Résumé
Background: According to UNICEF report, 19.8% children under-five years in India are wasted, 48% are stunted and 42.8% are underweight. Multisectoral initiatives by the national and state governments are yet to reduce the burden of malnutrition. Jan Swasthya Sahyog (JSS) Health Centre in Chhattisgarh, plays a vital role in improving nutritional status of tribal under- three children attending the phulwaris (or creches). Objectives of this study were to assess the nutritional status of under-five children attending the phulwaris located under Bamhni sub center and to identify the common morbidities among these children.Methods: The researchers conducted health check-up for 357 children in the 19 phulwaris of Bamhni sub center spread over 16 villages.Results: Mean age of children attending the phulwaris was found to be 29±12.5 months. Among the 357 children, 128 (35.9%) were underweight; 53 (14.8%) were severely underweight; 35 (9.8%) were wasted; 18 (5%) were severely wasted; 58 (16.2%) stunted and 16 (4.5%) severely stunted according to WHO growth charts for weight for age, weight for height and height for age respectively. Point prevalence of morbidity was 142 (39.7%), which included respiratory tract infection (24.6%); scabies (8.4%); otitis media (3.1%); pyoderma (2.2%); developmental delay (2.2%); worm infestation (2.2%); sickle cell anemia (0.6%) and (0.3%) had epilepsy.Conclusions: Under nutrition was still prevalent among the children attending the phulwaris and upper respiratory tract infection was the most common morbidity.
Résumé
Background: Diabetes education enables patients to be more involved in their care and helps in delaying complications. Mobile phone penetration in rural India is high and provides us with an opportunity to use mobile phones in delivering diabetes education messages. So the objective of the study is to study mobile phone usage among adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus in an urban sub-center.Methods: A list of all the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus was obtained from the health management information system records of the rural health and center and structured interview schedule was administered. Universal sampling method was used.Results: Around half of the diabetic patients included in the study (55.6%) owned a personal mobile phone, 44.4% had access to a smart phone in the household and 35.4% had internet connectivity on their phone. Predominant mobile phone usages included making phone calls (54.4%), short messaging services (44.8%), listening to music (17.6), wake up alarm (14.4%) and capturing photos/videos (12.8%). Very few participants reported using mobile phone for health-related purposes (12.8%) and usage of health-related apps (10%). A large proportion of participant reported that they would like to receive reminders for clinic visits (54.0%), set alarms as reminders to improve adherence to medication (53.6). Chi-square test was used to find associations.Conclusions:Two-thirds of the patients with known diabetes have access to a mobile phone at the household level. Mobile phones have potential application to be used as channel for health education, reminders for clinic visits and to improve adherence to medication among patients with diabetes in urban India