Impact of WIFS with and without intensive health education on weight change in adolescent anemic school girls of Delhi: a comparative study

Background: Iron deficiency anemia is a public health alarm in developing countries. Anemia is an indicator of both poor health and poor nutrition. It has been observed that iron deficiency anemia in children and adolescent leads to growth delay. Weekly iron folic acid (WIFS) with health education can significantly reduce prevalence of nutritional anemia and improve growth among adolescents is seen elsewhere in the World. To confirm these results in India, a study was conducted in Delhi to investigate the effect of WIFS and Health education on growth in adolescent school girls.Methods: A school based intervention study was conducted in selected government schools of Delhi. Total of 210 adolescent school girls (11th standard) were included in the study, 106 in intervention group and 104 in control group. The intervention group was given weekly iron folic acid supplementation (WIFS) with health education once a month, while a control group was given only WIFS.Results: A significant weight gain of 2.8 kg was seen in the intervention group, whereas girls in the control group showed 1.8 kg weight gain. The growth increment was greater in the intervention group than control group which was found to be statistically significant (p<0.01).Conclusions: WIFS and health education is recommended for growth promotion among adolescent girls especially who are underweight. Additional programmatic research should be carried out for understanding of the WIFS with health education -growth relationships in adolescence.

A Pilot Study to Calculate the sample size for the Prevalence of Aggression in Psychiatric Outpatient Setting.

Background: There is a rise in the number of invisible mental health problems like aggression in a developing country like India. There is scarce data available on the prevalence of aggression in psychiatric patients which has been collected in a systematic manner. Objective: A pilot study to calculate the sample size for the prevalence of aggression in psychiatric outpatient setting in a General Hospital Psychiatric Unit using Modified Overt Aggression Scale in twenty patients. Results: The prevalence of aggression was 20% in the pilot study. Conclusions: This pilot study enabled us to calculate the sample size accurately. This also facilitated the investigator to handle the shortcomings and modify the research protocol accordingly.

Impact of a multi-method promotional package on awareness and knowledge about STD and AIDS among the trainees of an industrial training institute in a resettlement colony of Delhi, India.

To design and apply a multi-method promotional package for enhancing awareness and knowledge on STD and AIDS among ITI trainees, and evaluate its impact, an intervention study, using pre and post assessment of the subjects for comparison was carried out. The study was carried out in the Industrial Training Institute (ITI), in a resettlement colony of Delhi. Urethral/vaginal discharge, genital ulcer and pain on micturition were identified as symptoms of STD by a significantly higher number of respondents in the post package sample. A sizable number of subjects included inguinal swelling and lower abdominal pain also as STD symptoms. The IEC intervention showed a significant improvement in knowledge about all four major routes of transmission of HIV/AIDS. Using condoms and avoiding sex with Commercial Sex Workers were reported as measures to prevent STD/AIDS by a significantly higher number of subjects after the intervention. A sizable number of subjects also included other measures (using safe blood/not sharing needles etc.) as well. There was a significant decline in the subjects preferring self treatment or treatment from a chemist shop in case one suffered with an STD. A significant increase was observed in those preferring treatment from govt. facilities or private allopathic doctors. However, the intervention did not seem to result in preference for alternative systems of medicine. The study demonstrated that exposure to intensive promotional intervention, even for a brief period can significantly raise awareness and knowledge of young people even on sensitive topics like STD and AIDS.