Research examines such literacy among Omani
female students from rural and nomadic areas
Reproductive Hygiene Literacy in Oman
H
ealth has always
been a fundamental social concern,
as it has a direct impact
on the quality of life and
standard of living of individuals. Therefore, it is not
sufficient to tackle health
problems of individuals
and communities by providing health care. What is
needed then are actually
complementary measures
aimed
at
maintaining
health care by raising preventive health awareness
which would help people
to cope with such problems and observe certain
precautions to prevent
their occurrence. Generally, unhealthy practices
are due to lack of knowledge among individuals
as to healthy habits and
patterns which would protect everyone against diseases such as spitting on
the ground, coughing in
the face of others, eating
unclean fruits and vegetables, not washing hands
before/after meals and
after using the toilet, neglecting necessary medical treatment, vulnerability
to disease, malnutrition,
being careless of physical and sexual health. All
these matters are education-specific. Therefore, it
is imperative to take effective steps to raise awareness so as to improve the
health system associated
with reproductive health.
This has been the focus
of a recent research work
carried out by Dr Ali Al
Shuaili titled “Reproductive hygiene literacy in
urban, rural and nomadic
areas “ in which he sought
to measure the level of
awareness among rural
communities of reproductive health practices.
In press remarks, Dr Al
Shuaili has said “although
Cognitive and emotional dimensions are used as measuring tools
reproductive health was
first defined in September
1994, when the International Conference on Population and Development
identified the components
of reproductive health and
endorse unanimously the
right of everyone to reproductive health, the issue
has attracted a great deal
of interest among many
relevant circles, as it is the
basis for having healthy
children, enjoying intimate
marriages and building
happy families. This is
also the vision of the UN
Population Fund which
called for the need to ensure that every pregnancy
is wanted, every birth is
safe, every young person’s potential is fulfilled,
life is AIDS-free and every
woman is treated with dignity and respect.”
Defining
reproductive
health, he explains: “It is
to reach a state of complete physical, mental and
social progress in matters
related to the functions of
pregnancy, childbirth and
motherhood rather than
merely the absence of disease and disability, which
is an essential part of public health that reflects the
standard of fertility of men
and women. Reproductive
health is of paramount importance for women to enjoy, during and after giving
birth, dignity being empowered with the right to
pregnancy and to have all
potentials for successful
pregnancy and childbirth
being immune against
gynaecological diseases.”
He added that reproductive health has three main
commitments: 1) ensuring
access to adequate health
services in the field of gynaecology and maternal and
infant diseases, 2) proper
education on matters of
marriage, pregnancy and
childbirth, abortion and
birth control as well as the
empowerment of women
and their right to choose
their man and the wife’s
right in the family, and 3)
raising awareness of reproductive system diseases
and adequate preventive
methods.
Reproductive
health has attracted the
attention of researchers
and organizations being a
preventive access to most
reproductive health problems, he pointed out. The
concept has emanated
from the global interest
which emphasizes that
reproductive health is the
right of every individual that
helps to enjoy the highest
level of physical and mental health.
The 2002 annual report of
the Ministry of Health cited
a study titled «Towards
a better understanding
of the youth» which was
aimed to survey the knowledge, attitudes and practices of high school students in the fields of public
and reproductive health. It
showed that mother was
the main source of information on puberty for
36.7% of girls, whereas,
for 48.9 % of boys, friends
were the source of information. The study also
revealed that only 48.4
% of teens recognized
accurately how HIV is
transmitted and 32.1%
had partially correct information. There was 8% of
male smokers and 20.1%
smoked at some time,
7.3% of female smokers
and 2.7% experienced
smoking and 4.3% of students had drunk alcohol.
The 2003 census
Initial statistics (according to the census of 2003
in Oman) showed that
young people (below 15
years old) were the base
of the population pyramid in the Sultanate accounting for 41% of the
general census. This percentage was graphically
represented along different regions: 46.4% in the
Batinah, 43.1% in Musandam, 42.3% in Aldhahirah,
47.5% in Aldakhiliyyah,
45.5% in Alsharqiyyah,
31.5% in Muscat, 37.5%
in Dhofar and 40.9% in Alwustah (General Census
of Population, housing and
establishments , 2003).
These high rates are attributed to the high fertility
and low infant mortality in
the Sultanate. According
to 2009 statistics, the fertility rate amounted to 5.53
children born/woman ) , a
very high rate which can
be due to the following
reasons:
Predominant Islamic, cultural and family values call
for increased childbearing
and larger family
Citizens enjoy stability,
social security and high
rates of income per capita
Early marriage is widespread in the Omani society, whereby the average age at first marriage
for females is 20.7 years ,
compared with 24.7 years
for males. Estimates show
that the Omani woman
gives birth to an average
of seven children during her reproductive life,
which is one of the highest
fertility rates in the world.
Young people make the
highest proportion of the
population, which makes
the bulk of the community within the childbearing age or eligible to that.
The 1993 census statistics
indicated that the Omani
population group (15-64
years) constituted 56.8%
of the total population of
Oman, being a high percentage.
Values encouraging family building are still prevalent and accepted in the
Omani society , both at the
family and public levels,
and there are no public
policies for birth control.
Physical and psychological
conditions that drive the
family to reduce the number of children are not yet
clear. There are less working women due to the conservative traditions of the
Omani society. The Ministry of National Economy’s
statistical Yearbook indicated in 2009 that Omani
women working in government institutions in 2008
accounted for 43.204%
of the total civil servants,
7.9% of whom hold senior
positions like ministers, undersecretaries, ambassadors, consultants, experts,
and directors general besides other high-ranking
Omani officials.
As this category of population gets bigger, unhealthy practices continue
to expand due to lack of
relevant awareness in the
community. Examples are
the prevalence of smoking
and drug use, insufficient
efforts to promote public
and personal hygiene, developing unhealthy dietary
habits and lack of interest of the community in
reproductive health. This
calls for the need to have
appropriate plans to promote reproductive health
education.
Focus of the study
Dr Al Shuaili, reflecting on
the theme of his study problem, said: Raising public
awareness about reproductive health is less a matter
of planning than education, and therefore much
is dependent on the role
education plays to change
the behaviors and attitudes
of individuals so as to prevent reproductive system
diseases, maintain health
and recover rapidly from
disease. Since young women are expected to lead a
new family life in addition to
their current burdens within
their families, they must
have sufficient reproductive
awareness in order to provide preventive treatment
and avoid harmful effects of
lack of reproductive awareness among this important
section of society. Thus, the
study highlights the need
to determine the level of
reproductive health education among girls from rural
and nomadic areas in the
Sultanate.
Research questions
The study sought to answer the following questions: What is the level of
reproductive health literacy
among young women from
rural and nomadic areas in
Oman? What attitudes they
have towards some reproductive health practices?
Is reproductive health literacy influenced by the geographical location? Do their
attitudes in this regard differ due to their geographical location?
n SQU scholar has recently conducted a largescale new-born screening
on 7800 neonates in two major
cities of Oman so as to assess
the incidence of various forms
of haemoglobinopathies, i.e.
genetic blood disorders. Autosomal traits of such diseases
are highly prevalent in Oman
and the clinically relevant homozygous forms are found in
significant frequencies due to
high consanguinity rate. Given
the high morbidity, mortality
and cost of management, prevention and control programs
are mandatory in order not to
drain the health resources of
the country.
Dr Shoaib Al Zadjali, of the
Department of Haematology,
SQU Hospital, has presented
the findings of his research
paper Molecular Genetics
of Haemoglobinopathies in
Oman at the Laboratory Medicine Congress, recently held
in Cape Town, South Africa.
Commenting on the procedure
followed in his work, the researcher said: “samples were
analysed for CBC and HPLC;
the positive samples were further studied with molecular
methods for confirmation by
Gap-PCR, alpha Genescan,
MLPA and direct DNA sequencing.”
He added that the results had
allowed to understand the
potential pitfalls in diagnosis
and genetic counselling. A
rapid cost effective stepwise
experimental strategy was developed to overcome some of
these difficulties. Experimental replication of this molecular strategy on prospectively
recruited thalassemic cases
helped validate the approach,
he revealed.
The findings helped to set the
scene for implementing an effective prevention and control
programs assisted by precise
molecular diagnostic procedures adapted to Omani population, he said. Further, it has
become possible to understand the complex phenotypegenotype relationship generated by multiple interactions
of various haemoglobinopathy
traits.
The researcher’s innovative
strategy, published in The European Journal of Haematology this year, has become a
reference work for researchers
and experts in this field. His
contribution to the conference
is expected to have a positive
impact in terms of exchange of
expertise in the area molecular
genetics of haemoglobinopathies. There are also potentials
for developing joint training
programs between the Department of Haematology at SQU
Hospital and other laboratories
in other foreign institutions,
which will open up the chances
for using modern technologies
and keeping abreast of current
scientific developments.
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21 NOVEMBER 2013
Molecular Genetics of Haemoglobinopathies in Oman
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