Bodyright campaign: Minimizing the incidence of online violence against women

Gender-based violence refers to all forms of detrimental actions to target a single person or a group of them depending on their gender. This predominantly includes violence directed against women and includes all forms of violence (in the real world to online violence). We must understand and accept that even though these incidents are happening in the online world, the internet has become such an integral part of human life that the outcome of such violence is seen in the real life. The United Nations Population Fund has initiated a new online campaign in the name of Bodyrights, which is the new copyright mark to proclaim and demand security from the various incidents of digital violence. To conclude, gender-based violence has been reported universally, and the same things are on the rise even on the online platform, wherein women and girls are being targeted and their dignity and reputation are being tarnished. This calls for the need to raise to the occasion and the policy-makers and the technology companies should offer complete support to not only punish the offenders but even reduce the incidence of such events in the present and the future.

A cross sectional study to assess the awareness and practice about cough etiquettes among respiratory symptomatic patients in Tamil Nadu

Background: The emergence of respiratory infections has been attributed to the exposure of human beings to the wide gamut of airborne pathogens. Cough etiquette and respiratory hygiene have been recommended as tools to reduce such transmission.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among respiratory symptomatic patients attending urban and rural health training centre of a tertiary care hospital for 6 months duration (October 2018 to March 2019) to study their knowledge and practices related to cough etiquettes. A total of 240 study subjects were interviewed face to face with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire after obtaining their written informed consent. The study findings were recorded in an Excel sheet and analysis was done using SPSS version 20.Results: Correct knowledge about cough etiquettes was found in only 22 (9.1%) participants. Almost half of the participants 122 (50.8%) covering mouth and nose with hands while only 14 (9.7%) were using of face mask during bouts of coughing. Barriers to preventive practices were lack of awareness about cough etiquettes and hand hygiene in 14.1% and 66.3%, respectively followed by severity and frequency of bouts of cough in 29 (12.1%) subjects.Conclusions: Knowledge and practice of cough etiquette was not found to be satisfactory in the present study. Thus, it is high time to address this issue and bridge the gap in knowledge as well as practice of cough etiquette among the general population in order to reduce the person to person transmission and thereby decreasing the burden of respiratory infection.

Utility of Kangaroo Mother Care in Preterm and Low Birthweight Infants

Preterm birth ( 37 completed weeks of gestation) is the largest direct cause of neonatal mortality; accounting for an estimated 27 of the 4-million neonatal deaths every year. Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is a type of care for preterm and premature infants whereby the infant is placed in an upright position against the parent's chest; with early skin-to-skin contact between the parent and infant. Mothers who practise KMC exhibit less maternal stress and fewer symptoms of depression; and have a better sense of the parenting role and more confidence in meeting their babies' needs than those who don't. Despite the apparent feasibility of KMC; currently; only a few preterm babies in low-income countries have access to this intervention. Knowledge of the effectiveness and safety of KMC in the community and home setting; and its effects on growth; is still incomplete. Only one study has examined KMC initiation at home. There is an immense need for the promotion of research to improve the delivery of existing cost-effective interventions in low-resource settings and to address key gaps in knowledge. KMC improves growth in low birthweight and preterm infants; and has a significant role to play in protecting them from hypothermia and sepsis; as well as promoting exclusive breastfeeding. KMC helps to reduce neonatal mortality; and inculcates confidence and a better sense of parenting in mothers with regard to their babies' needs