Environmental health needs and launching of an environmental health protection unit in Pakistan

Pakistan is seriously confronted by many complex and difficult environmental challenges related to air, water, soil, forests and food including issues such as climate change. The close link between environment and health is neither well understood nor appreciated. The annual cost of environmental degradation in Pakistan has been estimated to be around US $ 4.0 billion orat least 6% of the country's GDP. Up to 35% of the burden of disease is attributable to environmental hazards and risk factors and most of this burden is preventable. A systematic process for identifying environmental health needs and issues as well as the efforts made by the government of Pakistan and the World Health Organization in establishing and launching an environmental health protection unit are described. Also presented are the mission, functions, structure [operational and logistical] and technical requirements as well as sustainability aspects of the environmental health protection unit

Blood zinc and iron levels in children of out patient department at tertiary care hospital of Multan

The purpose of this study was to assess the blood levels of zinc [Zn] and iron [Fe] in of children. This descriptive was carried out in the Department of Chemistry, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, PMRC Research Center, Nishtar Medical College, Multan, Department of Paediatric Medicine, Nishtar Medical College, Multan, Pakistan. 2004-2005. One hundred children [boys and girls] aged 1-10 years belonging to rural and urban areas attending the out patient department for minor illnesses at Nishtar Hospital, Multan were included in this study. Information regarding age, height, weight, history of past illnesses and dietary food frequency were recorded. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry was used as an analytical tool to quantify zinc and iron concentrations. Whole mean blood Zn and Fe levels in children were found to be as 759 +/- 243 microg/100 ml and 38.8 +/- 5.5 mg/000 ml respectively. Relationship of blood Zn and Fe levels with age of the children were determined. Results indicate that blood zinc and iron levels in the children were lower than the normal reference values. This study suggests that mineral rich diet should be given to the children of this region for their healthy growth

Oral cleanliness of school children of Ghazi Tehsil, district Haripur

This study was done from 07-01-2008 to 28-02-2008 to compare the oral hygiene status and level of cleanliness of 11-15 year old children of the government and private schools at the Ghazi Tehsil, District Haripur of North Western Frontier Province of Pakistan. The data were recorded on a Proforma that included child's age, sex, school of attendance, Debris Index [DI] score, Calculus Index [CI] score, Simplified Oral Hygiene Index [OHI-S] score and the Level of Cleanliness [LOC]. DI score and CI score were calculated and combined to obtain OHI-S score for each child. Based on the OHI-S, the LOC was categorized as Good, Fair or Poor. There were 101, 11 to 15 year [mean age 13.3 years SD +/- 1.41] old children, among them 546 [53.6%] were boys and 473 [46.4%] girls. The mean OHI-S for boys was 2.71 and for girls was 2.65 and this was statistically significant [P<0.05]. Majority [75.3%] of the children had Fair LOC, 193 [18.9%] of the children had Poor LOC while only fifty nine [5.8%] of the children had Good LOC. The LOC of children of both the government and private schools in the Ghazi Tehsil was considered as Fair

Post-marketing stability monitoring of sulphacetamide sodium ophthalmic solutions marketed in Pakistan

Post-marketing stability testing of sulphacetamide ophthalmic solutions marketed in Pakistan was undertaken. Nine commercial batches of the drug belonging to six brands with different manufacturing dates covering the shelf-life were selected. The samples were collected from the local drug stores in two different cities namely D.I. Khan and Karachi, which differ in their climatic conditions. The analysis included pH measurement and quantitative determination of the active component sulphacetamide and its degradation product sulphanilamide by HPLC method. All the samples complied with pH limit specified by British Pharmacopoeia. However, only two samples from DI. Khan and four samples from Karachi passed the sulphacetamide assay test. The levels of hydrolytic product sulphanilamide varied between 1.5-7.3% for the samples from DI. khan and 1.02-5.2% for the samples collected from Karachi. It was concluded that ageing and storage conditions had deleterious effect on the stability of those ophthalmic solutions. The higher degradation of suiphacetamide in the samples collected from DI. Khan is attributed to the relatively higher temperature in this area as compared to Karachi