No abstract

This research aimed to determine the knowledge, attitudes and preventive behaviors (KAP) of adults in relation to dengue vector control measures in the communities of Vientiane, the capital of the Lao PDR. A total of 207 respondents were actively participating in this cross-sectional descriptive study in 2011. Representatives of households were interviewed face-to-face by six trained interviewers using a structured questionnaire. KAP reliabilities of 0.89, 0.91 and 0.95 were reported in the pilot sample of 30 cases. The associations between each independent variable and prevention behavior were tested with chi-square tests. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine the factors that were significantly associated with preventive behavior while controlling for the other variables. The results revealed that 51.69% of the respondents had a high level of knowledge. More than 94% of the respondents knew that dengue fever is a dangerous communicable disease and that dengue fever is transmitted from person to person via mosquitoes. More than half (56.52%) of the participants had positive attitudes toward vector control measures, and 52.17% exhibited a high level of preventive behavior in terms of dengue vector control measures. Preventive behaviors were significantly associated with information provided from sources that included health personnel (p = 0.038) and heads of villages (p=0.031) and with knowledge levels (p < 0.001). This study suggests that proactive health education through appropriated mass media and community clean-up campaigns should strengthen and encourage community participation, particularly in terms of addressing mosquito larvae in overlooked places, such as the participants' own homes, for example, in flower vases and ant traps.

No abstract

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with self-administered questionnaires among 368 Myanmar migrant workers to investigate the prevalence of and to determine the risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the Thai seafood industry. The results showed the prevalence of MSDs was 45.1% occurring in the last 7 days. Marital status, number of dependents, other health problems, working hours, repetitive hand movements, awkward posture of wrists, prolonged standing, and manual handling of heavy loads were found to be associated with MSDs. Multiple logistic regression indicated that the workers who were married, had more than two dependents, and had more exposure to awkward wrist postures were at significantly increased risk of MSDs. The study findings suggest the need for adequate knowledge of ergonomics and for awareness campaign programs focusing on prevention of MSDs, especially low back pain, to be initiated in industries for earlier detection of symptoms among seafood processing workers.

The aim of this study was to determine significant predictors for the utilisation of postnatal service among mothers. A total of 295 postnatal mothers were enrolled in a cross-sectional study design undertaken in six health facilities of Lilongwe District using two-stage cluster sampling with a response rate of 100%. The data were collected by interview from December 2012 to January 2013 using a structured questionnaire. The result showed that over half of the mothers (56.6%) utilised postnatal service within 6 weeks after delivery. A stepwise multiple logistic regression was used to determine significant determinants of utilisation of postnatal service among mothers. After adjusting for confounding factors, utilisation of an alternative local source of care in home after delivery [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 7.77, 95% CI: 4.14-14.58], women's perception on performance of health workforce during delivery and postnatal service (aOR: 6.56, 95% CI: 3.09-13.94), health education before hospital discharge of postnatal mothers (aOR: 4.08, 95% CI: 2.11-7.92), place of delivery (aOR: 4.32, 95% CI: 1.32-14.12), family income (aOR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.03-3.46) and the occurrence of no complications during delivery (aOR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.03-3.50) were significantly associated with the utilisation of postnatal service. Hence, this study suggests that improved health workforce performance coupled with effective health education may increase the utilisation of postnatal service. Furthermore, the utilisation of postnatal service may also be increased through reducing home deliveries, delivery complications and the use of alternative local care at home after delivery. Integration of postnatal service in outreach clinics might also assist through reducing the cost of accessing postnatal service among mothers.