Obstetric Complication Profile in Relation to the Utilization of Maternal Health Services of the Females of Rural and Urban Areas of Aligarh

Introduction: Millions of women are still suffering from pregnancy related complications even after the implementation of a number of health programs relating to mother and child. The utilization of these services is not up to the mark, so a study was done to evaluate the utilization of Maternal and Child health services in relation to the mother who had complications related to them or their children during the last pregnancy. Material and Methods: A community based cross sectional study was performed in the field practice areas of the department of community medicine, the study period was one year and the data was analyzed by SPSS13. Results: It was found that 32% Recently Delivered Women suffered from complications in their last delivery. The most common being Still Birth. Utilization rates for all maternal health services except full ANC package were found to be significantly better in women having had experienced a complication in an earlier pregnancy. Conclusions and Recommendations: Even though we are having so many health programs in place still a majority of women are suffering from pregnancy related complications. The utilization of Maternal health services was high for these women as compared to the ones who had no complications in their last pregnancy. But need of the hour is to further increase the rate of utilization to achieve our MDG goals.

Prevalence of Iodine Deficiency Disorders - A School Based study in Aligarh

Introduction: Iodine deficiency is one of the most neglected and wide spread of all nutritional deficiencies, constituting a real brake on human development. Deficiency of iodine may result in development of goitre and other Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD). Objective: To assess the status of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) in school children. Methods: This study was conducted among school children of 1st to 5th standard (6–12 yrs.) from 1st January 2009 to 31st December 2013. A total of 950 students of seven schools were included in the study using proportionate to population size (PPS) method. Each child was examined clinically. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20. Result. Age distribution of the study population shows that majority of the students (30.5%) belonged to 11-12 years, and most of the students (56.2%) were males. Only 17 (1.8%) students had goitre. Goitre prevalence was slightly higher (1.9%) in the 6-8 years age group and in females (1.9%). Manifestations of iodine deficiency other than goitre, were retarded growth (0.6%), squint (0.3%), deafness (0.2%), lethargy (0.5%), and mental retardation (0.1%).  Conclusion. In the present study, Aligarh may be classified as non-endemic for iodine deficiency as the goitre prevalence in school children was only 1.8%, below the 5.0%, required for endemicity. Sustained IEC (Information, Education and Communication) activities should be carried out to sensitize the people regarding IDD.

Exploring Demographic Factors Influencing Acceptance of Family Planning Methods in Aligarh

Introduction: Population of India has jumped to 1,290,974,613 (1.29 billion) on Dec 07, 2015. There are certain demographic factors, which affect the acceptance of family planning methods. Therefore this study was conducted to determine the extent of felt need of family planning methods and to assess the demographic factors influencing the contraceptive acceptance. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in J.N. Medical College, AMU, Aligarh, for a period of two and half year. Only the mothers in the post partum period were interviewed. Those mothers who had already accepted family planning methods were not included in the study. 1383 mothers were interviewed. Data were tabulated and analysed using SPSS version 20. Chi-square test (χ2) was applied to know the statistical significance. Results: Significant number of mothers (39.6%) had planned to adopt family planning methods. Majority of the mothers (71.4%) were in the age group of 21-30 years. In this age group, 39.7% mothers wanted to adopt family methods. As the age of the mothers increased, the acceptance rate also increased. Majority of mothers (52.9%) admitted in the hospital were Hindus. Among Muslims, 40.3 per cent mothers had felt need of family planning methods. Mostly the mothers were illiterate (50.8%). 30.8 per cent of these illiterate mothers wanted to accept family planning methods. Similar felt need (36.4%) was observed in mothers with education up to primary level (V standard). As the birth order increased, felt need also increased. Conclusion: It may be concluded that significant number of mothers had planned to adopt family planning methods. Though the campaign to promote family planning methods in our country is being carried out, the message should be given more vigorously through information, education and communication (IEC) activities and involvement of non-governmental organisations (NGO). Concerted efforts are needed to find out the reasons for unmet need and its solution