ABSTRACT
Background: In India, 17 per cent or nearly 50,000 of 2.89 lakh women died as result of complication due to pregnancy in 2013. In past decade, many studies have revealed low utilization of health services by different segments of society for varying reasons. This study was conducted to assess the utilization pattern of ANC services by the pregnant women in a rural area. The objectives of the study were to assess the pattern of utilization of ANC services by pregnant and recently delivered women; to study the association between socio-demographic factors and utilization pattern among recently delivered women.Methods: A community based cross-sectional study conducted at the rural health training centre in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu among pregnant women and recently delivered women using pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire. The entire registered pregnant mothers were included for the study and survey was done through house to house visit and the analysis was done using SPSS 21.Results: Out of 170 study participants, majority 132 (77.6%) of them had their antenatal check-up at primary health centre, 138 (81.2%) have received the IFA tablets and 139 (81.8%) had early antenatal registration. And most of the study participants 108 (63.5%) did not utilize anganwadi for health education and supplementary nutrition. Number of IFA tablets consumption by mothers was significantly associated with literacy and socio-economic status of the mother with p value of 0.03 and 0.002 respectively.Conclusions: Our study results showed that better ANC services utilization pattern in our study area except anganwadi utilization.
ABSTRACT
Background: Dengue virus can cause a wide range of illness in humans, from unapparent infection, to classic dengue fever and to fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever. Until a vaccine becomes available for public health use, primary prevention of transmission is crucial to decrease the burden of dengue, and control of Aedes is the only available strategy.Methods: The mosquito larval survey was carried out in the month of November 2017 in Echangadu, a coastal village in Puducherry to assess mosquito breeding sources for the presence of dengue vector species. The survey was performed by selecting houses where freshwater was available. For each household, the presence or absence of possible breeding sources were recorded, as well as the presence or absence of mosquito larvae.Results: Of the 102 houses surveyed, 20 of the houses were infested with Aedes larvae. A total of 182 containers were found in these households of which 47 containers were positive for Aedes larvae. Coconut shells, plastic, metal and discarded containers were the most often found breeding sites.Conclusions: The larval surveillance indicators among the households surveyed revealed a very high risk of future dengue outbreak in the village. All the containers examined including those positive for Aedes larvae were safely disposed