Background: Breastfeeding and proper weaning contribute to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In Egypt, by age 4-5 months, only 13% of infants are exclusively breastfed. A survey conducted in Egyptian hospitals concluded that many of the 10 steps to support successful breastfeeding were not executed correctly and other steps were not executed at all. Aims: To explore the patterns of feeding and weaning among infants in Egypt, and identify their determinants, to improve practice and promote children's nutritional status. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study of 333 mother-infant pairs attending two primary healthcare (PHC) centres for vaccination sessions between April 2017 and June 2018. Mothers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Results: Almost all infants were born in hospitals. Exclusive breastfeeding was not widely practiced. Prelacteal feeding was a common malpractice. The majority of mothers initiated artificial feeding during the first month of life. Rural mothers tended to introduce different foods earlier than urban mothers did. Minimum dietary diversity was achieved by 50.9% of urban infants aged ≥ 6 months (≥ 4 food groups), compared with 25.9% of rural infants. Minimum recommended meal frequency for age was fulfilled for 51.9% of urban and 29.6% of rural infants. More than 85% of mothers expressed their need for additional knowledge, and more than half identified the PHC centre as the appropriate source for information. Conclusions: Our study reflects deficiency in maternal practice regarding breastfeeding and weaning, despite being regular visitors to the PHC centre.

Background: Osteoporosis is often called the silent disease as the first symptom of osteoporosis is a fracture. In Egypt, 53.9% of postmenopausal women have osteopenia and 28.4% have osteoporosis. Failure to identify patients at risk for osteoporosis and fracture results in missed opportunities for prevention. Objectives: The study objectives were to assess the association between osteoporosis risk factors and severity of osteopenia/osteoporosis in postmenopausal females and to suggest a simple screening tool for prediction of osteopenia/osteoporosis in primary health care. Methods: This is a case-control study. A sample size of 210 candidates was calculated using Epi-Info version 6. Purposive non-probability sampling technique was used for selection of the candidates. Interviewing questionnaire, Correlations and logistic regression analysis were used. Results: The independent significant predictors for osteopenia/osteoporosis were: advanced age, inadequate physical exercise, inadequate indoor sun exposure, personal history of fragility fractures, improper pregnancy spacing, high parity, early menopause, low body-mass index and family history of osteoporosis. Conclusion: This study revealed a high prevalence of undiagnosed osteopenia and osteoporosis. It is recommended to use the above 9 risk factors as a simple cost-effective tool in Primary Health Care (PHC) for early prediction of abnormal bone mineral density (BMD). The majority of these factors can be modified for the early prevention.

No abstract

Background: Swine influenza was recognized as a threatening health problem in the world. Thus, The Ministry of Health and population in Egypt took aggressive actions to prevent this serious health hazard. Several interventions were directed to schools. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess H1N1 healthy practices in schools, identify knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of school children and teachers, regarding health education (HE) messages and to assess the school environment. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted in four schools in Giza governorate: three language/private and one public. A structured questionnaire assessed the school students KAP (n=300). Training on prevention of H1N1 was received by 75% of the school team. A semi-structured in depth interview explored the perception of school team (n=32) regarding H1N1 and an observation checklist assessed the school environment. Results: The study revealed that the Health Education Campaign raised health awareness of students about personal cleanliness especially hand washing (46.9%). Additionally, 87.5% of the school staff admitted improvement of the school environment during implementation of this campaign. Primary grade students were generally better in following instructions and obeying orders regarding personal cleanliness than those in preparatory grades (p<0.01). Vaccination did not achieve complete coverage (9.7%). Conclusion and Recommendations: Health education is reasonably effective in promoting some healthy practices in schools and among students. H1N vaccination coverage is jeopardized by the mass media interferences. There is great need for plans to emergency epidemic conditions and for continuous school environment supervision. Mass media should provide accurate information.