Browsing by Author "Kassim, Mohamed"

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    Maternal health information needs and seeking behaviour of women in rural Tanzania: a case of Mpwapwa district, Dodoma region
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2018) Kassim, Mohamed
    This study explored the maternal health information needs and seeking behaviour of women in rural Tanzania. The main focus of the study was to identify the women’s maternal health information needs, the sources of information they use to meet their maternal health information needs, factors that influence their choices of different sources of information and the barriers the women face when seeking maternal health information from different sources. The study was conducted in Mpwapwa District, Dodoma Region. Data was collected from 429 respondents, among them 396 were women of reproductive age, 13 were men and 20 were healthcare workers. Data was collected using questionnaires, focus group discussions, interviews, and documentary reviews. Findings revealed that despite their different socio-demographic characteristics, a majority of the women had similar needs for a variety of maternal health information. However, while almost all the women indicated that they would like to seek maternal health information from professional healthcare workers, they received most of this information from non-professional and informal sources namely community healthcare workers, traditional birth attendants, their mothers, other female relatives and their male partners. The use of these sources of information was attributed to, among other factors, limited access to professional healthcare in most of the studied villages. The study recommends that the government should establish more primary healthcare facilities to improve access to professional healthcare services in rural Tanzania. This will enable women to seek information from professional healthcare workers and thus make optimal use of the information and available maternal healthcare services.
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    The Role of Information in Addressing Diabetes at Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2012) Kassim, Mohamed
    This study investigated the role of information in addressing diabetes at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Data for the study were collected from both secondary sources (by review of documentary sources) and primary sources (through face-to-face interview with key informants, self-administered questionnaires and observations). Qualitative data were analysed through content analysis while quantitative data through the SPSS programme. Findings from the study revealed that although majority of respondents were aware of diabetes, some of them were not fully aware of the problem. That might have been a result of various challenges facing them when accessing information on diabetes, including shortage of healthcare professionals with adequate knowledge on causes, signs, diagnosis and treatment. It was noted from the study that many diabetic patients preferred to have used these healthcare professionals as their primary and reliable sources of information on diabetes. Shortage of these healthcare professionals prevented accurate dissemination of information on diabetes not only to the diabetic patients, but also to the general public. The study concluded that awareness of diabetes and its associated risk factors to the general public is essential for both effective and early detection of diabetes. Therefore, it is imperative that such healthcare professionals be equipped with adequate diabetes knowledge so that they provide the general public with adequate diabetes education and information that would empower them to understand diabetes and its causes, symptoms, treatment, self-care recommendations and skills; and necessary preventive measures to avoid getting diabetes.