Health problems among street children seeking care in the Center for Social and Preventive Medicine in Egypt.
BACKGROUND
In Egypt, around 1 million children are on the streets. Street children's health is an issue that is not well researched. The objective of the current study was to determine the health problems of a targeted group of street children seeking medical care and to generate a hypothesis about the positive/negative role of street children care organizations.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was done on 2169 street children who sought medical care at El-Basma clinic at the Center for Social and Preventive Medicine in Cairo University Children Hospital from January 2011 to July 2014.


RESULTS
Respiratory illnesses and skin problems were the most prevalent conditions, affecting 485 (22.4%) and 359 (16.6%) of the patients, respectively. Psychological issues and trauma were significantly higher among the adolescent group. Respiratory and gastrointestinal problems were significantly higher among children aged less than 2 years. Genital and cardiac problems were significantly higher among those referred from organizations whereas trauma was significantly higher among those coming directly from the streets. A significant proportion of children at the extremes of the studied age spectrum were coming directly from the streets. Sexually transmitted infections were rare problems.


CONCLUSIONS
Respiratory and skin diseases were the major morbidity problems among street children, especially adolescent males. Organizations afforded opportunities for access to different health care services.
Public Health and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Hoda Ibrahim
HI
Rizk
Pediatrics Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, 4 Gamal Salem Street, Doki, Cairo, Egypt. nihal-r@hotmail.com.
Nihal Mohamed
NM
El Rifai
Pediatrics Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, 4 Gamal Salem Street, Doki, Cairo, Egypt.
Hana Mohamed
HM
Aboulghar
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D018453:Homeless Youth; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
Egypt; health problems; street children