Search

Background and Aim: Fertility declining to a level too low for replacement and preventing its negative consequences have led to changes in the country's population policies. Understanding the causes of declining fertility and proper policymaking to increase it requires prompt action on the part of researchers and policymakers in different social and health fields. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different components of perceived social support ̶ instrumental support, material support and emotional support ̶ on women's fertility intention. Materials and Methods: This was a survey conducted in the suburban areas of Bushehr Province, Iran. Using multi-stage cluster sampling a total of 600 eligible women aged 18- 44 years old were selected. The questions used to measure fertility intention and social support dimensions of the women were extracted from the standard questionnaire used in international research. Results: The data showed that about 89% of those women who had had one child declared their intention to have a second child, while only 38% of those with 2 children had the intention to have a third child. Multivariate analysis using logistic regression indicated that increased instrumental support will, through controlling the number of currently living children, their education and employment status, increase the likelihood of women's fertility intentions to 1.445. Conclusion: The instrumental support and the relevant support that can be obtained from social network members can facilitate the transition to higher fertility sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Brucellosis is one of the most important zoonosis diseases. The aim was to estimate the seroprevalence of brucellosis in rural cattle, sheep, and goat of Bushehr Province. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012-2014. For the cattle population, a total of 118 villages and 891 cattle and for sheep and goat population, a total of 202 villages, 526 flocks, 3064 sheep, and 7182 goats were included. Samples were examined with Rose Bengal, 2-mercaptoethanol and wright tests. Results: In the cattle population, 28 out of 118 villages (20.34%, CI 95%: 13.94%-28.73%) and 20 out of 891 cattle (3.36%, CI 95%:2.28-4.77%) were seropositive. Additionally, in the sheep and goat population, 89 out of 202 villages (44.06%, CI 95%: 37.10%-51.20%), 142 out of 526 flocks (27%, CI 95%: 23.25%-31%), and 335 out of 10246 sheep and goats (3.27%, CI 95%: 2.93%-3.63%) were seropositive. The prevalence at the individual level of all animals was 3.53%in 2012 which was significantly higher than 2013 ( 2.59%) (P=0.02). Totally, in 3 years, the prevalence of brucellosis in sheep (3.88%) was significantly higher than goats (3%) (P = 0.02) and the prevalence in female animals (3.52%) was significantly higher than male animals (1.58%) (P