The IX t h Makassed Medical Congress - American University of Beirut

T h e I X t h M a k a s e d M e d i c a l C o n g r e s s
Teenagers’ pregnancy: range from 143 per 1000 in Sub-Saharian countries in conflicts to 2.9 per
1000 in South-Korea, higher rate of hypertension, anemia, and low birth-weight babies, mother
perinatal and infant mortality. Post-abortion complications are higher. Physically immature girls
compete with the fetus for essential nutrients. Cephalopelvic disproportion and prolonged labor
may occur due to pelvic bone immaturity.
Unintended pregnancy: Defined as unwanted or mistimed. Frequency ranges between 14 -62%
of recent births. Studies in MENA countries range from 18.5 to 29.6%. Conception intended by
mother but not by father showed elevated risks of adverse events. Conception unintended by
mother has higher risk of malnutrition, frequent illness and infections. Negative feelings toward
pregnancy affect decision of breast-feeding. Child development and health behavior can be
affected maternal depression, poverty, child neglect, maltreatment and domestic violence [5].
Sexual behavior in adolescents: In Lebanon sexual activity is delayed compared to developed
countries. According to Adib et al only 50% of young males joining the army at 18 years are sexually
active, and this proportion is very low in girls of this age. According to WHO figures proportion of
HPV positive tested in Lebanon would be of 15.4 per 100 000. Considering this proportion of 7.5 in
UAE or between 7 and 9 in surrounding Arab countries. subsequently, vaccination of young girls
should be taken seriously because infection with HPV happens very quickly after first intercourse.
In addition, there is
high rate of mortality related to HPV ranging from 2 to 6 in surrounding Arab countries and 8 per
100 000 in Lebanon*(fig4) [2
Concerning sexually transmitted diseases (STD), the estimated prevalence in MENA region
is second lowest among 6 developing regions. Over 12 million people suffer from STD. Low
prevalence is attributed to cultural value, intolerance of sexual relations outside marriage, and
maybe to lack of reliable reporting systems. Among diseases encountered syphilis prevalence is
1.5% in Jordan and Morocco among blood donor and pregnant women, and around 1.2 to 15%
in Yemen. In Jordan: 3-7% had sexual contacts outside marriage, 6% had homosexual contacts
and only less than 50% use condoms. In 1997, 2278 related deaths took place in the region.
Moreover, adult HIV prevalence is estimated between 0.005% and 0.18% among MENA countries.
This prevalence is lower than developing countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. [1, 17]
Violence against women and children
Special United Nation Officer for Women’s rights Nafi Pialey reported that violence against women
increased in areas of war with total impunity to aggressors. In Congo where there is war for last
10 years, hundreds of thousands of women are being abused .Men can sexually harass wives
and daughters without being prosecuted. WHO report that violence increases rate of abortions,
medical complications in pregnancy and long term complications on reproductive organs and
fertility. In Egypt, National Office of Statistics revealed that 47.4% of women between 15 and 49
years have been abused by their husband since age of 15 years.Almost 7% of Egyptian women
have been sexually aggressed before marriage [6, 24] In Jordan, 600 cases of violence against
women were reported in 2008 in Jordan with official medical reports according to Jordan National
Office for Legal medicine [25]. In fact, the real figure would be of 5000 abused women. Recently
a man killed his wife because she was chatting with an unknown man on Internet. Every year, in
Jordan 15-20 women are killed for honor crimes. In Saudi Arabia, on March 2009, Arabian Business
News stated that 84.7% of women would like to escape home because of violence against them,
44.3% would kill for revenge to be delivered from their husband. According to Saudi journal Al-
Watan, violence against women result in: 77% of medical and psychological problems; 74, 3%
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