ABSTRACT
Background: Health care in India is a complex amalgam involving various stakeholders. For decades it has been a neglected area with reluctance in increasing the inputs such as finance or infrastructure required to drive this system. Utilization and access to this health system is a key indicator and major determinant of health seeking behaviour.Methods: This community based cross sectional study was conducted from January-February 2016 in, the urban slum located in a metro city using a pretested, semi-structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed using SPSS 22.Results: More than half of the participants preferred to seek treatment from a public health care facility compared to a private. One of the most predominant determining factors on choosing a particular health facility was affordability. Main barriers perceived in utilization of health services were long waiting time at the health facility and expenditure on treatment.Conclusions: The key for ensuring adequate and appropriate utilization of health care services is in having an efficient government health care delivery system which can offer quality and affordable medical care to one and all.
ABSTRACT
Purpose – Sleep habits play an important role in the health of young children. Sleep is often compromisedeither because of parents by pressuring children to study into late hours or due to sleep habits of childrenthemselves. The aim of study was to assess the sleep habits of school going children in the capital stateof Delhi, India. Methods – A total of 1457 students aged 9-17 years participated and filled validated ‘Schoolsleep habit survey’ form. A performa was also developed to collect information on usual presleep habits ofschool children. Data was analysed using SPSS ver 20. The form was filled by parents and children together.Results – Sleep onset latency >30 min was reported by 8.6% of the students. Mean bedtime of studentswas 10.49±1.14h on schooldays and 11.10±1.37 h at weekends. On weekends, students woke up later at8.08h±1.76h than schooldays 5.46±1.41h. Older age category (>15 years) slept for lesser duration than theyounger age. On weekends girls slept longer than boys. Majority of the students considered themselves tobe ‘good sleepers’. Lower academic grades in school were found to be associated with insufficient sleep.Number of family members played a significant role on quality of sleep. 23.7% reported to be active onelectronic gadgets prior to sleep. Students reported a reduced parental influence on bedtime with increasingage during schooldays. Boys felt that parents influence the sleep time more on schooldays. Conclusion-sleep problem in the form of increased sleep onset latency was reported by 8.6% children themselves. Useof electronic gadgets, lack of parental influence on setting bed times was seen.