Knowledge of female genital schistosomiasis and urinary schistosomiasis among final-year midwifery students in the Volta Region of Ghana.
Journal
PloS one
ISSN: 1932-6203
Titre abrégé: PLoS One
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101285081
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
2024
2024
Historique:
received:
02
10
2023
accepted:
07
04
2024
medline:
2
5
2024
pubmed:
2
5
2024
entrez:
2
5
2024
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) is a gynaecological complication of urinary schistosomiasis (US) with an estimated burden of 20-120 million cases in endemic areas. A neglected sexual and reproductive health disease in sub-Saharan Africa, FGS increases susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections including cervical cancer and infertility among other morbidities. However, there appears to be limited FGS knowledge among practicing and pre-service health providers with implications for control. We assessed FGS awareness among final-year midwifery students who would soon be delivering primary maternal and reproductive health care. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 193 randomly selected final-year students from all three midwifery training institutions in the Volta region of Ghana in August/September, 2022. Data on participants' demographics and knowledge of the transmission, signs and symptoms, complications, treatment and prevention of both FGS and US were collected using structured questionnaires. Summary statistics were presented as frequencies, proportions and percentages. Only 23.3% (44/189) of participants had heard about FGS compared to 64% (123/192) for US. Of the former, 42 (95%), 40 (91%) and 36 (81.8%) respectively identified genital itching/burning sensation, bloody vaginal discharge and pelvic pain/pain during intercourse as part of the symptoms of FGS. Less than a third (13/44) and about half (25/44) of those who indicated hearing about FGS knew it can be a risk for ectopic pregnancies and infertility respectively. Majority of these participants, 40 (91%), wrongly selected antibiotics as treatment for FGS while 9 indicated it is prevented by sleeping in insecticide-treated nets. Awareness of FGS was limited among the study participants. The high prevalence of knowledge of some FGS symptoms related to the genitalia needs cautious interpretation. Health care training institutions must make deliberate efforts to highlight FGS in the training of midwives as the condition has diagnostic and management implications for some sexual and reproductive health conditions.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) is a gynaecological complication of urinary schistosomiasis (US) with an estimated burden of 20-120 million cases in endemic areas. A neglected sexual and reproductive health disease in sub-Saharan Africa, FGS increases susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections including cervical cancer and infertility among other morbidities. However, there appears to be limited FGS knowledge among practicing and pre-service health providers with implications for control. We assessed FGS awareness among final-year midwifery students who would soon be delivering primary maternal and reproductive health care.
METHODS
METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 193 randomly selected final-year students from all three midwifery training institutions in the Volta region of Ghana in August/September, 2022. Data on participants' demographics and knowledge of the transmission, signs and symptoms, complications, treatment and prevention of both FGS and US were collected using structured questionnaires. Summary statistics were presented as frequencies, proportions and percentages.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Only 23.3% (44/189) of participants had heard about FGS compared to 64% (123/192) for US. Of the former, 42 (95%), 40 (91%) and 36 (81.8%) respectively identified genital itching/burning sensation, bloody vaginal discharge and pelvic pain/pain during intercourse as part of the symptoms of FGS. Less than a third (13/44) and about half (25/44) of those who indicated hearing about FGS knew it can be a risk for ectopic pregnancies and infertility respectively. Majority of these participants, 40 (91%), wrongly selected antibiotics as treatment for FGS while 9 indicated it is prevented by sleeping in insecticide-treated nets.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
Awareness of FGS was limited among the study participants. The high prevalence of knowledge of some FGS symptoms related to the genitalia needs cautious interpretation. Health care training institutions must make deliberate efforts to highlight FGS in the training of midwives as the condition has diagnostic and management implications for some sexual and reproductive health conditions.
Identifiants
pubmed: 38696499
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302554
pii: PONE-D-23-32022
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e0302554Informations de copyright
Copyright: © 2024 Azanu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.