Infrastructure, inventory, human resource of mother and child health centers of Lahore and its impact on maternal health services

It is a common observation that there is load on tertiary care facilities which is logical outcome of under utilized primary level. For identification, quantification and gauging of these gaps current study was conducted at MCH Centers of City District Government Lahore. It was cross-sectional descriptive study conducted at City District Government, Lahore. 18 MCH centers were selected by randomization technique at each town. The current study depicted that 44.44% centers were not having any telephone, fax, generator and ambulance service. While at 11.11% centers the post of dai are vacant. It was also found the 27.78% centers were not delivering service of IUD and inject able family planning services. It was also found that 88.89% of centers had the approved furniture, equipment and linen but in majority of cases it was non functional conditions. It was also found that 83.33% MCH Centers were lacking oxygen cylinder, artery forceps and tooth forceps. 88.89% MCH centers were not having vaginal retractors and dressing seizers. Umbilical Tape, Casco Vaginal Speculum, weighing machine were absent at 100% MCH centers. First aid box was present at 17 94.44% MCH Centers. Examination Couch, almirah, towel stand, iron bed and overalls were available at 88.89% of the MCH Centres but mostly they were in poor condition. Office chair, delivery couch, bed sheet and table cloth were available in all MCH Centres while bench, bucket, towel stand and durries were available in 94.44 MCH Centres. The preceding lines depict that although majority of centers have got sanctioned equipment and furniture but they are non functional and due to this fact this chain of MCH Centers for Maternal Health Services are not delivering up to the mark. Investment in the form of financial resources determines the success or failure of any setup

Breast self examination - awareness and practices among lady health workers

To find out the awareness and practices regarding breast self examination [BSE] among the lady health workers of Tehsil Arifwala, district Pakpatan, Punjab. This cross sectional study was conducted in July 2011. 300 LHW's fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected through consecutive sampling technique. Information was collected regarding awareness and practices of BSE through interviews on questionnaire covering all variables. The BSE practices of LHW's were determined on the basis of two criteria: 1. Number of BSE steps performed [categorized as 'average' for performing >2 steps and 'below average' for performing one or two steps]. 2. Interval of BSE [categorized as 'correct' for regular monthly interval and 'incorrect' for >1 month interval]. Data was entered and cleaned using Epi Data 3.1 and analyzed using Epi Info 3.5.1 Mean age of participants was 32.06 +/- 7.8 years. Majority were married [79%], rural dwellers [64.3%], had job experience up to 5 years [55.3%] and were educated above middle [53.7%]. Majority 280 [93.3%] were aware of breast self examination but only 80 [28.5%] were practicing it. Out of 80 who were performing BSE, 34 [12.1%] were practicing BSE at correct interval and only 46 [16.4%] were practicing average steps. Significant relationship was found between the age and awareness while higher levels of job experience had a significant relationship with BSE practice. The awareness level of LHW's regarding BSE was relatively high as compared to their practices of BSE. As a LHW has direct link with the community, there is a need to organize training courses for LHW's regarding correct BSE practices. Special emphasis should be paid to timeliness and steps of the procedure so that she can provide proper information to community for early detection of breast cancer.