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Background: Measles surveillance serves as the means of monitoring program success. The quintessential purpose of measles surveillance is to identify gaps and garner effective public health responses to achieve measles elimination. Objectives: There were two key objectives: (i) to conduct an in-depth review of the existing measles surveillance system in Kashmir and highlight its strengths and weaknesses and (ii) to assess the pattern of measles?containing vaccine (MCV1) coverage and MCV2 coverage among under?5 years children and describe the health-seeking patterns of suspected cases of measles. Methods: The mixed methods study was conducted in the Kashmir valley from March 2018 to March 2019. An explorative qualitative design was followed using individual face?to?face interviews with thirty-two (n = 32) different stakeholders from the state, district, medical block, and primary health center (PHC) levels. To complement the qualitative study, a quantitative survey was done in two districts, Srinagar and Ganderbal, which consist of 5 and 4 medical blocks, respectively. Results: Among the suspected cases of measles, 52% had visited PHCs. Sixty?four suspected cases of measles (64) were immunized with two doses of MCV. None of the clinically suspected cases of measles were further investigated. In the qualitative analysis, five themes were generated viz, “measles surveillance description of Kashmir valley;” “factors affecting measles surveillance, perceptions, and experiences of stakeholders;” “barriers to measles surveillance;” “measles surveillance activities need to be intensified;” and “respondent recommendations for building an effective and sensitive measles surveillance system.” Conclusion: The current measles surveillance system in Kashmir was not effectively functioning; case-based measles surveillance is not being done as per the WHO guidelines. There is a lack of planning, advocacy, awareness, and communication of measles surveillance among the stakeholders. The visible barriers in measles surveillance included lack of training, logistics, incentives, and monitoring by internal and external agencies.
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Introduction: Immunization is one of the splendid public health interventions that remarkably reduced child morbidity, mortality, and disability. Despite attaining substantial immunization coverage in Kashmir, assessment of the immunization system is quintessential for sustaining the gains and exploring the gaps. Objective: To assess the gaps in the delivery of routine immunization services in Kashmir Valley. Method: In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with thirty-two (32) important stakeholders, who were purposively selected as they play an active role in the planning and implementation of the Immunization Program and devise strategies at different levels of healthcare delivery. At the state level, SEPIO and SMO were interviewed at the District level, DIO/Deputy CMO was interviewed in all ten (10) districts of Kashmir Valley. From all ten Districts, two Medical-Blocks were selected from each District, and one Block Medical Officer and one Medical Officer were interviewed alternatively from each Medical-Block. Results: The thematic qualitative analysis approach was used and the analysis process generated five themes. Each of these themes included many sub-themes. 1. Factors facilitating the implementation of Routine Immunization (RI), 2. Limitations and deficits related to knowledge, attitude, monitoring, 3. Constraints encountered in the implementation of (RI) program, 4. Difficulties in the implementation of RI revealed by respondents, 5. Transformational steps to bridge gaps in the delivery of Immunization (RI) Conclusion: There were visible deficits related to knowledge, attitude, and monitoring among health professionals. Certain constraints encountered in the implementation of the program were financial constraints in the training of health care professionals and human resources constraints. The study showed the need for transformational steps to bridge gaps in the delivery of the Immunization (RI), which included regular monitoring and review meetings, teamwork and peer learning, training, and improvement in cold chain maintenance
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Background: Risk of malignancy index (RMI) is widely employed in the developed world in predicting malignant pelvic masses. The present study designed to confirm the effectiveness of the RMI to identify cases with high potential of ovarian malignancy, among patients with an adnexal mass.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of two years in a government run tertiary healthcare centre of Srinagar, Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Study included 72 patients who underwent surgery due to adnexal mass and were evaluated for ovarian malignancy by comparing RMI with histopathological diagnosis. Data collected included demographic characteristics, ultrasound findings, menopausal status, CA125 levels, and histopathological diagnosis. For each patient, RMI was calculated as per the standard formula.Results: Analysis revealed ultrasound score had the highest sensitivity of 72.7%, while an RMI score ≥250 had the highest specificity of 88.5%. The latter also had the highest positive predictive value of 50%, while negative predictive value was highest for an ultrasound score of 3 (94%). The cut off points based on ROC analysis demonstrates significant predictive ability for ovarian cancer for both RMI and CA125 with AUC to the tune of 82.9% and 80.1% respectively.Conclusions: RMI is a simple score system which can be applied directly into clinical practice and might be of value in pre-operative assessment, and hence selecting patients who need surgical team including gynecologic oncologists.
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Background:Post-exposureprophylaxis(PEP) is the mainstay of prevention in suspected exposure to rabies virus.Exposedpatients are able to obtain anti-rabies vaccine in the anti-rabies clinicpro bono butthey have to pay forpassive immunization and cover otherassociated costs.Aim:To estimate and analyze the direct and indirect costs of rabies PEP.Methods: This study was conducted on 429 patients, who were exposed to bites from various animals and reported to Shri Mahraja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS), an associated tertiary hospital of Government Medical College, Srinagar, Kashmir. Patient socio-demographic profile, details of animal bite exposure, the cost incurred for PEP wascollected. The data were analyzed using a descriptive statistic.Results: The study revealed a total median cost incurred on patients for receiving a PEP as 29.3 USD (United States Dollar), with an Inter-quartile Range (IQR) of 0.2 USD to 43.1USD. The direct median cost was 20.5 USD with an IQR of 6.2 USD to 29.4USD, while the indirect median cost was 20.3USD with an IQR of 13.5USD to 24.4USD.Conclusion:Post-exposure prophylaxis imposesa significant economic burden to bite victims especially those of low socio-economic strata for whom the cost issubstantial.Original ResearchArticle