No abstract

Background: Cervical cancer is the most common form of cancer among women developing countries. Pap smear is a very significant screening test for reduction of incidence and mortality from cervical cancer. The pap smear test  detect precancerous cell change on the cervix that might become cervical cancer if they are not treated appropriately. The objective of this research is to find out the knowledge and acceptability of cervical cancer screening among adult women. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was conducted among 425 gynecological patients of Bharatpur hospital OPD of 30 to59 years of age. Semi structured questionnaire was used in data collection. Results: The mean age of participants was 40.07±7.9 years. Majority of the respondents, 247 (58.1%) had good knowledge in cervical cancer screening and 282 (66.4%) of the respondent accepted Pap smear test. Mean knowledge score on sign and symptom of cervical cancer was 62.1%, in risk factor was 72.8% and in preventive measure was 82%. Study showed the association between respondents knowledge of cervical cancer screening with educational status (p=0.04), religion (p=0.01) at 0.05 level of significance. There was association between respondents’ level of knowledge and acceptability of cervical   cancer screening (p=0.02) at 0.05 level of significance. Conclusions: Majority of participant had never screened for cervical cancer, information get from health care provider was poor and acceptability rate is low. So the study recommends that health care provider should provide the information education and communication (IEC) at all level of delivery towards cervical cancer screening.

Background: Malnutrition is responsible directly or indirectly for over half of all childhood deaths. Infants and young children are higher risk of malnutrition from six months of age onwards. The aim of the present study was to assess the complementary feeding practice and nutritional status of children between 6-23 months attending pediatric OPD of Bharatpur Hospital, Chitwan, Nepal. Methods: A cross sectional, study was conducted among 333 mothers and their children aged 6-23 months from July to November 2022. The data was collected through semi-structured interview schedule from mothers along with infant anthropometric measurement. The data was analyzed in SPSS 26 version. Results: Overall prevalence of malnutrition was 46%. Among them the prevalence of wasting, stunting and under-weight were 35.29%, 32.67% and 32.02%, respectively. There were significant association between the education qualification, occupation of mother, type of delivery, number of children, timely introduction of complementary feeding, egg consumption, and on demand breastfeeding with wasting. Conclusions: Quiet practice of complementary feeding and noticeable prevalence of malnutrition were found among children 6-23 months of age children. These outcomes focus the need to increase the complementary feeding practices ultimately improve the nutritional status of children.