Female genital mutilation: current awareness, believes and future intention in rural Egypt.

BACKGROUND: Female genital cutting, also termed female genital mutilation (FGM), is a damaging practice with no health benefits for girls or women, and is considered to be a violation of children's rights. METHODS: A cross-sectional, community-based study using interview administered questionnaire to explore knowledge and attitude of people living in a rural area in Minia. Systematic random sampling was used to interview 618 males and females above the age of 18 in the period from September to November 2016. RESULTS: FGM was performed on 76.6% of females, complications occurred in 35.6% of them. Females demonstrated a higher level of knowledge than males. Nearly 56% of respondents believed that this practice should continue. Females were more supportive of the continuation of FGM than men (60.3% vs. 47.9%). The attitude that FGM is a good practice, knowledge level, women's status and religion were significantly associated with women's willingness to subject their daughters to FGM in the future. Attitude was the only significant predictor associated with men's willingness to subject their daughters to FGM. CONCLUSION: The strong correlation between social pressure and intentions to carry out FGM means that FGM practice will continue to be embraced among future generations unless policies are put in place to eradicate this practice through empowering females by education and reasonable income.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Breastfeeding and Weaning Among Mothers of Children up to 2 Years Old in a Rural Area in El-Minia Governorate, Egypt.

AIM: Was to describe the knowledge, attitude, and actual practices of mothers in a rural area in Egypt regarding breastfeeding, complementary feeding and weaning and to explore the effect of educational background and age on these views. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 307 rural mothers who have a youngest child aged 2 years or less. Mothers were selected using systematic random sampling. RESULTS: All the studied mothers knew that breastfeeding is the best nutritional source for the baby. The majority of the mothers had good knowledge about the advantages of breastfeeding for child. As regards weaning, majority (92.5%) of the mothers defined weaning as breastfeeding cessation. Most of the mothers (94.8%) agreed that breastfeeding protect child from infection, 96.1% agreed that it is the healthiest for infant, 76.5% agreed that breast milk lead to loss of figure, and 83.4% agreed that breastfeeding should be avoided during mother's illness. About 84% initiated breastfeeding immediately after delivery, and 42.7% of the studied mothers offered pre-lacteal feeds to baby before lactation. About thirty quarters (74.2%) of mothers fed colostrum. Exclusive breast-feeding was found to be associated with mother's education (P < 0.0001) but not with mother's age at birth, mother's occupation, or place of birth. CONCLUSION: There is a need for health care system interventions, family interventions, and public health education campaigns to promote optimal BF practices, especially in less educated women.