Essay on Premarital Checkup and Screening - 2229 Words

Many young people aspire to get a companion in the near future, settle down and raise a healthy family. This happens successfully when couples are themselves healthy. However, this desire is sometimes ruined when couples who have already settled realize that one of them had a hereditary disease that was diagnosed earlier before the couple got married. The couples therefore end up having sick children. To counter or minimize the chances of raising sick children, some countries have gone ahead to pass legislation and make it compulsory for couples to undergo premarital checkup and screening before they settle down so as to get relevant counseling on their health and determine whether they can continue with their relationship. In these modern†¦show more content†¦This is because, the cultural norms, educational and religious factors do not totally agree or concur with these programs hence their execution and outcome faces resistance from such factors. This, therefore, has led to the lobbying for support from government agencies, religious sections as well as counseling to make these programs a success. Apart from Saudi Arabia, there are several other countries that have established premarital screening programs and as such include GCC, Italy, Egypt, Spain, and Portugal among others (Demetriades, 2003). Study Objectives The general objective of the study is to investigate the attitudes of Al Baha University students towards premarital medical checkup. In addition, the study aims at arriving at some conclusions that will enable in making appropriate recommendations towards premarital care and checkup in Saudi Arabia. The results from the interviewed students will be generalized to cover the whole student fraternity of Al Baha University. This will assist policy makers within Saudi Arabia and academicians to understand the attitudes and opinions of the students towards premedical checkup so as to formulate policies in the future that are acceptable to the masses. Literature Review Various researchers have carried out studies in the area of premarital checkup area in a view to expand the knowledge scope and also get to understand the perceptions of individuals towards this area.