Abstract

Malik Hassan Ibrahim Mustafa, , Elkhazin Ali Abd Elmageed Eltayeb,Tariq Elfatih Elmisbah Elmahadi and Omaima Nasir

Homelessness increases a person’s exposure to infectious and communicable diseases paired with long periods of malnutrition which can cause some chronic conditions e.g anemia and degenerative bone diseases. Numerous studies in Canada, United States and Great Britain document the relationship between homelessness and health, the phenomenon does exist all around the world but in Sudan it was evident during the seventies and eighties of the 20th century. Chemicals used by homeless children such as inhalants are volatile substances producing chemical vapors that can be inhaled to induce a psychoactive, mind-altered euphoric state, in spite of health problems, homeless children generally lack access to consistent health care, and this lack of care can increase severity of illness. An analytical, descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among homeless children from Tayba, Soba, and Althawra for Homeless Children Rehabilitation in Khartoum State, Sudan, during the period of August 2008 to March 2010, two hundred participants were recruited aged between 6 to18 years. Blood collected for different hematological measurements and prior to the collection general questionnaire paper have been given to get the knowledge about age, gender, place of origin, education and experiences surrounding infectious diseases from all participants. The most prominent type of anaemia was normocytic normochromic anaemia (86%) followed by microcytic hypochromic anaemia(13%) with abnormal blood cell morphology. Normal count of white blood cells with marked lymphocytosis, eosinophilia & monocytosis and hypersegmentation of neutrophils. The iron profile showed serum ferritin (140.22g/dl), serum iron (56.75g/dl), TIBC (264g/dl) and saturation (24.27%). The majority of the homeless participants used silision (85%), Cigarette (77.5%), Snuff (41.5%), Benzene (34.5%), Alcohol (30%) and Shesha (16%). Most of the study participants showed abnormal hematological parameters mostly due to environmental, nutritional and medical status