survey areas. Conclusion Methodological differences or changes in socio-economic status of respondents between surveys were unlikely to explain compliance differences. Changes in maternal employment patterns may have been contributory. This analysis demonstrates a major shift in community parental questionnaire compliance over a 15 year period to 2006. Parental questionnaire compliance must be factored into survey designs and methodologies.

Abstract Background Compliance is a critical issue for parental questionnaires in school based epidemiological surveys and high compliance is difficult to achieve. The objective of this study was to determine trends and factors associated with parental questionnaire compliance during respiratory health surveys of school children in Merseyside between 1991 and 2006. Methods Four cross-sectional respiratory health surveys employing a core questionnaire and methodology were conducted in 1991, 1993, 1998 and 2006 among 5-11 year old children in the same 10 schools in Bootle and 5 schools in Wallasey, Merseyside. Parental compliance fell sequentially in consecutive surveys. This analysis aimed to determine the association of questionnaire compliance with variation in response rates to specific questions across surveys, and the demographic profiles for parents of children attending participant schools. Results Parental questionnaire compliance was 92% (1872/2035) in 1991, 87.4% (3746/4288) in 1993, 78.1% (1964/2514) in 1998 and 30.3% (1074/3540) in 2006. The trend to lower compliance in later surveys was consistent across all surveyed schools. Townsend score estimations of socio-economic status did not differ between schools with high or low questionnaire compliance and were comparable across the four surveys with only small differences between responders and non-responders to specific core questions. Respiratory symptom questions were mostly well answered with fewer than 15% of non-responders across all surveys. There were significant differences between mean child age, maternal and paternal smoking prevalence, and maternal employment between the four surveys (all p<0.01). Out-migration did not differ between surveys (p=0.256) with three quarters of parents resident for at least 3 years in the survey areas. Conclusion Methodological differences or changes in socio-economic status of respondents between surveys were unlikely to explain compliance differences. Changes in maternal employment patterns may have been contributory. This analysis demonstrates a major shift in community parental questionnaire compliance over a 15 year period to 2006. Parental questionnaire compliance must be factored into survey designs and methodologies.

Update of earlier publication " Maternal and child health programs : legislative base." ; Mode of access: Internet.

BACKGROUND Rural infant growth failure has been highlighted as a priority for action in China's national nutrition and child development policies. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effect of community-based intervention project on child feeding, child health care and child growth. METHODS From 2001 to 2005, UNICEF and China's Ministry of Health worked together to develop holistic strategies for child health care. All the interventions were implemented through the three-tier (county-township-village) rural health care network.In this study, 34 counties were included in both surveys in 2001 and 2005. Among these 34 counties, nine were subjected to the intervention and 25 counties were used as controls. In nine intervention counties, leaflets containing information of supplemental feeding of infants and young children were printed and distributed to women during hospital delivery or visit to newborn by village doctors. Two cross-sectional surveys were both conducted from July to early September in 2001 and 2005. We calculated Z-scores of height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ) and weight-for-height (WHZ), with the new WHO growth standard. HAZ < - 2 was defined as stunting, WAZ < - 2 was defined as underweight, and WHZ < - 2 was defined as wasting. RESULTS Following the four-year study period, the parents in the intervention group showed significantly better infant and young child feeding practices and behaviors of child care than did their control group counterparts. In addition, all three anthropometric indicators in 2005 in the intervention group were better than in the control, with stunting 4.9% lower (p < 0.001), underweight 2.2% lower (p < 0.001), and wasting 1.0% lower (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS We concluded that the health care education intervention embed in government had the potential to be successfully promoted in rural western China.

"Combines the 2 earlier publications: Legislative base maternal and child health programs and Supplement to legislative base maternal and child health programs." ; Mode of access: Internet.

The current study, sponsored by UNICEF/Jerusalem, was carried out by the National Plan of Action Secretariat for Palestinian Children and the Institute of Community & Public Health / Birzeit University, between November 2005 and March 2006. One of the objectives of the study was to collect information on existing Child Rights and Protection policies and structures in five selected countries in the MENA region in addition to the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). The other aim of the study was to carry out a survey of the different child protection services within the oPt that target especially vulnerable groups of children. The methodology included a review of available documents on child protection systems in the five countries in the MENA region and in the oPt. For the survey on service providers, a questionnaire was designed and tested. Two hundred and thirty one institutions ranging from the Palestinian Authority, UNRWA, NGOs to the charitable sector were interviewed, mainly by telephone. Results show wide variations among the different countries analyzed, namely Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Tunisia, in their approaches to ensuring the rights and protection of children. A major difference lies with the reliance on governmental structures as opposed to nongovernmental ones, while no system has proven to be most effective. Each of these countries has one main body with the primary responsibility to monitor or ensure children's rights. In the oPt, no such body exists. Structures are still rudimentary, with a lack of development and sustained coordination between the main stakeholders and the relevant sectors. The results of the mapping of child protection services in the oPt show that 26% of these focus on disabilities (26%) often targeting adults as well as children. Twenty-two percent of services target the poor, 20% children without family care, 12% victims of Israeli occupation and war, and 11% abuse and neglect. Three percent of services address the needs of children in conflict with the law, 3% child laborers, and 2% provide support for children in Israeli detention. Finally, 4 organizations provide support for children with special problems: children with cancer and their families and victims of substance abuse. Of the institutions interviewed, 53% are charitable organizations. Another 33% of the institutions are Palestinian and international NGOs (60% and 17% of the institutions, respectively), with government institutions at 11% and finally, UNRWA. The overall distribution of services reveals a significant imbalance in favor of the West Bank over the Gaza Strip, with 72% of the surveyed institutions located in the West Bank and only 28% in the Gaza Strip. Distribution of services between districts and by locality is also uneven, leaving the bulk of the rural population most disadvantaged in terms of access to and quality of services. Only about half of the interviewees said they were aware of the Palestinian Child Law, while over 88% of the interviewees reported they had heard of the concept of child protection. More than half of the service providers (55%) said their institutions were unable to reach all children in need. As for challenges, the two most important ones are related to financial constraints (26%) and the Israeli military occupation (26%). Nearly a quarter of the respondents criticized the role of PA institutions, in particular for the lack of law implementation, policies and coordination especially with regard to special needs. In conclusion, the results show a concerted effort to address the issue of child protection in five of the Arab countries. A similar attempt is made in the oPt to address this issue within both the political and social context with NGO's as the main service providers.