Attitude and awareness on importance of breastfeeding among childbearing women in a rapidly developing country

Background: Health authorities in United Arab Emirates passed a law giving all the mothers the right to breastfeed their children even during the working hours. The objective of this study is designed to explore the degree of awareness among mothers in childbearing period on breastfeeding importance and practices.Methods: A cross sectional explorative questionnaire-based survey included 400 mothers from multi health centres in 3 emirates of United Arab Emirates as follows: Abu Dhabi 100 samples, Dubai 100 samples and Sharjah 200 samples, who were in their childbearing period and had a minimum of one child during the study period between July 2016 and November 2016.Results: Total 54.5% of mothers were above 30 years of age. 48% were local and 52% were non-local. 80% were familiar with the advantages of breastfeeding. 84.8% believed that exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months is important and 41% had breastfed their children exclusively. 76% had the skin-to-skin contact with their baby and 43.5% had started breastfeeding within the first hour after birth, of them, 10% had delivered by caesarean section.  82% were roaming in with their baby during hospital stay and 81% had practiced demand breastfeeding. 89.9% of mothers had received the support they needed for breastfeeding from hospital staff. 56% had not used pacifier during the hospital stay and 56% had used bottle-feeding. 55% of mothers were employed, 72% of them had the intention to continue exclusive breastfeeding for a minimum of 6-month period.Conclusions: Attitude and awareness on breastfeeding are encouraging. Educational efforts, workshops and public awareness should be enhanced and maximized

Knowledge about stroke among adults in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Background: In UAE, stroke is the second leading cause of disability after RTA, where annually 8,000 to 10,000 patients get a stroke. Our aim is to identify the knowledge levels of stroke among Sharjah’s adult citizens.Methods: Using self-administered questionnaires, in a cross-sectional design, a non-probability convenience sampling method was used to enrol subjects. Eligible subjects were above 18 years of age, comprehended Arabic or English, and are currently residing in Sharjah. The questionnaire was 17 questions structured in 5 sections which included: demographics, general knowledge, knowledge of signs and symptoms, risk factors, and appropriate response towards stroke. SPSS V.22 was used to analyse the data. Percentages, means, and ANOVA were used. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.Results: The study included 426 subjects, mean age was 35.1 years, 65.2% were females. 51.8% of the subjects claimed they know what stroke is, out of whom 24.3% provided incorrect descriptions. The mean knowledge level of signs and symptoms was 55.4%, and of risk factors was 40.6%. Visual disturbance was the least identified of the five signs and symptoms (38.0%). Female gender, African American race, and age above 60, were the least identified of the 8 risk factors (4.7%, 3.5%, 19.8% respectively). Better knowledge was associated with increased age and higher education. Conclusion: The majority of the sample showed an average to low level of knowledge. Such results indicate the importance of implementing more awareness programs that target younger age groups in the community