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| A survey by Paul Hutchinson delivers new knowledge about health issues in Jordan. Hutchinson is a researcher for the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. |
Half of all adult men in Jordan smoke, according to survey results released by Tulane international health researcher Paul Hutchinson in partnership with the Communication Partnership for Family Health (CPFH) Program and the Jordan Ministry of Health. The broad survey also revealed that more than 60 percent of children are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke at home, but fewer than 1 percent of Jordan adults knew that second-hand smoke could affect birth weights and children's growth rates.
"Jordan is a middle-income country so in general they have a healthier population than many neighboring countries," says Hutchinson. "We are seeing the transition from communicable diseases to chronic diseases related to lifestyle choices, such as smoking, diet and exercise." Hutchinson explains that the Ministry of Health in Jordan is beginning to focus on family health and preventive health behaviors.
The 2005 CPFH Baseline Survey is a nationally representative survey of 1,847 households in Jordan. Follow-up surveys are planned for 2007 and 2008.
Health program planners will use the data to identify communication gaps and target efforts to improve health knowledge.
Other results from the comprehensive survey include:
- Ninety percent of women in Jordan agree with the recommended schedule of screenings for breast cancer but less than half know of any risk factors and only 12 percent of women over 40 reported getting the recommended mammogram in the past year.
- Nearly 50 percent of married women age 15-49 and 88 percent of women over 50 are overweight or obese, but half do not know it.
- Less than 30 percent of adults have sought a routine dental exam in the past year. Only about 30 percent of children report brushing their teeth twice daily.
- Ninety-seven percent of mothers reported visiting a doctor during their most recent pregnancy but less than a third reported visiting a doctor within 40 days postpartum.
- Ninety-five percent of children born in the five years before the survey were ever breastfed, but only 19 percent were breastfed exclusively for the first six months.
The survey also included household details related to income and education levels and media consumption.
"The idea is to improve knowledge and change attitudes and intentions with respect to health choices. That will lead to behavior change," Hutchinson explains. "So, program planners won't necessarily ask people to quit smoking but to do other things like create a nonsmoking area in their home."
The flashpoint of the survey turned out to be the data related to domestic violence, which showed that more than half of married women thought it was acceptable for a husband to beat his wife in some circumstances. A survey in 2002 showed that 87 percent of Jordanian women could cite at least one instance in which they thought domestic violence would be acceptable, while the rate dropped to 81 percent in this survey.
"The interesting thing was that a lot of the acceptance was higher among females than males in some circumstances," says Hutchinson. "Still, the drop shows that there is hope for a change in attitudes about domestic violence."
