Articles: health.
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Severe anaemia has remained a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children of Southern Ghana since the early 1960s. 71.1% of 15450 children attending the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra referred to the laboratory for haematological studies had haemoglobin (HB) levels below 11.0 Gm/dl while 27.7% of anaemic patients had Hb levels below 7.0 gm/dl. Indeed, 71.1% of children with severe anaemia had Hb levels below 5.0 gm/dl, thus requiring urgent blood transfusion. ⋯ Iron deficiency was the commonest cause of anaemia and contributed further to the anaemias of sickle cell disease and protein--energy malnutrition. In the light of the significant decline in the prevalence of childhood anaemia in the developed world following improved counseling in nutrition, fortification of foods with iron, and iron supplementation to infants and school children, and the documented attendant improvement in growth velocity and intellectual performance we support the planned national anaemia survey and recommend for early consideration iron supplementation to older infants and pre-school children at risk.
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To describe infant feeding practices in rural Senegal in relation to age and nutritional status. The main hypothesis to be tested was whether mothers modulate feeding in response to growth and nutritional status of their infants. ⋯ Mothers preferentially fed gruel to small, thin infants.
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Barriers to increased breastfeeding rates in Chengdu, Sichuan were investigated in 1992 and 1993. Responses of focus groups showed that ignorance about breastfeeding and belief that the mother's milk was inadequate, and lack of support from their families, places of employment, and the health system acted as barriers to the women's breastfeeding their infants up to the age of four to six months. ⋯ Both studies showed that infants who roomed with their mothers after birth were more likely to have been put to their mother's breast earlier, fed colostrum, breastfed somewhat longer, and exclusively breastfed for a somewhat longer period, although their mothers' infant feeding knowledge did not differ. The researchers conclude that Chengdu health workers should teach parents and parents-to-be more about breastfeeding, and that rooming-in be expanded in Chengdu hospitals.
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Comparative Study
Are primary care residents adequately prepared to care for women of reproductive age?
A 1991 study of 115 internal medicine and 28 family practice residents at a large inner-city public hospital finds that both groups would perform poorly in providing preconception counseling to women of reproductive age. More than 40% of residents failed to indicate that they would provide a healthy woman with information on rubella immunization and family planning or counseling on sexually transmitted diseases and safer sex. ⋯ Although both internal medicine and family practice residents had positive attitudes toward offering preconception care, family practice residents had significantly higher attitude scores. No clear improvement was found in patient management, attitude or knowledge scores as residents progressed from their first to their third year of training.