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Introduction: Recent COVID‑19 pandemic is an unprecedented public health problem worldwide. Knowledge about the disease and adoption of COVID Appropriate Behavior (CAB) are of utmost importance in combating the pandemic. The study was conducted to assess and compare the knowledge, attitude, and practice and to determine different misconceptions and wrong practices related to the disease among urban and rural populations. Materials and Methods: A community‑based analytical study with cross‑sectional design was conducted from January 2021 to March 2021 among 144 adult residents from urban and rural West Bengal. Multistage sampling was adopted and a predesigned, pretested, semistructured schedule was used for interviewing study subjects. Results: Urban people were significantly more knowledgeable and more appropriate in attitude and practice than rural people (P < 0.05). The mean knowledge and attitude scores of urban population were significantly higher than the rural population across age groups, gender, occupation, and education (P < 0.05), whereas mean practice score was significantly higher across gender and occupation in the urban population compared to the rural population (P < 0.05). Many cultural and indigenous practices such as drinking warm water, using mouth wash, using home remedies were more common in urban areas and consumption of homeopathy medicines, lighting candles, making sound with utensils, blowing conch shells, and worshipping corona were observed more in rural areas. Conclusions: Wide gap exists in knowledge, attitude, and practice between urban and rural population and there were many wrong perceptions and practices surrounding COVID‑19 among both urban and rural population. Appropriate policy for improving knowledge, attitude, and CAB is the need of the hour.
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Background: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a pre-condition for cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) which are major contributors to morbidity and mortality worldwide.Methods: The cross-sectional, observational study was conducted to estimate the proportion of MS and to explore crucial risk factors for MS among adult patients attending medicine OPD in a tertiary care hospital in West Bengal. The estimated final sample size was 315. Baseline socio demographic information and information on risk factors for MS, such as dietary habit, physical activity status, substance use, intake of related drugs, and presence of co-morbidities were collected by interviewing the patients with the help of a predesigned, pretested, structured schedule. Anthropometric measurements such as weight, height, waist circumference recordings were taken, and blood pressure was measured.Results: About 64% of the final study population (210/330) suffered from MS. On bivariate analysis, significant association between female gender (df=1, Pearson chi-square=5.06, p=0.024), weekly frequency of consumption of junk foods (df=3, Pearson chi-square=10.40, p=0.015) and obesity according to BMI (independent samples Mann-Whitney U test, p=0.010) at 5% level of significance were observed. Performing binary logistic regression analysis, obesity according to BMI (AOR=1.388, 95% CI=1.064-1.810) was found to be significant.Conclusions: Majority of the population suffered from MS who were mostly female, obese and consumers of junk foods. Appropriate interventional measures in terms of life style modification both at community and at tertiary care level are the need of the hour.
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Background & objectives: Prevention of parent-to-child transmission (PPTCT) services are an integral part of National AIDS Control Programme and their critical appraisal is necessary for improving quality care. The present study was conducted to evaluate the performance of PPTCT services in West Bengal during April, 2008 - March 2009 and April 2009 - March 2010 and identify gaps in service delivery for making suitable recommendations. Methods: Data were collected from the Computerized Management Information System and validated by cross-checking records at each district. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted among programme managers, counsellors and antenatal women attending the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres. Performance indicators and outcomes of FGDs were analyzed. Results: The proportion of antenatal women tested declined in 2009-2010 from 2008-2009 (64.3 to 63.8%). Proportions of counseled cases also declined (72.5 vs. 68.4%). HIV positivity rates among those tested were 0.13 and 0.14 per cent, respectively in two years. Proportion of mother-baby pairs receiving nevirapine prophylaxis was increased by 5 per cent. Medical colleges, and category A districts having high HIV prevalence provided better services. Follow up services of HIV-exposed birth cohorts were grossly unsatisfactory. Interpretation & conclusions: Gaps were identified at each step of service delivery for which capacity building, improvement of infrastructure including laboratory services and ensuring emergency labour room testing up to the sub-district level were imperative. Outsourcing follow up services to other community based organizations may also be considered.
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A cross-sectional study was conducted among 199 (104 urban, 95 rural) male students of classes VIII and IX, of two schools, in urban and rural areas of West Bengal to compare the prevalence of protective factors, mental health issues, and violence among the urban and rural adolescents using a self-administered questionnaire. Higher proportion of urban students than rural (67.3% vs. 62.5%) reported that their guardians understood their problems. Mental health issues like loneliness (17.3% vs. 9.8%), worry (17.3% vs. 10.7%), and suicidal thoughts (19.2% vs. 14.1%) were higher among urban students. Physical fight (53.8% vs. 11.6%), bullying (46.4% vs. 17%), physical attack by family members (46% vs. 17%), and by teachers (53% vs. 10.7%) were all more in urban adolescents. Mental health- and violence-related issues were prevalent more among urban students than those among rural students in spite of having more protective factors suggesting the need of frequent supervision, monitoring, and support of adolescents.
ABSTRACT
Globally, alcohol-abuse is a major cause of mortality and morbidity. Consumption of alcohol has increased in India in the recent decades. It is imperative to know the patterns of alcohol consumption among different types of consumers to launch a well-planned nationwide programme for the prevention and control of this devastating social pathology. This community-based, cross-sectional study was undertaken to identify the patterns of alcohol intake among different types of alcohol consumers and to assess the clinical signs of chronic harmful alcohol-use. A predesigned, pretested, semi-structured alcohol-use disorders identification test (AUDIT) questionnaire was used for interviewing males, aged >18 years, selected by random sampling from an updated household list of a randomly-selected sector of the service area of the Urban Health Centre in Chetla, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Written informed consents were obtained from all the respondents. Relevant clinical examination for chronic harmful alcohol-use was done according to the AUDIT clinical screening procedures. The results revealed that 65.8% (150/228) were current consumers of alcohol; 14% were alcohol-dependents; 8% were hazardous or harmful consumers, and 78% were nonhazardous non-harmful consumers. The mean age of the respondents at the initiation of drinking alcohol was 20.8+5.9 years. Eighty-six percent of dependents (n=21) took both Indian-made foreign liquor and locally-made alcoholic beverages. The proportions of alcohol consumers who drank alone among alcoholdependents, hazardous or harmful consumers, and non-hazardous non-harmful consumers were 71.4%, 50%, and 7.7% respectively, and the difference was significant (p<0.01). Forty-one percent of the consumers drank at public places and workplaces, which may be socially harmful. About 38% of the dependents purchased alcohol from unlicensed liquor shops. Only 16% expressed concerns for their drinking habit mainly to the past illness. The proportion of the concerned respondents was higher in the hazardous and harmful drinking patterns than in the non-hazardous non-harmful drinking pattern, and the difference was significant (p<0.05). About 62% of the dependents had clinical signs of chronic alcohol consumption. The presence of a considerable proportion of alcohol-dependents, the low mean age at initiation of drinking alcohol, and the habit of drinking in public places and workplaces are the main areas that need special emphasis by intervention programmes.
ABSTRACT
A community-based, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in Purushottampur village of the Singur block, Hooghly, using a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire, to find out the prevalence of RTI / STI symptomatics among the general population aged 15 to 49 years, and to assess their profiles and health-seeking behaviors. Prevalence of (Reproductive tract infection) RTI / STI (Sexually transmitted infections) symptoms in the last 12 months was found to be 13.9 and 13.6% among males and females, respectively. The most common symptom was dysuria and vaginal discharge among males and females, respectively. Almost half of the STI symptomatics (52% male, 50% female) did nothing for their symptoms. Better health-seeking behavior was observed among females. About 9.4% of the males and 47% of the females sought advice from the clinic / hospital / health workers. Strengthening of activities of the existing national program among the general population is needed to build a positive health-seeking behavior that will ensure success of the syndromic management of RTI / STI.