ABSTRACT
Background: One of the key components of national rural health mission was to create a band of female health volunteers, appropriately named “accredited social health activist” (ASHA) in each village within the identified States to act as a bridge between the rural people and health services outlets. They act as health activists in community who will create awareness on health and its determinants, counsel mothers on key healthy behaviors and mobilize the community towards local health planning and increased utilization and accountability of the existing health services. Objectives of the study was to describe the socio-demographic profile of ASHAs working in Vijayapur district and to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, practice of ASHAs towards the maternal care.Methods: A cross-sectional study on 617 ASHAs of Vijayapur district. A pre-designed, semi- structured questionnaire was prepared in English and the interview was conducted in Kannada by explaining them questions one by one.Results: Out of 617 ASHAs interviewed, 427 (69.2%) of them told a pregnant woman should have antenatal care (ANC) visits and 413 (65.3%) ASHAs opined that a minimum of four ANC visits are required. While 542 (87.2%) ASHAs told that they should accompany pregnant woman transport to health centre during labour pains and 570 (92.8%) told that they should stay with the pregnant lady until her delivery is over. Also, it was found that knowledge of ASHAs regarding maternal care was significantly associated with age and duration of service of ASHAs.Conclusions: On the whole, knowledge of ASHAs about care during pregnancy and care of new-born was cons
ABSTRACT
Background: Malnutrition is frequently part of a vicious cycle that includes poverty and disease Socio-economic and political changes that improve health and nutrition can break the cycle, as can specific nutrition and health interventions. Malnutrition in children is a multifactorial causation. Hence this study was conducted to assess the role of gender in the nutritional status of the under five children. Objective: To assess the nutritional status of under five children and its relationship with the gender of the child. Methods: A Cross Sectional Study was conducted across the ten Villages (2 Villages per Taluk) of Bijapur District from January 2013 to November 3013.A total of 1046 children (523 Males and 523 Females) were included in the study. WHO growth Charts was used to grade the severity of Malnutrition. Results: The overall prevalence of underweight among under five children was 43% (49.8 % male and 36.7% female). The association between underweight and gender was statistically significant. The overall prevalence of stunting among under five children was 38 % (40.1 % male and 35.9% female) and significantly associated with gender. The overall prevalence of wasting among children was 28.7 % (36.5 % male and 21.2 % female) and significantly associated with gender. Conclusions: The median height and weight for the majority of children were within the normal range of WHO 2006 growth charts. Though it is believed that male children are better and well-nourished than females, the finding in our study is contradictory which a positive sign is.