ABSTRACT
Acute respiratory tract infections (ARIs) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in under?five children worldwide. Assam has around 2500 river islands (locally called Chars/Chaporis) in the Brahmaputra River with socioeconomically deprived inhabitants lacking access to basic health?care facilities. A community?based cross?sectional study was carried out among 380 under?five children living in the Char areas of Tinsukia District to estimate the prevalence of ARI and determine the associated risk factors. The prevalence of ARI among under?five children was found to be 56.32%. Prevalence was significantly higher among children living in Dibru?Saikhowa island, with families having >2 children, belonging to socioeconomic class 5 (modified BG Prasad scale), having a positive history of smoking or ARI in family members, having homes with attached kitchens or using wood for cooking, inadequate ventilation or overcrowding and residences of katcha ghars.
ABSTRACT
Background: The SCs are under constant criticism for their inability to deliver quality services. Every year some 12 million children of developing countries die before they reach their fifth birthday. Around 90% of mortality rate can be prevented by the improvement of health care quality. Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted among health care providers of sub-centers in a randomly selected block of Dibrugarh district of Assam. Results: All SCs had two health worker (female)/ANMs and a multipurpose health worker male (MPW Male). Only 20% SCs adhered to scheduled opening but 100% adhered to scheduled closing time of the health facilities. 100% of SCs were housed in government building. 70% of the SCs had motorable roads. All the SCs had a regular and good supply of BCG, OPV, measles, TT, pentavalent (90% SCs) vaccines. Conclusions: SCs play a crucial role to decrease the morbidity and mortality of under five children in the rural areas. Full-fledged SCs with sufficient manpower, good infrastructure and good knowledge of delivery of child health care among health care providers would definitely improve the level of child health care provided to the community.
ABSTRACT
Background: Early or timely initiation of breastfeeding, specifically within 1 hour of birth has benefits for survival and beyond and it is recommended by the World Health Organization. Breastfeeding initiation after the first hour of birth doubles the risk of neonatal mortality. The present study has been conducted to estimate the prevalence and determine the factors affecting early initiation of breastfeeding in rural areas of Dibrugarh, district, Assam. Methods: Community based cross sectional study from May 2017 to April 2018 among mothers having children in the age group 0 to 23 months in the rural areas of Dibrugarh district. The sample size calculated for the study was 360 children. Results: The results were analyzed for 334 children. Prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding was found to be 54.8%. On multivariate regression analysis the occupation and education of mothers, number of antenatal checkup visits, type of delivery and religion were found to be independently associated with early initiation of breastfeeding. Conclusions: This study reveals that the early initiation of breast feeding is lower in rural areas of Dibrugarh district. The findings clearly highlight the importance of imparting health education to family members and mothers right from antenatal period on infant and child feeding practices.
ABSTRACT
Background: Indian markets are flooded with more than 100,000 formulations, compared to approximately 350 formulations listed in the World Health Organization (WHO) essential drug list. To promote rational drug use in developing countries, assessment of drug use patterns with the WHO drug use indicators is becoming increasingly necessary. This study was conducted to study the prescribing patterns using WHO prescribing indicators in government healthcare facilities in a district of Assam. Methods: This was a cross sectional study carried out from July to September 2017. Out of total 4 blocks in Tinsukia district one (Ketetong) was randomly selected. All the primary and secondary level government health facilities were included and visited one by one. All the prescriptions on that day of visit were digitally photographed at the pharmacy of the health institution after taking written informed consent from the patient. A total of 353 prescriptions were scrutinized and analyzed using appropriate statistical tests. Results: Out of total 353 prescriptions collected, 11 were illegible and excluded from the analysis. The average number of drugs per encounter was 3.8. In 62.3% of encounters antibiotics were prescribed and injections were prescribed in 30.1% encounters. 71.8% drugs were prescribed by generic name and 56.2% drugs were prescribed from the essential drug list (EDL). Conclusions: The average number of drugs, percentage of injections and antibiotics per encounter was higher than recommended whereas prescription by generic name and from EDL or formulary was lower than recommended. Training of healthcare workers on rational drug use is need of the hour.
ABSTRACT
Background: The current global and demographic structure is shifting towards a higher proportion of elderly. This phenomenon in which older individual come to form a proportionately larger share of total population in the community is known as “Population ageing”. Health seeking behaviour refers to the sequence of remedial actions that individuals undertake to rectify perceived ill health. It is an important determinant of health status of the population and forms an important component in formulating health programmes. The objectives of the study were 1) To assess the health seeking behaviour of elderly residing in Rani block. 2) To study the various factors associated with health seeking behaviour. Methods: Total 390 elderly were included in the study. House to house visit was done and data was collected by interviewer method. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 17. Results: Out of 390 elderly, 68.5% belonged to the age group of 60-69 years, majority (82.8%) were found to be Hindus, 89% lived in joint family. Most of the elderly were illiterate (69.5%) and majority (48.2%) belonged to Class IV socio economic status. 72% elderly sought treatment for their chronic illness. Majority (51.5%) sought treatment from Government hospital and 98.5% received allopathic treatment. The most common reason cited for not seeking treatment for their chronic illness was financial reasons (63.2%). Conclusions: Education, socio economic status and living status play an important role in health seeking behaviour.