BACKGROUND The incidence of fractures in rural populations is lower than in urban populations, although the reason for this difference is unclear. This cross-sectional study was designed to examine the difference in bone mineral density (BMD), a primary predictor of fracture risk, between urban and rural Thai populations. METHODS Femoral neck and lumbar spine BMD was measured by dual-energy X...

BACKGROUND The burden of cervical cancer is disproportionately high in low-resource settings. With limited implementation of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines on the horizon in the developing world, reliable data on the epidemiology of high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) infection in distinct geographic populations is essential to planners of vaccination programs. The purpose of this study was to determin...

Introduction: Iron deficiency is the leading nutrient deficiency in the world affecting the lives of more than 2 billion people, accounting to over 30% of the world’s population. Pregnant women are particularly at high risk of iron deficiency. Objective: To determine and compare the adherence rate and identify factors associated with iron folic acid supplementation among urban and rural pregnan...

BACKGROUND Urbanization is occurring at a rapid pace, especially in low-income countries. Dhaka, Bangladesh, is estimated to grow to 50 million by 2015, with 21 million living in urban slums. Although health services are available, neonatal mortality is higher in slum areas than in urban non-slum areas. The Manoshi program works to improve maternal, newborn, and child health in urban slums in B...

This article reviews recent publications that add to the debate about gender and human settlements. Urban development is ultimately shaped by gender assumptions and by the way in which each sex experiences the urban environment; gender-blind urban planning can be overcome by reaching a greater understanding of women's economic and social roles (and the limitations imposed on them) in urban soc...

BACKGROUND Investigations of the association between socio-economic position indicators and HIV in East, Central and Southern Africa have chiefly focused on factors that pertain to individual-level characteristics. This study investigated the effect of neighbourhood educational attainment on HIV prevalence among young women in selected urban and rural areas in Zambia. METHODS This study re-an...

in this article generational attitudes towards gender issue in three generation young, middle age, and elders have been studied and the objective is to answer following questions: 1. are there differences in attitudes towards women between generations? 2. are the attitudes’ differences between rural and urban communities similar? 3. do men and women have different attitudes toward women? analys...

BACKGROUND In mature generalized human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemics, as survival from accessing antiretroviral treatment (ART) increases, HIV prevalence data may be suboptimal and difficult to interpret without HIV incidence rates. OBJECTIVE To determine the HIV incidence rate among rural and urban women in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. METHODS We conducted a prospective cohort stu...

BACKGROUND Obesity is one of the leading causes of global morbidity and mortality. Trends in educational inequalities in obesity prevalence among Mexican women have not been analysed systematically to date. METHODS Data came from four nationally representative surveys (1988, 1999, 2006, and 2012) of a total of 51 220 non-pregnant women aged 20 to 49. Weight and height were measured during hom...