ABSTRACT
Background: The post-natal period is the most critical time for the mother and the newborn. Most of the maternal deaths occur in first month of life. Based on these facts Government of India took an initiative, home based postnatal care (HBPNC), to follow up postnatal mothers and newborns for first six weeks. The present study assessed the quality of HBPNC provided by accredited social health activist (ASHA) workers and various factors associated with it.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted under Community Health Center, Dubaldhan in block Beri of Haryana. A total of 60 ASHA workers were visited and all the postnatal mothers under the supervision of each ASHA worker were included in the study. In this way 264 postnatal mothers were contacted. A scoring system was used to assess the quality of HBPNC given by ASHA worker.Results: Majority of ASHA workers were not able to record temperature and weight of the baby correctly. Regarding care of cord and danger signs in newborn only half (50%) of the mothers were counselled, whereas, only 48% mothers were counseled regarding care of eyes. Statistically significant association of quality of newborn care with education and training attended by ASHA workers was seen.Conclusions: Our study confirmed that most of the new born babies were not getting good quality of home based newborn care. Recent training attended by ASHA worker is highly associated with providing good quality newborn care to babies by ASHA workers.
ABSTRACT
HIV/AIDS as a global pandemic has affected each and every region of the world. The HIV epidemic is dynamic in nature with relation to temporal changes, geographic distribution, and modes of transmission. India, though in the declining phase, is still confronting with the varied nature of the spread of the disease. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among four hundred people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) attending the antiretroviral therapy (ART) center of a tertiary care institute of North India. Data were collected from the patients using a predesigned pretested questionnaire maintaining confidentiality. The data were analyzed using simple proportion and percentages. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 32.8 ± 7.4 years. The mean duration of ART intake was 24.5 ± 14.4 months. There was a significant improvement in clinical staging and CD4 count with ART intake among PLHIV. The most prevalent possible route of transmission was found to be heterosexual (85.5%) route. Conclusion: The spread among the population, particularly in the younger age group, reinforces the fact that preventive strategies need to be initiated within the target population at an early stage. Health education and social campaigns are the mainstays for “getting to zero” target.
ABSTRACT
Background: Depression in adolescents often results in suicide, school drop-out, pregnancy, antisocial behavior, substance abuse, progressing in to adult depression functional disability and significant impairment. Depression in adolescents is an under recognized mental health problem. Methods: Cross-sectional study by using simple screening instrument Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) among school-going adolescents in urban Rohtak (Haryana). All the students of class 9th& 10th of 3 government schools were included. The data was collected on a predesigned, pre-tested, semi-structured, schedule by interview technique after obtaining informed consent from the concerned adolescents/principals of schools. Statistical analysis has been done with simple proportions and percentages using SPSS20. Results: A total of 374 adolescents participated in the study. More than half of study subjects were found to have scores corresponding to some degree of depression and nearly one in seven was suffering from moderate to severe depression. Conclusions: This study emphasizes the need for screening for depressive symptomatology and identifying adolescents who need further intervention.
ABSTRACT
Alcohol consumption is today’s major public health concern in our country, which can be largely reduced solely by primordial and primary prevention. According to NFHS III, 31.9% of men and 2.2% of women drink alcohol in India. Aims & objectives: To determine the prevalence and correlates of alcohol intake among the rural community of block Beri, district Jhajjar, Haryana. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out during the period of September 2012 to August 2013. Multistage random sampling was used in this study. From each selected PHC, two subcentres were randomly selected and from each subcentre area, two anganwadis were also selected by simple random sampling technique. Hence a total of 6 sub-health centres and 12 anganwadis were included in the study. From each anganwadi, 90 individuals of 15-64 years age group who were further subdivided into 15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 55-64 years age-group were selected and interviewed. Thus, a sample size of 1080 was included in the study Appropriate statistical tests were used for analysis. Results: The overall prevalence of ever alcohol intake was found 25.7% (Males:49.1%; Females: 2.4%). The prevalence of current alcohol intake was found to be 18.8% (Males: 36.9%; Females: 0.7%). Conclusion: Our study confirmed the high burden of alcohol intake in rural areas and reiterated the need to address these issues comprehensively as a part of NCD prevention and control strategy.
ABSTRACT
Rabies is an endemic disease in both developed and developing world and is responsible for a large number of morbidities and mortalities in humans. Limited supply of vaccine hampers the accessibility of life saving treatment. In our study carried out in a tertiary care hospital in Haryana showed that there were 3617 animal bite cases reported in a year with an average of 9.91 new cases per day. The average economic burden related to management of these bite cases is 3.5 lacs per month. This cost along with vaccine demand can be substantially reduced if intradermal schedule is introduced.