RESUMO
Background: As per the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) rules, the anti-tobacco health spots and disclaimers are being provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India. These advertisements are aimed at creating awareness about the ill effects of tobacco use. Mass media anti-tobacco advertising campaigns play an important role as part of a comprehensive tobacco control program and are associated with increase in smoking cessation and declines in adult tobacco use prevalence.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the influence of anti-tobacco advertisements among slum dwellers of Mandya city. A self-structured, close-ended questionnaire was used to interview 700 slum dwellers. The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic data, tobacco usage status, questions related to awareness about anti-tobacco advertisements, and influence of anti-tobacco advertisements on attitude toward tobacco use. Frequency distributions and percentages were examined for each item and Chi-square test was used.Results: Out of 700 participants 54.5% were males and 45.5% were females. Nearly 87.7% of males and 70.2% of females had noticed the statutory warning which is shown during tobacco products’ usage on television/movies. Almost 66.4% of males and 68.0% of females had a positive change in attitude toward tobacco use due to influence of anti-tobacco advertisements.Conclusions: There is awareness against use of tobacco and this awareness should be used to motivate them to quit tobacco as well as to stop them from initiating tobacco use.
RESUMO
Background: In India, despite improvements in access to health care, social inequalities are gross in both rural and urban areas. Many middle and lower socio economic class families are crushed under debts at the time of hospitalization due to lack of health insurance. Health financing is an important part of broader efforts to ensure social protection in health. However “health insurance” is still an unknown word for most rural people. So this study was undertaken with the objective to assess the awareness about Health Insurance in rural areas and to describe the sociodemographic characteristic of respondents. Methods: A cross sectional community based study was done with sample size of 290 households estimated by using 25% national coverage according to Public Health Foundation of India. The study was conducted between July 2014 to August 2014. 290 families were covered from two Primary Health Centres which come under field practice area of our medical college. A pretested semi structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was entered in excel sheet and analysed using SPSS version 17 software. Results: Among 290 respondents 72.5% were in age group of 26-45 years, 69.4% were female, 82.1% belonged to below poverty line, 72.4% were from nuclear family and about 81% of respondents were aware of Health Insurance. Conclusions: Awareness about Health Insurance among rural population was satisfactory. Attention for implementation of health insurance policies has to be paid more importance than only awareness.