ABSTRACT
Background: Diarrhoea is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in under-five children. The incidence of diarrhoea has remained almost unchanged over the past few decades. A mother is the primary care-giver of a child. Therefore, one of the key factors that determine the survival of a sick-child is her attitude and practices in the event of diarrhoea. The present study was therefore undertaken to understand the different aspects of their care-giving behaviour.Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out in the Department of Paediatrics, Agartala Government Medical College and G. B. Pant Hospital, Agartala, Tripura, India over a period of two months. 700 mothers of under-five children attending the OPD were interviewed with a pre-designed and structured interview schedule.Results: The usage of ORS was about one-fourth. And only one-fifth out of all the participating mothers could show how to prepare ORS solution correctly. Correct practices regarding various aspects of administering ORS solution like duration of usage, frequency of administering, duration of the therapy, etc were not observed in majority of the participating mothers. A preference for home-made fluids was also noted in most of the participants. Educational level and past experience of managing a child with diarrhoea significantly affected their practices.Conclusions: Even though ORS is widely and easily available, easy to use and cost-effective, considerable work needs to be done in the context of adequate practices in its administration to a child affected by diarrhoea and increase its acceptability.
ABSTRACT
Background: Due to excess metabolic demand of iodine in pregnancy, pregnant women and lactating mother and their neonates are most vulnerable of iodine deficiency disorder. Urinary iodine excretion is a good marker of recent dietary iodine intake. Thus, present study was conducted to assess the iodine status and median urinary iodine excretion (UIE μg/lit) among pregnant and non-pregnant women of Tripura.Methods: Tribal and Bengali pregnant and non-pregnant women from Bokafa and Jolaibari Block of South Tripura district were included in the study. Urinary iodine excretion was done using simple micro plate method. Salt iodine was estimated using iodometric titration. All the tests were performed at CNRT Lab, ICMR, India.Results: Total number of subjects included in this study was 1071. Total number of urine samples collected from pregnant and non-pregnant women was 538 and 533 respectively. Median value of UIE in pregnant and non-pregnant women of Tripura was 155.0µg/L and 130.0µg/L. In pregnant women percentage prevalence of severe (<20µg/L), moderate (20-49µg/L) and mild iodine deficiency (50-149µg/L) was found in 4.1%, 15.1% and 29.6% subjects. In case of non-pregnant women severe (<20µg/L), moderate (20-49µg/L) and mild iodine deficiency (50-99µg/L) was found in 0.6%, 9.6%, 27.8% subjects respectively. The overall prevalence of iodine deficiency was found in 48.8% pregnant women, compared to 38.0% non-pregnant subjects.Conclusions: Efforts towards universal salt iodization need to be stepped-up in Sub-Himalayan region (NE part of India) and pregnant and lactating mothers may be targeted with alternate iodine supplements (Colloidal Iodine).