Enhancing Health and Empowerment: Assessing the Satisfaction of Underprivileged Rural Women Participating in a Functional Literacy Education Program in Kailali District, Nepal.

Women's empowerment and health literacy are essential for fostering community well-being. Empowering women through education and diverse training plays a crucial role in ensuring their prosperity and overall health. This study investigates the satisfaction and experiences of underprivileged rural mothers participating in a functional literacy education program in the Kailali district, Nepal. We assess participants' perceptions of program effectiveness, examining training content, facilities, and trainers while exploring menstrual hygiene practices and maternal health awareness. Through convenience sampling, 141 underprivileged women from five rural villages near Tikapur were selected from literacy centers run by Mahima Group. Utilizing structured questionnaires and statistical analyses, including descriptive analyses, Spearman's rho correlation, and Pearson's chi-square test, we found that 65.2% of participants expressed high satisfaction levels. Moreover, 96.5% found the program highly effective, with 97.9% reporting improved literacy skills and 96.5% demonstrating increased awareness of menstrual hygiene practices. Additionally, 97.2% agreed that the program enhanced maternal and child health knowledge. Significant correlations were observed among the training course, facilities, trainers, and overall training perception. In line with this, significant associations were found between age groups (p = 0.003) and geographical areas (p = 0.023) with satisfaction levels with the literacy program. These results underscore the satisfaction of participants within the literacy program and its impact on their lives, and advocates for its broader implementation to empower marginalized communities for sustainable development.

Unveiling the Dual Threat: How Microbial Infections and Healthcare Deficiencies Fuel Cervical and Prostate Cancer Deaths in Africa.

Cervical and prostate cancer account for 7.1 and 7.3 deaths per 100,000 people globally in 2022. These rates increased significantly to 17.6 and 17.3 in Africa, respectively, making them the second and third leading cause of cancer deaths in Africa, only surpassed by breast cancer. The human papillomavirus is the prime risk factor for cervical cancer infection. On the other hand, prostate cancer risks include ageing, genetics, race, geography, and family history. However, these factors alone cannot account for the high mortality rate in Africa, which is more than twice the global mortality rate for the two cancers. We searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science to select relevant articles using keywords related to microorganisms involved in cervical and prostate cancer and the impact of poor healthcare systems on the mortality rates of these two cancers in Africa by carrying out a detailed synopsis of the studies on microbial agents involved and the contributory factors to the deteriorating healthcare system in Africa. It became apparent that the developed countries come first in terms of the prevalence of cervical and prostate cancer. However, more people per capita in Africa die from these cancers as compared to other continents. Also, microbial infections (bacterial or viral), especially sexually transmitted infections, cause inflammation, which triggers the pathogenesis and progression of these cancers among the African population; this has been linked to the region's deficient health infrastructure, making it difficult for people with microbial infections to access healthcare and hence making infection control and prevention challenging. Taken together, untreated microbial infections, primarily sexually transmitted infections due to the deficient healthcare systems in Africa, are responsible for the high mortality rate of cervical and prostate cancer.