Authors : Reza Rostami, Amir Hossain Nafez, Hamed Falahi, Mohammad Mehdi Mohammadi, Khadije Jamshidi, Soheila Lotfi and Mahdi Dabirian
Abstract: Having access to healthy and hygienic food is one of the main requirements of a healthy life. This is of more importance in the situations that access to food stuff is not easy. It is essential for the countries prone to natural disasters to be prepared for facing crises. Purpose of the present study is to survey awareness of the students in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciencaes about nutrition and storing food stuff in crises. A descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 349 students in Kermanshah University of Medical Science in academic year 2015-2016. The participants were selected randomly and having ascertained validity of the questionnaire by the experts, the questionnaire was distributed among the students. The collected data was analyzed in SPSS (16). The results showed that 38.7% of the participants had a good level of awareness, 35.8% had moderate awareness and 25.4% had low awareness about nutrition and how to store food in crises. No significant difference was found between men and women nor was there a significant difference between different age groups ( α = 0.05) having enough experience and knowledge about nutrition safety, sampling risky foods by the health experts and authorities in early hours of a crisis and after settlement of the displaced population are essential. Education and experience are essential in improving awareness among experts and authorities who are in charge in crises and disasters. Therefore, holding retraining courses and practicing how to deal with communicable diseases via water and food are some measures to be taken to avoid epidemic of food poisoning and high mortality rate.
Reza Rostami, Amir Hossain Nafez, Hamed Falahi, Mohammad Mehdi Mohammadi, Khadije Jamshidi, Soheila Lotfi and Mahdi Dabirian, 2016. Surveying Awareness of the Students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences about Nutrition and Storing Food Stuff in Crises (2016). Research Journal of Applied Sciences, 11: 563-566.