Undernutrition: the role of the mothers and others in childcare.

Background: India has the largest burden of child mortality and undernutrition in the world. More than one-third of the world’s 150 million undernourished children younger than 5 year old live in India. The objective of this study was to assess the role of the mother in child care and its implications on nutrition of the child. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Gwalior district among 300 mothers who were selected across the district on the basis of nutritional status of their child. Results: Only 09% mothers were able to spend >3 hours every day for exclusive care of their under-five child. 37.00% mothers admitted that the elder sibling in the family feeds the child. 55.50% mothers stated that they have to work outside to help in earning livelihood. Conclusions: Mother plays the most important role in child up-bringing. Empowering mothers and spreading correct and practical knowledge and awareness about child care practices can help in solving the problem of undernutrition.

A study to assess awareness regarding eye donation among post graduate medical students admitted through NEET pre PG 2014 of Gajra Raja medical college Gwalior, M.P., India.

Background: According to WHO estimates India has 10 million blind populations. Corneal problems cause a significant proportion of blindness in India. Although effective strategies to prevent corneal blindness are likely to be more cost effective, visual rehabilitation by corneal transplantation remains the major treatment for restoring sight in those who already have corneal blindness. The requirement of donor corneas per year is at least 20 times the current procurement. Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude of post graduate medical students regarding eye donation and their willingness to pledge eyes for donation. Methods: The present study was a cross sectional study conducted using a pretested questionnaire on 116 Post graduate Medical Students but only 106 actually participated in the study. Results: A total of 106 students actually participated in the study. Among them 63 (59.43%) were males and 43 (40.57%) were females. The maximum percentages of the students were of age group 26-29 years. All the students were aware regarding eye donation but still they felt it was necessary to obtain consent from family members. Conclusion: These data showed that although the awareness is good but still there is imperative need to emphasize to evade myths concerning eye donation to promote eye donation.

Tiwari Ranjana, Jain Vikas, Rajput Ajit Singh, Bhagwat A K, Goyal Manish, Tiwari Sakshi.

Background: Obesity is emerging as a serious problem throughout the world, not only among adults but also children, teenagers and young adults. Medical education is stressful throughout the whole course of training. Overweight and obesity is one of the preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. The social implications of obesity are a major problem that is often neglected. Objectives of current study were to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity in medical students and to assess the factors influencing the development of overweight and obesity. Methods: The present study was a cross sectional study of IInd semester medical students in which, a total of 131 students were included. The study involved administration of a pretested questionnaire to the students and their anthropometric measurements. Results: In a batch of 150 students 131 participated in the study in which 90 (68.70%) were males and 41 (31.30%) were females. The prevalence of overweight was 13 (9.93%) and the prevalence of obesity was 2 (1.53%). Conclusion: The study showed a high prevalence of overweight and obesity among the medical students. At the time of anthropometric measurements awareness was created for their weight and for the promotion of physical activity among medical students.

A study to assess injection practices at different levels of health care facilities in district Gwalior, M.P., India.

Background: Injections are among the most commonly used medical procedure with an estimated 16 billion administrations each year worldwide. An overwhelming majority (90%-95%) of these injections are administered for curative purposes. Immunization accounts for around 3% of all injections. According to IPEN study, 03-06 billion injections administered annually in India. Estimates suggest that at least 50% of the world‟s injections administered each year are unsafe, particularly in developing countries. Most of the curative injections are unnecessary, ineffective or inappropriate. Purpose of current study was to assess and compare the knowledge, skill and practices at different levels of health care by health care providers regarding „Safe injection practices‟. Methods: The present study has been undertaken in the outdoor departments of government health care facilities of district Gwalior. The study was done at three places namely: Civil dispensaries, district hospital & medical college hospital - Madhav dispensary (Tertiary care hospital) from 1/7/12 - 28/2/13. Results: Only 10 (33.4%) of the providers were aware regarding blood borne injection borne by faulty injection practices, the same number knew about the reasons for wearing the gloves for both patient and personal safety. All the providers had 100% knowledge regarding safe injection practices but in practical many of the skills were lacking at all the health care facilities. Conclusion: There was a great disparity between knowledge and practice of health care provider regarding injection practices. They were quite aware about the transmission of diseases to them by the faulty injection practices but more efforts are needed to be done in this regard for the improvement for the use of safe injection practices in all the health care facilities.

A study to assess awareness on eye donation and willingness to pledge eyes for donation in adult population in Gwalior district (M.P.), India.

Background: Purpose of current study was to determine the awareness of eye donation and willingness to pledge eyes for donation in the government colonies (Central and state govt. colonies) of district Gwalior (M.P.). Corneal diseases constitute a significant cause of visual impairment and blindness in the developing world. Although Strategies to prevent corneal blindness are likely to be more cost effective, visual rehabilitation by Corneal Transplantation remains the major treatment for restoring sight in those who already have corneal blindness. Methods: The present study was undertaken from July 2012 to Dec. 2012 with a total population 2192 was surveyed of people residing in central and state govt. Colonies of district Gwalior in which total of 500 houses were taken. The total population aged 30 years and above were interrogated by a predesigned questionnaire regarding awareness of eye donation, any eye related problem and willingness to pledge eyes for donation. Results: The total respondents were 947 in which 481 (50.79%) were Males and 466 (49.21%) were females. The awareness of eye donation was present in 590 (62.30%) while 357 (37.70%) were not aware. Conclusion: The awareness regarding eye donation should be increased so that the public’s attitude would be more favorable to facilitate an increase in the number of corneas available for transplantation.

Burden of care and quality of life (QOL) in opioid and alcohol abusing subjects.

Background: Alcohol misuse is a major cause of morbidity and mortality and an important health care burden, the Quality of Life (QoL) of alcohol abusing subjects has been little studied to date. Aims & Objective: To assess the burden of care and quality of life of alcohol and opioid dependent subjects. Material and Methods: A cross sectional hospital based study was done. The sample consisted of 37 patients of mixed sex and their family members. The subjects were examined using a semi structured socio demographic profile performa, the WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment, Family Burden Interview Schedule (FBIS). Results: The overall mean scores for WHOQOL-Bref were not statistically significant between the alcohol (p=0.93) and the opioid (p=0.99) dependent groups and also the individual domains showed no significant difference between groups. Conclusion: Our study was conducted to analyse the quality of life and burden of care in alcohol and opioid dependent patients. The report of many subjects of poor quality of life during early withdrawal periods stresses the need for implementing ways of improving quality of life during this stage, to reduce relapse, and have better compliance of the detoxification and management measures. Our study also shows that the quality of life of alcohol users is equally poor when compared to that of opioid dependent subjects.